FIDE Grand Prix: Dzagnidze restarts with win over Xu Yuhua

Round six report

By FM Geoffrey Borg

So, back from a delightful trip on the free day, where the Nanjing organisers took the partiicpants to see Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in Nanjing, the Presidential Palace, a ride along the river canals running through parts of Nanjing, and the City Gates.

The Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in Nanjing [Photo Ye Rongguang]

View from the Mausoleum [Photo Ye Rongguang]

Nana Dzagnidze and Baira Kovanova in front of the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum

We visited the Dr Sun Yat-Sen's Mausoleum on the free day, which also happened to be a "double" holiday for the Chinese for the celebrations of the 60th Anniversary and Mid Autmun celebrations. The place was absolutely packed with people.

The Sun Yat-Sen sarcophagus, sculptured out of Italian white marble

Sun Yat-Sen, 1866-1925, was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Republican China, Sun is frequently referred to as the Father of the Nation. Sun played an instrumental role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in October 1911, the last imperial dynasty of China. He was the first provisional president when the Republic of China (ROC) was founded in 1912. Sun was a uniting figure in post-Imperial China, and remains unique among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan.

The boat ride, with trainer Adrian Mikhalchishin (cap) and Baira Kovanova (right)

Everyone is fascinated by the ride on the canals that traverse the city of Nanjing

Turkish WIM Betul Cemre Yildiz checks the results of her photographic endeavors
with her trainer Adrian Mikhalchishin [Photo Ye Rongguang]

Light show in the evening when the barges return to port

Docking at the very fine Chinese restaurants on the edge of the canals

A typical light decoration in China

This tour must have inspired GM Nana Dzagnidze, since she bounced back to form despite not feeling very well before the game due to some stomach bug. Her opponent, GM Xu Yuhua chose to take the game out of book very early on and a Sicilian slugfest got underway.

Xu Yuhua (2485) - Dzagnidze,N (2535) [B53]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (6), 04.10.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5 e5 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.Qe3 Be6 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Be2 a6 10.a3 Rc8 11.0-0-0 Bg7 12.Kb1 0-0 13.g4 b5 14.Rhg1 b4 15.Nd5 Qa5 16.a4 Qxa4 17.b3 Qa3 18.Bc4 Na5 19.Ne7+ Kh8 20.Bxe6 Rc3 21.Rd3 fxe6 22.Rxc3 bxc3 23.Qxc3 Nb7

Dzagnidze has overpressed and in her opponent's time trouble (for once!) played 23...Nb7? White could have immediately won the game with 24.Nh4! (threat: 25.Nhg6+ hxg6 26.Qh3+ Bh6 27.Qxh6 mate). After 24...Bh6 White wins with the same knight sacrifice 25.Nhg6+. However Xu Yuhua did not spot this line and spoilt the game to a full point loss: 24.Rd1 d5 25.Nc6 d4 26.Qb4 Qxb4 27.Nxb4 Nc5 28.Re1 f5 29.exf5 e4 30.Ng5 exf5 31.gxf5 d3

32.Ne6?? The final mistake, which simply loses a piece. 32...Nxe6 33.fxe6 Bc3 34.Rd1 Bxb4 35.cxd3 Rxf2 0-1.

GM Marie Sebag kept a nagging pressure against the Sicilian Poisoned Pawn variation which Ju Wenjun played. The Chinese player is highly talented and is currently the highest rated untitled women player in the FIDE rating list. Ju introduced a novelty on the 17th move and improved on a previous game between Mamedov and former world Junior Champion Andriasian.

Sebag,M (2519) - Ju Wenjun (2443) [B97]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (6), 04.10.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nb3 Bd7 11.Be2 h5 12.Rf1 0-0-0 13.0-0-0 h4 14.Qh3 Kb8 15.Kb1 Bc8 16.Bg4 Qc7 17.f5 Re8 18.Nd4 Nxd4 19.Rxd4 Qc5 20.Rdd1 Qe5 21.g3 b5 22.a3 Bh6 23.gxh4 Bf4 24.Rf2 Bg5 25.h5 Qc5 26.Rff1 Qe5 27.Rf2 Bb7 28.Qd3 Rd8 29.Re2 Rhe8 30.Qh3 Bh6 31.Rf2

In this position Ju Wenjun erred with 31...d5? and her position quickly became untenable. 32.exd5 exd5 33.Bf3 d4 34.Re2 Qf4 35.Rxe8 Rxe8 36.Bxb7 Kxb7 37.Qg2+ Ka7 38.Qd5 Qc7 [38...dxc3 39.Qd7+ Kb6 40.Rd6+ Qxd6 (40...Ka5 41.Qc7+ Ka4 42.Rxa6#) 41.Qxd6+ Ka7 42.Qd7+ Kb6 43.Qxe8] 39.Qxd4+ Kb7 40.Qxf6 1-0.

Another top slugfest was seen in GM Zhao Xue against GM Zhu Chen. A very complex Meran Stonewall was played and black had a reaosnable position in the middlegame. Zhu Chen's play has been very enterprising but sometimes risky. She played 16...Ng4 here and could have equalised with 19...e5. A serious oversight at move 27 however, cost her the point.

IM Lilit Mkrtchian moved into joint third place with a win over Martha Fierro. Out of a King's Indian, Black got a bad position out of the opening and Mkrtchian did not allow any reasonable counter-play taking the point in the shortest win of the tournament so far.

Shen Yang played another solid game against Batkhuyag Munuguttul but could never claim any significant advantage. A draw was a fair result.

WGM Baira Kovanova kept the Elista and Russian flag high with a win over the luckless Betul Yildiz. White took some risks in the game and black could have equalised at one point. Unfortunately, as a result of time trouble, black could not find the saving continuation and subsequently lost.

The rating performance table is now as follows:

The GM norm at 8 points is looking a bit tough right now but the IM norm (6 pts) is within grasp of Ju Wenjun, Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Baira Kovanova.

• Here are the games of round six with comments by FM Geoffrey Borg

Results and standings after round six

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