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A fighter at heart, Alexandra Kosteniuk has been one of the contenders in more than half the games that ended decisively so far at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. After six rounds, 9 encounters have finished with decisive results, and Kosteniuk has played in 5 of them. The Swiss representative has won 3 games, lost 2 and only drawn once in the women’s event taking place at the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Round 6 saw Kosteniuk beating Mariya Muzychuk with the white pieces. The younger of the Muzychuk sisters played the Caro-Kann Defence and got a slightly better position out of the opening. A mistaken rook swap by Muzychuk allowed Kosteniuk to restore the balance, and the contenders eventually reached an endgame with a pair of bishops (for white) against a knight and a bishop with two pawns per side. The evaluation remained balanced until Muzychuk blundered on move 56.
Kosteniuk made the most of her opponent’s mistake and went on to score a 68-move victory.
Thanks to this win, Kosteniuk leapfrogged M. Muzychuk in the standings, as she now stands in shared second place a half point behind sole leader Tan Zhongyi. Kosteniuk is tied on points with Harika Dronavalli, who drew Anna Zatonskih with white on Wednesday.
Round 7 will see Tan playing white against Elisabeth Paehtz, while both Kosteniuk and Harika will play with the black pieces, against Zatonskih and Anna Muzychuk respectively.
Results - Round 6
Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
The all-American clash between Alice Lee and Irina Krush was agreed drawn after 91 moves | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Sole leader Tan Zhongyi | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Making the right decisions in chess - Fundamentals
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
Mariya Muzychuk analysing the position from a different perspective | Photo: Lennart Ootes
