From June 9 to 23, 2012 Kazan,
the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, will play host to the 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. Starting time of the games is 15:00h (check
your local time here).
Round four
In this round four players succeeded in winning their games. But the surprise
was that world champion Hou Yifan lost a second game in the tournament, this
time against Viktorija Cmilyte, and once again with the white pieces. The Chinese
player had some problems with development after the opening and got into trouble.
Viktorija Cmilyte got an advantage and converted the game into a better ending,
where the power of two bishops proved to be decisive.
Lithuanian GM Viktorija Cmilyte (right) in her game against GM Hou Yifan
of China
The reigning women's world champion is having a very bad spell
Elina Danielian (above right), playing with white against Tatiana Kosintseva,
sacrificed an exchange in the middle game and created strong attack on the black
king in return. With very little time left the Russian player could not find
an exact defence and had to resign on the 39th move.
Humpy Koneru (above right) and Betul Yildiz ran out of time in the endgame,
which looked more pleasant for black. But the Turkish player made a mistake
which immediately changed evaluation in favor of Humpy Koneru, who did not give
any chances to the opponent and converted her advantage into full point.
Alisa Galliamova (above left) lost her second game in a row. This time she
was defeated by Nadezhda Kosintseva, who used inaccurate play by her opponent
in the middle game.
Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk during round four
Two tense games Anna Muzychuk-Katerina Lahno and Alexandra Kosteniuk-Antoaneta
Stefanova ended in draws.
| GM |
Anna Muzychuk |
2598 |
½-½ |
GM |
Keteryna Lahno |
2546 |
| GM |
Alexandra Kosteniuk |
2457 |
½-½ |
GM |
Antoaneta Stefanova |
2518 |
| IM |
Alisa Galliamova |
2484 |
0-1 |
GM |
Nadezhda Kosintseva |
2528 |
| GM |
Hou Yifan |
2623 |
0-1 |
GM |
Viktorija Cmilyte |
2508 |
| GM |
Elina Danielian |
2484 |
1-0 |
GM |
Tatiana Kosintseva |
2532 |
| GM |
Humpy Koneru |
2589 |
1-0 |
WGM |
Betul Cemre Yildiz |
2333 |
Standings after four rounds of play
Replay all games of round four on our Javascript player
Video stream of the round
The Russian organisers are providing a HD video stream
of the action with expert commentary from Kazan. |
Photos and reports by Anastasiya Karlovich and Rashit Shiriyazdanov,
with kind permission of FIDE
