Khanty 08: Girya in hot pursuit

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 Eight

Kosteniuk, Alexandra ½-½ Lagno, Kateryna
A truly wild game! It is almost impossible to make out all of the complicated variations in this dual attack game. Kosteniuk went after Lagno's throat, taking piece after piece with check! However the Ukrainian had her own ideas, making an unstoppable passed pawn on a2 on move 20! The game ended in an exciting perpetual check as Kosteniuk could not checkmate in time... A wonderful struggle!

Alexandra Kosteniuk focusing before a thrilling encounter

Muminova, Nafisa 0-1 Dzanigdze, Nana
Muminova blundered away an excellent chance to go for a hat trick as she obtained a crushing attack against Dzagnidze. However she misplayed it horribly and she even managed to lose the game in a tragic turn of events.

Clearly dangerous, Nafisa Muminova was close to another win today

Stefanova, Atoaneta ½-½ Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg
This game was somewhat strange. Stefanova used one of her usual sideline openings to obtain a decent position that quickly turned for the worse. However the Mongolian player was unable to fully use White's bishop that was stuck on a7, and slowly but surely her position got worse and worse. Stefanova had a beautiful chance to obtain a clear edge with 29.Qf3! but once this chance was missed the game was close to equal.

Missing some chances this event: Antoaneta Stefanova

Ushenina, Anna 1-0 Kosintseva, Tatiana
The game was even all throughout, with Kosintseva having compensation for her isolated pawn in the form of two bishops. An interesting strategical struggle was marred by a horrible miscalculation by the Russian player, who surely thought she was winning only to miss a mating attack by her opponent.

Tatiana Kosintseva might have been too distracted by the crazy Kosteniuk-Lagno game

Zhao Xue ½-½ Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan employed the same system she used against Stefanova earlier, except now Zhao Xue's pawn was not on d4 just yet. This gave both players interesting possibilities, and Zhao Xue sacrificed a pawn for a small initiative. This was never full compensation for the pawn, but it was enough to hold equality on most lines and eventually the game turned into a drawish endgame.

The Chinese duel finished in a simple draw

Hou Yifan will face Girya tomorrow after the rest day, what will she have in store?

Girya, Olga 1-0 Muzychuk, Anna
The game of the day, absolutely the most important for standings. Girya exhibited great chess, converting a small advantage from the opening into a large positional one, eventually landing herself in a rook endgame up a pawn. Girya was able to break through Muzychuk's very stubborn defense in a marathon 79 move game!

A key game: Olga Girya vanquished Anna Muzychuk

Round Eight 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.