Women’s Candidates R6: Tan on the attack

Wins for Tan, Goryachkina, Lagno and Lei

A round of four draws was followed by a round of four decisive games at the Women’s Candidates in Toronto. After all was said and done, Tan Zhongyi kept her spot atop the standings, still a half point ahead of Aleksandra Goryachkina. The latter is set to play white against the leader in the marquee matchup of the seventh round.

The most exciting game of the day was the one featuring the tournament leader, as Tan successfully attacked Anna Muzychuk’s king to claim her third win of the event.

Earlier in the day, Kateryna Lagno had taken advantage of a blunder by Vaishali R to obtain her maiden win in Toronto — Lagno came from missing big chances in the previous two rounds.

The remaining two encounters reached the endgame phase, as Lei Tingjie needed 48 moves to take down Humpy Koneru, while Goryachkina got the better of Nurgyul Salimova in a game lasting 60 moves.

With eight rounds to go, it is still all to play for in the Women’s Candidates, though Humpy and Muzychuk will need to start collecting wins soon if they want to catch an in-form Tan.

Results - Round 6

	Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.		Pts.		Name	Rtg	Nt.
WGM	Salimova,N WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 2 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 3 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 4 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 5 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 6 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 Ø 2528 2.5/6	2432		2½	0-1	3	GM	Goryachkina,A GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 2 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 3 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 4 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 5 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 6 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 Ø 2511 4/6	2553
GM	Tan,Z GM Tan,Z 2521 1 GM Lei,T 2550 1 2 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 3 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 4 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 5 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 6 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 Ø 2511 4.5/6	2521		3½	1-0	2	GM	Muzychuk,A GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 2 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 3 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 4 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 5 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 6 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 Ø 2512 2/6	2520
GM	Vaishali,R GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 2 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 3 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 4 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 5 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 6 GM Lagno,K 2542 0 Ø 2519 2.5/6	2475		2½	0-1	2½	GM	Lagno,K GM Lagno,K 2542 1 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 2 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 3 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 4 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 5 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 6 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 Ø 2528 3.5/6	2542
GM	Koneru,H GM Koneru,H 2546 1 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 2 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 3 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 4 WGM Salimova,N 2432 0 5 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 6 GM Lei,T 2550 0 Ø 2512 2/6	2546		2	0-1	2	GM	Lei,T GM Lei,T 2550 1 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 2 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 3 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 4 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 5 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 6 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 Ø 2519 3/6	2550

Understanding Material Imbalances

This DVD focuses on several types of material imbalances, such as Rook vs 2 Pieces, Queen vs 2 Rooks, and Queen vs Pieces.

In sole second place — Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Tan 1 - 0 Muzychuk

Analysis by André Schulz

Tan, Zhongyi2521

1–0

Muzychuk, Anna2520

GM

FIDE Womens Candidates 2024 Toronto10.04.2024[Schulz,A]

GM

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.0-0 b6 7.Bb2 Bb7 The opening was already known over 120 years ago: 7...Be7 8.Ne5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Nd7 10.Nd2 Qc7 11.f4 Bb7 12.a4 a6 13.Qe2 Delmar, E-McCutcheon,J NY State CA Midsummer NY-PA 1898 1-0 8.Nbd2 Rc8 9.a3 Be7 9...cxd4 10.exd4 g6 11.Qe2 Bg7 12.Ne5 0-0 13.Rac1 Ne7 14.a4 Nf5 15.c3 Re8= Bluebaum,M (2670)-Carlsen,M (2862) Opera Euro Rapid Prelim 2021 (3) 0-1 10.Ne5 cxd4 11.exd4 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.Qg4 g6 14.b4 a5 15.Nf3 0-0 16.Rae1 axb4 17.axb4

17...Ra8 The pawn sacrifice 17...d4!? came into consideration here in order to free the b7-bishop. 18.h4 Ra4 18...h5 19.Qf4+- with weaknesses around the black king's position. 19.h5 Rxb4 20.Nd4

Now hxg6 and Bxg6 are already threatened. 20...g5 21.Bc3 Ra4 22.f4 Qc8 Black throws a few more smoke bombs, but the game is over due to White's superiority on the kingside. 23.Bb2 Nc5 24.f5?! Stronger was 24.fxg5 Nxd3 25.cxd3 with the threat of g6. 24...exf5 25.Bxf5

25...Qd8? The queen is not well-placed on d8. A better defence was 25...Qe8 which covers the f7-square 26.h6 Bc8 and 27.e6 does not work: 27.Bc1± 27...fxe6 28.Rxe6 Rxf5 29.Qxf5 Nxe6 30.Qe5 Bc5-+ 26.h6 Bc8 27.e6 f6

The black king's position is now shattered. 27...fxe6 28.Rxe6 Nxe6 28...Rxf5 29.Qxf5 Nxe6 30.Qf7+-+ 29.Bxe6+ Kh8 30.Nc6+ d4 31.Nxd8 Black will be checkmated. 28.Bxh7+ Kxh7 29.Qf5+ Kh8 30.Nc6 Qe8 31.Qxg5 Rg8 32.Rxf6 Bxf6 33.Qxf6+ Kh7 34.Ne7 Re4 35.Rxe4 Nxe4 36.Nxg8 Qxg8 37.Qf7+ 1–0

Tan Zhongyi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Expert analysis by WIM Svitlana Demchenko

Lagno 0 - 1 Vaishali

Analysis by André Schulz

Vaishali, Rameshbabu2475

0–1

Lagno, Kateryna2542

GM

FIDE Womens Candidates 2024 Toronto10.04.2024[Schulz,A]

GM

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 White allows the Marshall Attack. There are many ways to avoid the Marshall Attack. 8.h3!? 8.a4!? 8.d4!? 8...d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.d3 The principled answer is 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 12.d3!? 10...Bb7 11.a4 White's playing style is not bad, but seems improvised. b4 12.a5 Kh8 13.d4 bxc3 14.bxc3 exd4 15.cxd4 Ncb4

Black has come out of the opening without any problems and has good piece play. 16.Bc4 c5 17.Bb2 17.dxc5 Bxc5 18.Nbd2 Qf6 17...cxd4 18.Qxd4 Bf6 19.Qd2 Bxb2 20.Qxb2 Nf4 Black offers the knight on b4, which White would be better off not capturing. However, the white position is not easy to play.

21.Qxb4? 21.Re3 is still playable according to the engines: Bxf3 22.Rxf3 Qd1+ 23.Bf1 Nc2 24.Rxf4 Rae8 25.Nc3 Qxa1 26.Qxc2 Re1 27.Qd3= 21...Bxf3 22.g3 22.gxf3 Qg5+ and mate. 22...Qd4 22...Nh3+ 23.Kf1 Qd4 24.Ra2 Rfc8-+ 23.Ra2 23.gxf4 Qxa1-+ 23...Nd3 All roads lead to Rome. 23...Nh3+ See above. 23...Rab8-+ 24.Rd2 Nxb4 25.Rxd4 Nc2 26.Rdd1 Nxe1 27.Rxe1 Rfe8 28.Rc1 Rac8 29.Nd2 Bd5

0–1

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.

Kateryna Lagno | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Standings after round 6

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 3 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 4 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 5 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 6 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 Ø 2511 4.5/6	2521		4.5	6			½	1	½	1	½	1	11.50	2704
2	GM	Goryachkina,A GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 2 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 3 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 4 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 5 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 6 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 Ø 2511 4/6	2553		4.0	6			½	½	1	½	½	1	10.00	2636
3	GM	Lagno,K GM Lagno,K 2542 1 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 2 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 3 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 4 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 5 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 6 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 Ø 2528 3.5/6	2542		3.5	6	½	½		½		1	½	½	10.25	2585
4	GM	Lei,T GM Lei,T 2550 1 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 2 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 3 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 4 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 5 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 6 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 Ø 2519 3/6	2550		3.0	6	0	½	½		½		1	½	8.00	2519
5	WGM	Salimova,N WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 2 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 3 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 4 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 5 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 6 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 Ø 2528 2.5/6	2432		2.5	6	½	0		½		0	1	½	6.75	2471
6	GM	Vaishali,R GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 2 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 3 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 4 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 5 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 6 GM Lagno,K 2542 0 Ø 2519 2.5/6	2475		2.5	6	0	½	0		1		½	½	6.50	2462
7	GM	Koneru,H GM Koneru,H 2546 1 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 2 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 3 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 4 WGM Salimova,N 2432 0 5 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 6 GM Lei,T 2550 0 Ø 2512 2/6	2546		2.0	6	½	½	½	0	0	½			7.25	2387
8	GM	Muzychuk,A GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 2 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 3 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 4 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 5 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 6 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 Ø 2512 2/6	2520		2.0	6	0	0	½	½	½	½			5.75	2387
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

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The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti

An absolutely stunning finish

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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?