Khanty 05: Relative Peace

The fourth stage of the the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2013-2014 is taking place at the Ugra Chess Academy, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from the 8th of April until the 22nd of April 2014. It is a twelve-player round robin with time controls of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes plus an additional 30 seconds per move for the rest of the game. The total prize fund is 60,000, with the winner getting 10,000 Euro.

Round Five

Round five in action

Zhao Xue ½-½ Kosteniuk, Alexandra
In an unsual game, Zhao Xue never moved her e or d pawns! She aggressively pushed forward on the queenside, but Kosteniuk was able to defend quite well and the game was equal throughout. It finished in a perpetual check after Zhao Xue sacrificed a knight to force the draw.

Alexandra Kosteniuk broke out of the bind on the
queenside and held equality throughout the game

Girya, Olga ½-½ Ushenina, Anna
Ushenina used the Cambridge Springs defense to equalize without problems against Girya. Slowly, the Ukrainian player outplayed her opponent and she obtained a winning position. However, when the time to strike came, Ushenina again missed her chance (31..Nb1! instead of 31...Rf3?) and she was unable to convert. This seems to be a constant in Ushenina's games this tournament.

Olga Girya survived thanks to her opponent's missteps

Muzychuk, Anna ½-½ Stefanova, Antoatneta
Muzychuk obtained nothing from her Scotch Opening and Stefanova was able to trade many pieces and reach an easily drawn rook endgame.

A victory would have been very important today for Anna Muzychuk,
but Stefanova's defense was too solid

Antoaneta Stefanova will face Hou Yifan tomorrow with White

Hou Yifan 1-0 Muminova, Nafisa
The World Champion used an interesting pawn sacrifice in the Catalan for serious compensation. Muminova was never able to really push White's pieces back, despite the fact that her position lacked any real weaknesses. Eventually it was these problems she had with her pieces that cost her the game as her rook, bishop and queen were completely tied down and useless. A very clean game by Hou Yifan.

A cheerful Nafisa was unable to hold against the
World Champion, who played a great game

Will anyone be able to catch Hou Yifan?

Kosintseva, Tatiana ½-½ Lagno, Kateryna
Kosintseva's pawn sacrifice out of the opening netted her a slight initiative on the light squares, fueled by the presence of opposite colored bishops. However Lagno's Sveshnikov-type structure provided her plenty of counterplay, she sacrificed her extra pawn back to force and endgame that she had no problems holding.

It's still early in the tournament, but Tatiana Kosintseva will need more wins to catch
up on the leaderboards and sum some Grand Prix points

Kateryna Lagno is tied with many others at 2.5/5

Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 0-1 Dzagnidze, Nana
A marathon game, which finished at the 98th move! Tuvshintugs found herself down a pawn but with some compensation, making the game very murky. Black's awkward bishop and unsafe king made conversion very difficult. At some point Dzagnidze could have finished the game off after Tuvshintugs blundered, but she didn't see the winning combination in time pressure. Eventually they reached a drawn queen endgame, and in a bizarre decision Tuvshintugs played a random move instead of forcing a perpetual check. Dzanigdze took her small advantage and outplayed the Mongolian from then on, winning the game.

Nana Dzagnidze converted her extra pawn in a very long queen endgame

Round Five Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Photos by Nikolay Bochkarev, from the official website

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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.