Women’s Candidates R2: Tan wins again, Goryachkina beats Muzychuk

The Chinese domination continues?

At 32, Tan Zhongyi is already one of the most experienced elite players in the women’s chess circuit. Back in 2017, Tan became the women’s world champion by winning a 64-player knockout tournament in Tehran. In 2023, she reached the final of the Candidates Matches, which she lost to her round-1 opponent in Toronto, Lei Tingjie. 

The players in the Women’s Candidates are fighting to gain the right to face Ju Wenjun in the next match for the world title. In the latest match, Ju faced Lei in an all-Chinese confrontation — as mentioned above, the finalists in the Candidates both hailed from China as well. Though the likes of Aleksandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru and Kateryna Lagno have maintained ratings similar to those of their Chinese colleagues, the players from China have lately been doing better in the official World Championship cycle.

Tan is now the sole leader in Canada, as she beat Lei and Vaishali R to keep a perfect score after the first two days of action. This is a long tournament, though, so her rivals have more than enough time to recover.

Besides Tan’s victory over Vaishali, one more game ended decisively on Friday, with Goryachkina getting the better of Anna Muzychuk with the white pieces.

In round 3, both Tan and Goryachkina will play black, against Muzychuk and Lei respectively.

Results - Round 2

	Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.		Pts.		Name	Rtg	Nt.
GM	Tan,Z GM Tan,Z 2521 1 GM Lei,T 2550 1 2 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 Ø 2513 2/2	2521		1	1-0	½	GM	Vaishali,R GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 2 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 Ø 2534 0.5/2	2475
GM	Goryachkina,A GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 2 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 Ø 2531 1.5/2	2553		½	1-0	½	GM	Muzychuk,A GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 2 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 Ø 2493 0.5/2	2520
GM	Lagno,K GM Lagno,K 2542 1 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 2 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ Ø 2550 1/2	2542		½	½-½	½	GM	Koneru,H GM Koneru,H 2546 1 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 2 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ Ø 2509 1/2	2546
WGM	Salimova,N WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 2 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ Ø 2535 1/2	2432		½	½-½	0	GM	Lei,T GM Lei,T 2550 1 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 2 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ Ø 2477 0.5/2	2550

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The playing hall in Toronto | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Tan 1 - 0 Vaishali

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Tan Zhongyi facing Vaishali Rameshbabu | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Goryachkina 1 - 0 Muzychuk

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Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Standings after round 2

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	TB	Perf.
1	GM	Tan,Z GM Tan,Z 2521 1 GM Lei,T 2550 1 2 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 Ø 2513 2/2	2521		2.0	2						1		1	1.00	3313
2	GM	Goryachkina,A GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 2 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 Ø 2531 1.5/2	2553		1.5	2			½				1		1.00	2724
3	GM	Lagno,K GM Lagno,K 2542 1 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 2 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ Ø 2550 1/2	2542		1.0	2		½		½					1.25	2550
4	GM	Koneru,H GM Koneru,H 2546 1 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 2 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ Ø 2509 1/2	2546		1.0	2			½					½	0.75	2509
5	WGM	Salimova,N WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 2 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ Ø 2535 1/2	2432		1.0	2						½	½		0.50	2535
6	GM	Lei,T GM Lei,T 2550 1 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 2 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ Ø 2477 0.5/2	2550		0.5	2	0				½				0.50	2284
7	GM	Muzychuk,A GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 2 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 Ø 2493 0.5/2	2520		0.5	2		0			½				0.50	2300
8	GM	Vaishali,R GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 2 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 Ø 2534 0.5/2	2475		0.5	2	0			½					0.50	2341
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

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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.

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Links

• Official Candidates Tournaments website
• On the way to Toronto: Candidates’ performances in Wijk aan Zee
• FIDE publishes regulations for 2024 Candidates Tournaments
• Who will win the 2024 Candidates Tournament?