Women’s Candidates R8: Lei takes down Tan

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
4/14/2024 – Lei Tingjie scored a third consecutive win in round 8 of the Women’s Candidates Tournament. Importantly, Lei defeated former long-standing sole leader Tan Zhongyi, which resulted in three players sharing first place at the end of the round — Lei, Tan and Aleksandra Goryachkina are now sharing the lead with 5 points each. One more game ended decisively on Saturday, as Humpy Koneru got the better of Vaishali R with the white pieces. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Goryachkina and Lagno remain undefeated

Two players remain undefeated in the Women’s Candidates Tournament. Coincidentally, the two participants who have avoided losses throughout the first eight rounds are the Russian representatives, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno — in the open, the one player who remains unbeaten is also Russian: i.e. Ian Nepomniachtchi.

On Saturday, Goryachkina drew Lagno with black to climb to the shared lead for the first time in the event. What allowed the top seed to join the lead was Lei Tingjie’s victory over Tan Zhongyi. Tan started strong in Toronto, with 3 wins and 4 draws in the first seven rounds, but faced an in-form Lei, who came from scoring back-to-back victories in rounds 6 and 7.

Going into round 9, Lei, Tan and Goryachkina have 5/8 points each, and stand a half point ahead of Lagno. Nurgyul Salimova and Humpy Koneru are sharing fifth place a full-point behind Lagno, each on 3½/8.

This means that half the field has a ‘plus-score’ and half the field stands below the fifty-percent mark. Since the co-leaders only have a +2, though, there is still a chance for someone who started slow to get a winning streak and join the fight for first place.

Curiously, none of the four frontrunners will face each other on Sunday. Lagno, Tan and Goryachkina will play with the black pieces, while Lei is the only player in the pack that will play white in round 9 — will we see the latest World Championship challenger scoring a fourth victory in a row?

Results - Round 8

Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina

Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina signed a 34-move draw in Saturday’s eighth round | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Tan 0 - 1 Lei

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Tan, Zhongyi25210–1Lei, Tingjie2550
FIDE Womens Candidates 2024
Toronto13.04.2024[Besenthal,Klaus-Guenther]
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Bg4 6.c3 e6 7.Qb3 Qc8 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nh4 Be7 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Be2 a6 13.h4 b5
14.h5 Aronian played 14.g5 against So once. Both variations are good, but each results in a different game. 14...c4 15.Qd1 Qd8 16.Rg1 gxh5 17.gxh5 Bd6 18.Bg5 18.Bxd6 Qxd6 19.Rxg7 Ke7 doesn't work in White's favour, as she can hardly get her pieces over to the kingside, where the game is played for the time being. 18...Be7 19.Bf4 Bd6 20.Bg5 Be7 21.f4 "Draw offer" rejected. Rb8 22.a3 a5 23.Bh4?! 23.Kf2 was a better move. 23...Kf8 Playable was 23...Nxh5! and: 24.Bxe7 Qxe7 25.Rh1 g6 26.Bxh5 gxh5 27.Rxh5 Kd7 The same motif as we have already seen. The b8-rook gets to the kingishde much faster than the a1-rook. 24.Bg3 Bd6 25.Bh4 Ne7 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Bf1 b4
A clear advantage for Black. The poor coordination of the white pieces is obvious. 28.axb4 axb4 29.Bh3 f5 30.Qf3 Bc7 31.Ke2 Ng8 32.Qg3 Nf6 33.h6 Ke7
34.Qg5 Qf8?! Here 34...Kd7 was better. 35.Ra7 Now the coordination of the black pieces is disturbed, in contrast to the position after 34...Kd7. Rc8 36.Bg2? Tan missed 36.Bxf5! exf5 37.Rh1 The threat is h6-h7 and Rh6. After Qg8 37...Rh7 38.Qxf5 Rxh6 39.Rxh6 Qxh6 40.Qxc8 Qh2+= 38.cxb4 Qh7 39.Ra6 Qg6 40.b5 the black advantage is manageable. 36...Rxh6
Now Black is clearly winning. 37.Nf3 Rh5 38.Qg3 Ne4 39.Qe1 bxc3 40.bxc3 Qg7 41.Bf1 Qh8 42.Qa1 Kf6 43.Rg2 Rh3 44.Ne5 Qh5+ 45.Ke1 Rxe3+ 46.Re2 Qh4+ 47.Kd1 Rxe2 48.Bxe2 Qxf4 49.Qb2 Rh8 50.Bf3 Rh2 51.Qc1
0–1

Tan Zhongyi

Tan Zhongyi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza


Expert analysis by WIM Svitlana Demchenko


More photos from round 8

Humpy Koneru

In the all-Indian confrontation, Humpy Koneru defeated... | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Vaishali Rameshbabu

...Vaishali Rameshbabu | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Nurgyul Salimova, Anna Muzychuk

Nurgyul Salimova v. Anna Muzychuk was only agreed drawn after 120 moves! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Anna Muzychuk

Anna Muzychuk taking a picture with a couple of fans! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Standings after round 8

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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