Khanty 08: Girya in hot pursuit

by Alejandro Ramirez
4/18/2014 – The big news of the day from Khanty-Mansiysk is Girya's victory against Muzychuk. This allows her to leapfrog over the Slovenian and she is now at striking distance from Hou Yifan; only one point away. This point can be quite decisive for the tournament as tomorrow is a rest day, but afterwards the battle between the leaders will take place. Report of an exciting round eight.

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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

Round 08 – April 17 2014, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, A 2527
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
0-1
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Stefanova, A 2489
½-½
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Ushenina, Anna 2501
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Zhao Xue 2552
½-½
Hou Yifan 2618
Girya, Olga 2450
1-0
Muzychuk, Anna 2560

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

Round 01 – April 9 2014, 14:00h
Stefanova, A 2489
½-½
Kosteniuk, A 2527
Ushenina, Anna 2501
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
Zhao Xue 2552
1-0
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Girya, Olga 2450
1-0
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
1-0
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Hou Yifan 2618
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Round 02 – April 10 2014, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, A 2527
0-1
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
0-1
Hou Yifan 2618
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
½-½
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
1-0
Girya, Olga 2450
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
1-0
Zhao Xue 2552
Stefanova, A 2489
1-0
Ushenina, Anna 2501
Round 03 – April 11 2014, 14:00h
Ushenina, Anna 2501
½-½
Kosteniuk, A 2527
Zhao Xue 2552
1-0
Stefanova, A 2489
Girya, Olga 2450
½-½
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Hou Yifan 2618
1-0
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
½-½
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Round 04 – April 12 2014, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, A 2527
1-0
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
½-½
Hou Yifan 2618
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
0-1
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
Stefanova, A 2489
½-½
Girya, Olga 2450
Ushenina, Anna 2501
½-½
Zhao Xue 2552
Round 05 – April 14 2014, 14:00h
Zhao Xue 2552
½-½
Kosteniuk, A 2527
Girya, Olga 2450
½-½
Ushenina, Anna 2501
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
½-½
Stefanova, A 2489
Hou Yifan 2618
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
0-1
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Round 06 – April 15 2014, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, A 2527
1-0
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
½-½
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Stefanova, A 2489
½-½
Hou Yifan 2618
Ushenina, Anna 2501
½-½
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
Zhao Xue 2552
0-1
Girya, Olga 2450
Round 07 – April 16 2014, 14:00h
Girya, Olga 2450
1-0
Kosteniuk, A 2527
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
1-0
Zhao Xue 2552
Hou Yifan 2618
1-0
Ushenina, Anna 2501
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
½-½
Stefanova, A 2489
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
0-1
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Round 08 – April 17 2014, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, A 2527
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Muminova, Nafisa 2321
0-1
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Stefanova, A 2489
½-½
Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Ushenina, Anna 2501
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Zhao Xue 2552
½-½
Hou Yifan 2618
Girya, Olga 2450
1-0
Muzychuk, Anna 2560
Round 09 – April 19 2014, 14:00h
Muzychuk, Anna 2560   Kosteniuk, A 2527
Hou Yifan 2618   Girya, Olga 2450
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496   Zhao Xue 2552
Tuvshintugs, B 2340   Ushenina, Anna 2501
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550   Stefanova, A 2489
Lagno, Kateryna 2543   Muminova, Nafisa 2321
Round 10 – April 20 2014, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, A 2527   Muminova, Nafisa 2321
Stefanova, A 2489   Lagno, Kateryna 2543
Ushenina, Anna 2501   Dzagnidze, Nana 2550
Zhao Xue 2552   Tuvshintugs, B 2340
Girya, Olga 2450   Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496
Muzychuk, Anna 2560   Hou Yifan 2618
Round 11 – April 21 2014, 11:00h
Hou Yifan 2618   Kosteniuk, A 2527
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2496   Muzychuk, Anna 2560
Tuvshintugs, B 2340   Girya, Olga 2450
Dzagnidze, Nana 2550   Zhao Xue 2552
Lagno, Kateryna 2543   Ushenina, Anna 2501
Muminova, Nafisa 2321   Stefanova, A 2489

Links

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.

Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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