Fighting for a spot in the Candidates: Gibraltar Women’s GP

An important event in a well-known venue

After delaying the event for a second time, FIDE announced that Gibraltar will host the final stage of the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix from May 22 to June 2.

Hosting this prestigious event opens a new chapter in Gibraltar’s continued tradition of supporting chess, in general, and the best female chess players, in particular. 

Since the inception of the Gibraltar Chess Festival in 2003, almost all the world’s top female players have taken part, including the greatest woman player of all time, Judit Polgar, as well as a total of seven Women’s World Champions. 

The Caleta Hotel, a traditional venue for this annual gathering of great minds, will be turned into an isolated environment to ensure the safety of the participants, and avoid any risks associated with COVID-19. There will be no other guests in the hotel during the entire duration of the event apart from the participants and the organizing team, and the competition will be held subject to and in accordance with Gibraltar Government Health Protocols.

The Accelerated Dragon - a sharp weapon against 1.e4

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6! leads to the so-called "Accelerated Dragon Defense". On this DVD the Russian grandmaster and top women player Nadezhda Kosintseva reveals the secrets of her favourite opening.

The Minister for Sport, Hon Steven Linares, expressed his satisfaction about bringing this event to Gibraltar:

Our commitment to chess is clear for all to see, and hosting the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix locally just reinforces this pledge. The fact that FIDE has entrusted Gibraltar with the 4th stage of the series is a testament to the hard work that has ensured that we are considered a worthy organizer and reliable host. This is in no small part due to the tireless efforts of the team at the Caleta Hotel who have organized and developed the Gibraltar International Chess Festival and its junior version into what are now recognized as world-class events.

All the participants of the third leg of the Women’s Grand Prix, played in Lausanne in March last year | Photo: David Llada

The race to the Candidates

In the race to get the qualifying spots to the Candidates, only a miracle would leave Humpy Koneru out of the top two (Goryachkina is already qualified as the latest World Championship challenger), while Nana Dzagnidze and Kateryna Lagno became the front-runners in the struggle to get the second ticket — notice that Kosteniuk will not play the fourth leg.

Overall standings of the Women's Grand Prix series:

How to play the Sicilian Defence!

The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.

Links

• Official site
• All news on the Lausanne GP
• All news on the Monaco GP
• All news on the Skolkovo GP