Ankara R09: Muzychuk beats Humpy, takes sole lead

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 nine

The key game of the tournament between Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzyhcuk (above), who have the best chances for the second place in the Grand Prix Series, happened in the ninth round. The leader of the tournament (Humpy) chose a somewhat passive strategy and was defeated by her Slovenian opponent. Anna Muzychuk became the sole leader, half a point ahead with two rounds to go.

Anna Muzychuk:"1.Nf3 was a bit of a surprise for me, because normally Humpy plays 1.d4. I started to think and tried to remember what I play. I went for g6, which I normally don’t play – I have chosen 1.e5 before. I wanted to get a sharp position, because after e5 there were some draws. But even in the position in the game White didn’t risk losing. Later on she just lost a pawn, but even in the rook endgame it should be draw. She was trying to hold the position, but instead she could have played more actively, take pawn on a7 after Rc7." Humpy Koneru: "I think in the middlegame I played a bit passive after I got the c3 and d4 pawns. Maybe I should have played d5 earlier, instead of Re1 for example. I clearly blundered in the endgame but I am still not sure how it was better to play."

Former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova scored her first full point in this tournament. She bear
Kubra Ozturk, who sacrificed a pawn in the middle game but didn’t get enough compensation later on.

Tatiana Kosinsteva (above right) committed the same mistake three times before Betul Yildiz found the
winning move and converted the score in her favor (see annotations by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko below)

Zhao Xue was persistent in finding winning chances against Monika Socko and taking the full point

Two more games could have been decisive today if Viktorija Cmilyte and Ju Wenjun had managed to convert their advantage into more.

Full report on the round nine games

Round nine 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 nine rounds of play

Free day excursion

On Tuesday the participants enjoyed a second free day. The organizers provided an excursion to Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of the Turkish War of Independence and the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey.

In the courtyard of Anitkabir: Monika Socko, Anna Muzychuk, Antoaneta Stefanova,
Ruan Lufei, Zhao Xue and Elisabeth Pähtz

In the museum visitors could see Atatürk's personal items, his wardrobe, and some
of the gifts presented to him are on display in this museum.

Exhausted: German IM and Playchess commentator Elisabeth Pähtz

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.