Can anyone (or anything) stop this lady?

by ChessBase
2/26/2011 – She was born in Baku in 1978, but is of Armenian origin and plays for that country. At the Women's Grand Prix in Doha GM Elina Danielian is on fire. She has won her fifth game in a row and leads the field with 5.0/5. Three players, Pia Cramling, Martha Fierro and Marie Sebag, follow two points behind. Big illustrated report with lovely photos by Maria Bolshakova and and Nastia Karlovich

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The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a series of elite tournaments organised by FIDE and Global Chess, with six legs over two years in various countries around the world, with three tournaments every year. The winner of each tournament gets 6,500 Euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 Euros, and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 Euros at the end of the series. The sixth event of the cycle is currently being held from the 21st of February to 5th of March. It is taking place in the Sharq Village and Spa in Doha, Qatar. Games start: Rounds 1-10 at 3:00 PM local time, round 11 at 12 AM local time, the rest day is February 27th (after round 6).

Results of round four

 Ti.
Name
Rtg
Res.
Ti.
Name
Rtg
GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
0-1
GM Danielian Elina 2454
GM Xu Yuhua 2484
1-0
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475
0-1
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502
GM Zhu Chen 2495
0-1
GM Sebag Marie 2489
GM Koneru Humpy 2607
½-½
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
IM Fierro Baquero Martha 2363
½-½
GM Cramling Pia 2516

The most important game was the encounter between second seed Nana Dzagnidze and the leading GM Elina Danielian, who had won her first three games.

Dzagnidze,Nana (2550) - Danielian,Elina (2454) [D43]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (4), 25.02.2011
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Be7 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3 Re8 10.h3 Nf8 11.0-0-0 b6 12.Kb1 Bb7 13.g4 a6 14.Rhg1 N6d7 15.h4 c5 16.Bf5 c4 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.g5 b5 19.h5 b4 20.Ne2 a5 21.g6 fxg6 22.hxg6 h6 23.Nf4 a4 24.e4 b3 25.Qc3 a3

You can see that White is under intense pressure. The second seed from Georgia was not able to withstand it. 26.Rd2 Nb6 27.axb3 axb2 28.Rxb2 Ra3 29.Nxd5 Bxd5 30.exd5 Qf6 31.Bg4 Rea8 32.Kc2 cxb3+ 33.Rxb3 Ra2+ 34.Kd1 Ra1+ 35.Ke2 R8a2+ 36.Nd2 Rxg1 37.Be6+ Nxe6 38.Rxb6 Rxd2+ 39.Qxd2 Nf4+ 40.Kf3 Qxb6 0-1.


With 4.0/4 points the Armenian GM remained the sensation of this tournament


Zhu Chen chats with her husband, Qatari Grandmaster Mohamad Al-Modiahki,
before her game against French GM Marie Sebag


Marie Sebag, France's highest ranked female player


Swedish GM Pia Cramling, who has reached legendary status

Results of round five

Ti.
Name
Rtg
Res.
Ti.
Name
Rtg
GM Cramling Pia 2516
1-0
GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
½-½
IM Fierro Baquero Martha 2363
GM Sebag Marie 2489
½-½
GM Koneru Humpy 2607
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502
½-½
GM Zhu Chen 2495
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
½-½
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475
GM Danielian Elina 2454
1-0
GM Xu Yuhua 2484

In the fifth round Elina Danielian continued her rampage by grinding down former women's world champion Xu Yuhua of China and keeping her clean score – 5.0/5 – intact. Danielian is now two full points ahead of her nearest rivals.

Danielian,Elina (2454) - Xu,Yuhua (2484) [D38]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (5), 26.02.2011
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Nb5 Be7 10.Qc2 a6 11.Nc3 Bd6 12.0-0 e5 13.d5 Nb4 14.Qb1 c6 15.dxc6 Nxc6 16.h3 b5 17.Bb3 Na5 18.Bc2 Nc4 19.Rd1 Bb7 20.Ng5 h6 21.Nh7 Nxh7 22.Bxh7+ Kh8 23.Be4 Qe7 24.Be1 Bxe4 25.Nxe4 Bb4 26.Bxb4 Qxb4 27.b3 Nb6 28.Nd6 Nc8 29.a3 Qc5 30.Ne4 Qe7 31.Qd3 Ra7 32.a4 f5 33.Ng3 e4 34.Qd4 Rc7 35.axb5 axb5 36.Ra6 Kh7 37.Nh5 Rf7 38.Nf4 Rd7 39.Qa1 Rxd1+ 40.Qxd1 Qb7 41.Re6 Qd7 42.Qh5 Kg8 43.Ra6 Qb7 44.Qg6 Ne7 45.Qe6 Qc8 46.h4 g5 47.hxg5 hxg5 48.Qxc8+ Nxc8 49.Nh3 g4 50.Nf4 Rc7 51.Ne6 Rc3 52.Nd4 g3 53.Rg6+ Kf7 54.Rxg3 Ne7 55.Rg5 Kf6 56.Rh5 Kg6 57.g4 fxg4 58.Re5 Kf6 59.Rxe4 g3 60.fxg3 Nd5 61.Kf2 b4 62.Re6+ Kf7 63.Re5 Nf6 64.Kf3 Nd7 65.Rf5+ Kg6 66.Rb5 Kf6 67.Rxb4 Ne5+ 68.Ke4 Ng4 69.Rc4 1-0.


Koneru Ashok, the father of top seed Koneru Humpy

Note that the GM's first name is Humpy, her surname is Koneru. In her home state of Andhra Pradesh, and in many parts of South India, the surname is written first. Her father Ashok, a chess player himself, derived her first name from the word "Champion", with a vision that one day she would become the World Chess Champion. Subsequently, he has changed it to Humpy, to make it sound like a Russian name.


GM Koneru Humpy, the world's second highest ever rated female player


IM Lilit Mkrtchian, rated 2475, from Armenia


Former women's world champion Zhu Chen, now living in Qatar


Former women's world champion Xu Yuhua, now rated 2484


Former women's world champion Maia Chiburdanidze, 2502


Former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, 2546


IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia, rated 2410


Our photographers in Doha: Maria Bolshakova and...


... Nastia Karlovich, who also does the interviews with the player for the official site

All photos by Maria Bolshakova and Anastasiya Karlovich

Standings after five rounds

For the first time in the history of FIDE events a FaceBook page was created for the Grand Prix tournament. You can follow the news in real time, with photos and videos. In a few days there will be a fascinating competition between the FaceBook friends. The winners will get the prizes provided by the Chess Federation of Qatar.


Links

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