FIDE Grand Prix: Shen Yang beats Dzagnidze, Marie Sebag catches up

Round seven report

By FM Geoffrey Borg

I'll start with a correction requested by the Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong regarding a previous round report. He advised that the GM norm and IM norms are subject to performance ratings of 2600+ and 2450+ and not to the old system of categories.

This means that some players are within striking distance of norms. GM Dzagnidze's performance has now gone down to 2576 following her loss with white against WGM Shen Yang, who is proudly representing her home city Nanjing. Shen Yang had previously played the Slav and after White got nothing in the opening, Black had a comfortable game.

Round seven of the Women's Grand Prix under way

Dzagnidze,N (2535) - Shen Yang (2453) [D16]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (7), 05.10.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.g3 c5 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.dxc5 Qxd1+ 9.Nxd1 Bxc5 10.Be3 Bb4+ 11.Bd2 Nd5 12.Bxb4 Ndxb4 13.0-0 Na5 14.Ne3 Bd7 15.Nd2 Rc8 16.Rfc1 Ke7 17.Nexc4 Nxc4 18.Nxc4 b6 19.a5 b5 20.Na3 a6 21.Rc3 Bc6 22.Rb3 Nd5

Here White played 23.Bxd5? and the endgame she was eventually outplayed. 23...Bxd5 24.Rb4 f5 25.f3 e5 26.Kf2 Rc5 27.Rd1 Ke6 28.Nb1 Rhc8 29.Nc3 Bb7 30.f4 Rc4 31.Rxc4 Rxc4 32.fxe5 b4 33.Na4 Bc6 34.Nb6 Rc2 35.Ke3 Kxe5

36.Rd4? Rxe2+ 37.Kd3 Rd2+ 38.Kxd2 Kxd4 39.Nc8 Bb5 40.Nd6 Bd7 41.Nf7 h6 42.Nd8 Kc4 43.Kc2 b3+ 44.Kd2 Kd4 45.Ke2 Bb5+ 46.Kd2 g5 47.Nf7 Bd7 48.Nxh6 Be6 49.h3 Ke5 50.Kd3 Kf6 51.Kd4 Kg6 52.Nxf5 Kxf5 53.h4 gxh4 54.gxh4 Kg4 55.Kc5 Kxh4 56.Kb6 Bc4 57.Kc5 Be2 0-1.

GM Sebag took the opportunity to play catch up and she squeezed out a win against WIM Betul Cemre Yildiz of Turkey, who is having a somewhat unfortunate tournament. Again, Betul had a playable game, but unfortunately towards the time control made a number of errors resulting in another loss.

GM Xu Yuhua bounced back from yesterday's game with a nice win in a Catalan against Ju Wenjun. Black got some pressure out of the opening and started to turn the screws. White blundered horribly on move 25.

Ju Wenjun (2443) - Xu Yuhua (2485) [A14]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (7), 05.10.2009
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.Qc2 c5 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.b3 Ba6 11.Nd2 Rc8 12.Bb2 Nd7 13.Rfd1 Qb6 14.Rac1 Rfd8 15.e3 h6 16.Qb1 Nf6 17.Qa1 c5 18.cxd5 exd5 19.Nf3 Qe6 20.Ne5 Ne4 21.Qb1 Ng5 22.Rc2 Nh3+ 23.Kh1 d4 24.exd4 cxd4

25.Rxc8? 25.Rxd4 would have held it. 25...Nxf2+ 26.Kg1 Rxc8 27.Kxf2 Qxe5 28.Kg1 Qe3+ 29.Kh1 Bf6 30.Re1 Qf2 31.Be4 Be2 32.Bg2 d3 33.Bxf6 d2 0-1.

The top seed GM Zhao Xue also joined the pack at the top but had to struglle against IM Marta Fierro. White could have secured equality at several times in the game and even near the end of the game, a study like manouevre could have saved her.

Fierro Baquero,M (2386) - Zhao Xue (2542) [C90]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (7), 05.10.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.Re1 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.Nbd2 Nc6 12.Nf1 h6 13.h3 Be6 14.Ng3 Rc8 15.a3 Re8 16.d4 cxd4 17.cxd4 exd4 18.Ne2 Bf8 19.Nexd4 Bd7 20.Bf4 Ne5 21.Bg3 Qc7 22.Rc1 Qb7 23.Nxe5 dxe5 24.Nf3 Bc6 25.Nxe5 Bxe4 26.Bxe4 Nxe4 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.Qf3 Nd6 29.Qxb7 Nxb7 30.Nd7 Bd6 31.Bxd6 Nxd6 32.Re2 a5 33.Rd2 Rc6 34.Ne5 Ra6 35.Rc2 f6 36.Nc6 a4 37.Nd4 Ra7 38.Rc6 Rd7 39.Rb6 Nc4 40.Rb8+ Kf7 41.Nxb5 Nxb2 42.Nc3 Rd3 43.Ne4 Nd1 44.Rb7+ Kg6 45.g4 h5 46.gxh5+ Kh6 47.Ng3 Rxa3 48.Nf5+ Kg5 49.Ng3 Kh6 50.Nf5+ Kxh5 51.Rxg7 Rf3 52.Ng3+ Kh6 53.Rd7 Nc3 54.Kg2 Rf4 55.Ra7 Rb4 56.Nf5+ Kg5 57.Ne3 Kg6 58.Ra6 Kf7 59.Kg3 Rb3 60.Ng4 Nd5+ 61.f3 a3 62.h4 Nb4

White played 63.Rxf6+? and lost as the rook could not get back in time. However, 63.Ra7+ Kg6 64.h5+ Kxh5 65.Nxf6+ and white will probably draw. Full analysis can be found in the games link below. 63... Ke7 64.Rf5 a2 65.Ra5 Rb1 66.Ra7+ Ke6 67.h5 a1Q 0-1.

GM Zhu Chen made the win look easier than it was against an in-form WGM Baira Kovanoval. Black defended well but her passive position eventually spelled dividends for white. The white pawn structure (g2-c6) from the 22nd move till the end of the game is quite special.

Zhu Chen (2488) - Kovanova,B (2408) [E32]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (7), 05.10.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d6 7.f3 Nh5 8.Nh3 f5 9.Nf2 Nc6 10.b3 e5 11.d5 Ne7 12.e3 Kh8 13.Bb2 f4 14.e4 b6 15.b4 a5 16.c5 Ng6 17.Rc1 axb4 18.axb4 bxc5 19.bxc5 Bd7 20.Ba3 Qg5 21.Rg1 Nh4 22.c6

One wonders if any reader can identify any game where there was a more extended pawn structure with g2-b7!? 22...Bc8 23.Rb1 h6 24.Bc1 Qe7 25.Ra1 Rb8 26.Ra7 Rb6 27.Kd1 Ng6 28.Bd2 Kh7 29.Kc2 Nf6 30.Bc4 Ne8 31.Be1 Rb8 32.Nd1 Qg5 33.Bf2 h5 34.Ra1 Ne7 35.Qa5 Qf6 36.Ra4 g5 37.Qa7 1-0.

Last but not least, we had another long draw between WGM Mungutuul and IM Lilit Mkrtchian. The Armenian player equalised early out of the opening but there were very little opportunities to create much in the game and a draw was a fair result.

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

Results and standings after round seven

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!