Humpy in striking distance – showdown on Saturday

by ChessBase
3/4/2011 – In round ten of the Women Grand Prix in Doha the leading player, GM Elina Danielian of Armenia was outplayed by her Swedish colleague Pia Cramling, while Humpy Koneru, the hot contender for the right to challenge for the women's world championship later this year, took a full point from Lilit Mkrtchian. All is set for an exciting finish on Saturday. Note that the round begins three hours earlier!

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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 ten

 Ti.
Name
Rtg
Result
Ti.
Name
Rtg
GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
0-1
GM Zhu Chen 2495
GM Koneru Humpy 2607
1-0
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475
IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363
0-1
GM Xu Yuhua 2484
GM Cramling Pia 2516
1-0
GM Danielian Elina 2454
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
½-½
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
GM Sebag Marie 2489
½-½
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502

Elina Danielian (above left) played the Cambridge Springs Variation of the QGD against Pia Cramling, with the queens coming off the board by move 14. The Swedish GM used her bishop pair very effectivel and slowly overran the Armenian's defences with some very nice piece play. Danielian resigned after 59 moves.


A critical game: Humpy must win to keep her chances alive for a world championship challenge

Koneru,Humpy (2607) - Mkrtchian,Lilit (2475) [A46]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (10), 04.03.2011
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 d5 6.a4 b4 7.c4 bxc3 8.Nxc3 a5 9.Qb3 Ba6 10.Bf4 c6 11.Rfd1 Be7 12.Ne5 0-0 13.e4 Ra7 14.exd5 Rb7 15.Qc2 cxd5 16.Bf1 Bxf1 17.Kxf1 Ne8 18.Rac1 Qb6 19.Nd3 Qxd4 20.Nb5 Qb6 21.Be3 Qd8 22.Nc5 Rb6 23.Qd2 Nd6 24.Qxa5 Nf5 25.Bf4 Nc6 26.Qd2 Nd6 27.Nxd6 Bxd6 28.Be3 Ne5 29.b4 Qa8 30.Bf4 Nf3 31.Qd3 d4 32.Bxd6

Fritz tells us that Black has only one chance: 32...Rxd6 33.Qe4 Nxh2+ 34.Kg1! Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Ne5 36.Qxa8 Rxa8 37.a5, but with a position that is difficult to defend. However after 32...Nxh2+? White's task becomes easier: 33.Ke2 Rxd6 34.Rh1 (threatening an x-ray mate on h7) 34...e5 35.Rxh2 e4 36.Qc4 Qd8 37.Nxe4 d3+ 38.Kf1 Rd4 39.Qc6 Qe7 40.Rh4 f5 41.Nc3 Rxh4 42.gxh4 Qxh4 43.Rd1 Rd8 44.Rxd3 1-0.

Standings after ten rounds

Grand Prix standings

# Player
Ist
Nan
Nal
Jer
Ula
Total
worst
GP pts
GPs
1 Hou Yifan
120
130
70
160
480
70
410
4
2 Dzagnidze
130
100
160
390
-
390
3
3 Kosintseva,T
160
130
93.3
383.3
-
383.3
3
4 Koneru
160
70
93.3
323.3
-
323.3
3
5 Zhao Xue
90
110
40
93.3
333.3
40
293.3
4
6 Stefanova
45
93.3
130
268.3
-
268.3
3
7 Xu Yuhua
160
30
60
250
-
250
3
8 Danielian
120
10
93.3
223.3
-
223.3
3
9 Cramling
65
100
55
220
-
220
3
10 Mkrtchian
80
40
93.3
213
-
213
3
11 Sebag
80
80
30
190
-
190
3
12 Shen Yang
25
60
55
45
185
25
160
4
13 Chiburdanidze
45
40
70
155
-
155
3
14 Zhu Chen
30
70
45
145
-
145
3
15 Monguntuul
50
70
20
140
-
140
3
16 Kovanova
40
40
20
100
-
100
3
17 Fierro
65
20
10
95
-
95
3
18 Ju Wenjun
80
80
-
80
1
19 Yildiz
10
10
20
10
50
10
40
4
20 Mamedjarova
25
25
-
25
1

Here are the pairings for the final day:

Round ten (on Sat. March 5th at 12:00 noon local time)

 Ti.
Name
Rtg
Result
Ti.
Name
Rtg
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502
-
GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
-
GM Sebag Marie 2489
GM Danielian Elina 2454
-
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
GM Xu Yuhua 2484
-
GM Cramling Pia 2516
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475
-
IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363
GM Zhu Chen 2495
-
GM Koneru Humpy 2607

So here's the situation: Danielian may opt to take a short draw against Antoaneta Stefanova to secure at least equal first. Humpy needs to beat Zhu Chen with black in the last round in order to challenge the reigning world champion Hou Yifan in this year's championship match.

You can watch the games which start at noon Qatari time = 12:00 noon Moscow, 10:00 a.m. Berlin/Paris, 04:00 a.m. New York. You can find the exact starting time for other locations here.

All photos by Maria Bolshakova and Anastasiya Karlovich


Links

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