Ankara R08: all games drawn, but with plenty of fight

From 15th to 29th September 2012 the sixth Women's Grand Prix is taking place in Ankara, the capital of Turkey and the country’s second largest city after Istanbul. It is the last of the 2011–2012 series of elite events organised by FIDE and Global Chess. The winner of each tournament takes home 6,500 Euros, the total prize fund is 40,000 Euros. The overall winner will get a further 15,000 Euros at the end of the series, and qualifies to challenge the Women's World Champion in 2013. Starting time of the games is 15:00h (check your local time here). The final round starts five hours earlier – at 10:00 a.m. local time. A full shedule with all pairings is given at the bottom of the page.

Round eight

The leader of the tournament, Humpy Koneru (above right), had this far achieved a 100% result with the black pieces. In round eight she gave away a first half point playing black against Munguntuul Batkhuyag. The Indian GM had quite a remarkable advantage in the middlegame, but didn’t manage to convert it into more.

Anna Muzychuk didn’t use an opportunity to play for victory in the game against...

... Antoaneta Stefanova. Muzychuk remains in second place, half a point behind Humpy.

Kubra Ozturk (above left) came very close to get the first full point in the game against Zhao Xue. The Turkish player refused to repeat the position in the middle game, put pressure on her opponent but missed some good chances.

Zhao Xue (left): "This was our second game against each other, and I lost the first. I don’t know why she always plays so well against me." In the background Georgian chess star Nana Alexandria, trainer Adrian Mikhalchishin.

With minus four at the bottom of the table: Polish GM Monika Socko

Betul Yildiz (above standing) analysing her 57-move draw against Monika Socko (left). Betul: "I liked my position after the opening. We exchanged queens and she had weak h3-pawn. I missed her move 27.Rh1, which surprised me a lot. This rook endgame turned out to be drawish." In the background above: journalist Ozgur Akman, GMs Adrian Mikhalchishin and Evgenij Miroshnichenko.

Tournament commentator IM Elisabeth Pähtz following all six games on Playchess

A double-click on a game brings it up front, and "Elli" can do live video commentary for Playchess visitors, using the webcam attached to the computer and, more importantly, the cappuccino next to the keyboard...

Full report on the round eight games

Round eight review by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko

Just above the replay board there is a drop-down menu where you can select the other games.

Standings after eight rounds of play

Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich and Kema Goryaeva, courtesy FIDE

Schedule and results of the Sixth Grand Prix in Ankara

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.