Lopota 10: Queenside Pawns!

The fifth stage of the the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2013-2014 is taking place in Lopota, Georgia from the 19th of June until the 1st of July 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 Ten

Stefanova, Antoaneta ½-½ Khotenashvili, Bela
Not the most exciting game. The players agreed to repeat in an approximately equal position, but one that still had plenty of life in it. Stefanova must be happy with her performance in Lopota while Khotenashvili surely just wants this tournament to be over with.

Koneru, Humpy 1-0 Muminova, Nafisa
A relatively easy win for Humpy. In an equal position Muminova's horrendous 13...Na5? simply gave White a mobile pawn majority on the queenside that was impossible to stop, despite the many pieces still on the board. The Indian player marched her pawns on to victory.

Nafisa Muminova had great chances in the first four games, but her last rounds have been much less promising; except her win against Khotenashvili, of course.

Zhao Xue 0-1 Danielian, Elina
A much more complex game than Koneru-Muminova, but one that strikes a surprising similarity. Here too the winning side took advantage of a powerful passed pawn on the queenside to win the game. Black's passed c-pawn kept her opponent's bishop passive for the entirety of the game, and although the win was slow in coming the result of the game was never really in question.

A very important win for Danielian who moves to clear third place

Hou Yifan ½-½ Kosteniuk, Alexandra
A strange opening resulted in a strange queenless middlegame. Kosteniuk sacrificed a pawn to shatter Hou Yifan's structure but it is unclear if she received full compensation. The players repeated moves, but had Hou Yifan wanted to continue the game it is possible she had a slight and safe advantage with the move 21.Nd5!

Sealing the deal: Hou Yifan wins the event with a round to spare

A brief post-mortem for a brief game

Always glamorous: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Ju Wenjun 1-0 Muzychuk, Anna
Positionally one of the best games of the tournament. Ju Wenjun won the pair of bishops and patiently used their power to crush Muzychuk. It is hard to point even one move that the Chinese player made in this game that was inaccurate.

Anna Muzychuk hasn't had a bad tournament, but things haven't really gone her way either

Ju Wenjun is up 18 rating points and secures a GM-norm (how she is not a grandmaster yet is a mystery)

Dzagnidzde, Nana ½-½ Harika, Dronavalli
A super solid Lasker variation of the Orthodox Queen's Gambit Declined. A fight, but not the most spectator-friendly game. The draw was a logical conclusion from good play of both sides.

The players found many interesting resources in the postmortem

"We are always friends, no matter what happens on the board" - Harika Dronavalli
Today's game was a draw but not very friendly!

Standings after ten rounds

Round ten games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Photos and information by Alina l'Ami, 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.