Kosteniuk wins Women's Grand Prix in Munich

Alexandra Kosteniuk had her fair share of luck at the Women's Grand Prix at the Kempinski Hotel in Munich. The Women's World Champion from 2008 started with four wins, but admitted herself that the results were better than her games.

Chess queen Alexandra Kosteniuk

In the following rounds, Kosteniuk was close to losing in a couple of games but could always save the games. Particularly valuable was her tenth round draw against her closest rival Humpy Koneru, who was winning against Kosteniuk but failed to convert.

The playing hall

In the last round Kosteniuk faced the young Chinese player Zhu Jiner. But would Kosteniuk's one-point-lead be enough?

Humpy Koneru

That would have given Humpy Koneru the chance to draw level with Alexandra Kosteniuk if she had won against the other Chinese player in the field, Tan Zhongyi. But that game was already over and drawn when Kosteniuk suffered her first defeat in the tournament.

In the Schlechter Defence of the Slav, Tan Zhongyi didn't give her opponent any winning chances and then had no trouble to draw the equal endgame.

At the end of a tournament, a lot of the players often no longer have much ambition and do not want to fight for the full point. Anna Muzychuk and Zhansaya Abdumalik found a repetition on move 17, something which Nana Dzagnidze and Harika Dronavalli had managed in eleven moves.

The two German players spent more time at their tables. Dinara Wagner found herself in a tight spot after the opening against Mariya Muzychuk, but was able to free herself and offered a draw on move 30, which was accepted.

But Alina Kashlinskaya and Elisabeth Pähtz played a full-blooded game until they wound up in an endgame with queens and bishops, in which both players had no realistic winning chances.