Jermuk R11: Hou Yifan loses final game, wins Grand Prix

From July 16 to 29, 2012 the southern Armenian hamlet of Jermuk played host to the Fifth FIDE Women's Grand Prix, part of a series of elite events organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be six tournaments over two years in various countries around the world. The winner of each tournament takes home 6,500 Euros, the total prize fund is 40,000 Euros. The overall winner will get a further 15,000 Euros at the end of the series.

IMs Lilit Mkrtchian and Nino Khurtsidze discuss their game (which Lilit won)

The first game to finish was an attractive game between Mkrtchian and Khurtsidze. White didn’t get much out of the relatively quiet opening, however in the middlegame, Mkrtchian launched a kingside attack pushing her f and g-pawns. Under this pressure, Black stumbled which allowed White to complete a decisive attack.

A tense affair was seen in the clash between Ju Wenjun and Humpy Koneru. The opening led to a balanced position, White pressed forward in a risky, and even inaccurate, fashion. Black was up to the task, addressing first the neutralization of White’s threats, and then, making use of her positional advantage, won the game in an elegant manner.

White scored an impressive victory in the game between IM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (left) and GM Zhao Xue, discussing their game with Aghasi Inants. While Black was able to exit the opening phase without problems, in the middlegame the two sides began a series of sharp moves resulting in a fluctuating assessment of the position on the board. Despite the difficult-to-gauge nature of the position, it was White who demonstrated a better reaction to the dynamics at hand. At a critical stage, Black blundered and White made no mistake in benefiting from the opportunity.

Kateryna Lahno vs Hou Yifan saw the Ukrainian come out on top after a subtle game against the reigning world champion. The opponents assayed a rare variation in which White had very little advantage. As Black eschewed a choosing passive defensive setup, she sacrificed a pawn for activity. In the subsequent maneuvering phase, Black made some imprecise moves and White was able to nurse the advantage to victory in this important clash.

The encounter between Nadezhda Kosintseva (left) and Ruan Lufei started out as a quiet affair. In fact, the middlegame continued in the same vein, with equality dominating the chessboard. At a certain point in the struggle, Black had to play a simple move to maintain the parity, but instead in time trouble made a fatal mistake.

A wild ending was seen in the game between Batkhuyag Munguntuul (above) and Elina Danielian, where the Mongolian participant was seeking her first win. White embarked on a relatively rare variation in the opening, but Black was able to parry White’s ideas and achieve a balanced position. In the next phase of the game, however, Black played a bit indecisively and White had an opportunity to leap ahead with a big advantage, but missed this chance.

Summary commentary of the round

This analysis is porovided by Aghasi Inants in Armenian and translated into English by and Aram Hajian.

Final standings (after eleven rounds)

Closing dinner for the players: Batkhuyag, Khurtsidze, Kovalevskaya, Kosintseva, Lahno, Danielian

... Humpy, Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun and Ruan Lufei

... posing with her check and runners up Nadezhda Kosintseva and Kateryna Lahno

Photos by Arman Karakhanyan

Schedule and results

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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.