Danielian leads Women's Grand Prix with 3.0/3

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 two

Maia Chiburdanidze and Elina Danielian in the press conference with Anastasiya Karlovich (middle)

Danielian,Elina (2454) - Chiburdanidze,Maia (2502) [A15]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (2), 23.02.2011
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.e3 b6 4.b3 Bb7 5.Bb2 d5 6.Nc3 a6 7.d4 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Rc1 Qe7 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Qc2 Ne4 13.Ne2 Rac8 14.Nf4 g5 15.Ne2 f5 16.Ng3 g4 17.Nd2 Qh4 18.f4 Nxg3 19.hxg3 Qf6 20.Kf2 Rce8 21.Rh1 Qg6 22.Rh4 Bc8 23.Rch1 Nf6 24.Nf1 h5 25.Nd2 Re7 26.a3 Rfe8 27.Re1 Kg7 28.b4 Qf7 29.Nb3 Kg6 30.Nc5 Qf8 31.Bc3 Rg7 32.Nb3 Rh7 33.Bd2 Bd7 34.Rc1 Ra8 35.Qb1 Qc8 36.Rc3 Bb5 37.Bc2 Qd7 38.Kg1 Be7 39.Rxc7 Qxc7 40.Bxf5+ Kg7 41.Bxh7 Nxh7 42.Rxh5 Nf8 43.Qd1 Qd7 44.f5 Kf7 45.Qxg4 Rc8? 45...Bf6 was required.

46.e4! dxe4 47.Rh7+ Ke8 48.Rg7 Qc6 49.d5 Qf6 50.d6 Be2 51.Qxe4 Qxg7 52.Qxe2 Rc2 53.dxe7 Qxe7 54.Qd3 Ra2 55.Qxa6 Rxd2 56.Nxd2 Qe3+ 57.Kh2 (57.Kf1 Qxd2 58.Qe2+ Qxe2+ 59.Kxe2 was better) 57...Qh6+ 58.Kg1 Qxd2 59.Qxb6 Qd1+ 60.Kf2 Qc2+ 61.Kg1 Qd1+ 62.Kf2 Qc2+ 63.Ke3 Qxf5 64.Qc6+

64...Kf7? No, mustn't allow the exchange of queens! 65.Qf3 Ke6 66.Qxf5+ Kxf5 67.Kd4 Ke6 68.a4 Kd6 69.g4 Ne6+ 70.Ke4 Nc7 71.g5 Na6 72.Kf5 Nxb4 73.Kf6 Nd5+ 74.Kf7 1-0.

Former women's world champion Xu Yuhua in her round two game against Marie Sebag

Xu,Yuhua (2484) - Sebag,Marie (2489) [B90]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (2), 23.02.2011
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f4 b5 10.f5 Bc4 11.0-0-0 h5 12.Kb1 Qc7 13.Bxc4 bxc4 14.Nc1 Qb7 15.Rhe1 Be7 16.h3 h4 17.Bg5 0-0 18.Bxh4 Rfb8 19.b3 a5 20.g4 a4 21.Bxf6 Bxf6 22.g5?

22...axb3 23.cxb3 cxb3 24.a4 b2 25.N1a2 Nb6 26.Qe2 Nxa4 27.Nd5 Qb3 0-1.

GM Marie Sebag of France

Results of round three

Former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in great spirits before the game

Stefanova,Antoaneta (2546) - Zhu,Chen (2495) [A15]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (3), 24.02.2011
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.b4 Bg7 4.Bb2 0-0 5.g3 c6 6.Qb3 d5 7.d3 a5 8.a3 dxc4 9.dxc4 axb4 10.axb4 Rxa1 11.Bxa1 Na6 12.Nfd2 Be6 13.Bc3 b5 14.Bg2 bxc4 15.Nxc4 Nd5 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.b5 Nc5 18.Qb2+ Nf6 19.Nba3 cxb5 20.Qxb5

20...Nd3+ 21.Kf1 [surely 21.exd3 Qxd3 22.Ne3 was better] 21...Ne5 22.Ne3 Qd6 23.Qb2 Rb8 24.Qa1 Qxa3 0-1.

Former women's world champion Zhu Chen with Anastasiya Karlovich after the game

Munguntuul,Batkhuyag (2410) - Danielian,Elina (2454) [C11]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (3), 24.02.2011
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2 0-0 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.0-0-0 Qa5 11.Bxc5 Nxc5 12.h4 Bd7 13.Rh3 b5 14.f5 exf5 15.Rg3 Ne7 16.Kb1 b4 17.Nxd5 Ne4

The Mongolian IM launches a crushing attack: 18.Qh6 Ng6 19.Rxg6! fxg6 20.Ne7+ Kf7 and now 21.Bc4 should secure the win (since 21...Kxe7 leads to mate: 22.Qxg7+ Rf7 23.Qxf7+ Kd8 24.Qxd7#). 21.Rxd7? Rad8 22.e6+ Kxe6 23.Bc4+ Kxd7 24.Qxg7 Ke8. It's all over, Black is going to win. 25.Kc1 Qc5 26.Nd5 Rxd5 27.Bxd5 Qxd5 28.Qxa7 Rf6 29.Qb8+ Ke7 30.Qxb4+ Rd6 31.b3 h6 32.a4 g5 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.a5 g4 35.Nh4 Kf6 36.g3 Qe5 0-1.

Elina Danielian (right, with press officer Karlovich) after her third victory in succession

Standings after three rounds

Statistics Of the 18 games played so far: White won six games = 33.3% Black won eight games = 44.4% Four games were drawn = 22.3%

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.

All photos by Maria Bolshakova and Anastasiya Karlovich

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN All games are being broadcast on the official site and on Playchess. To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.