Lopota 10: Queenside Pawns!

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/1/2014 – In today's three decisive games, the queenside pawns were somehow the star of the battle. In Ju Wenjun-Muzychuk the Chinese player used her pair of bishops and active rook to wreck her opponents pawns, meanwhile Danielian and Humpy created passed pawns on that side to vanquish Zhao Xue and Muminova respectively. Hou Yifan's draw clinches the tournament, but second place is still open.

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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

Round 10 – June 30 2014, 15:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Koneru Humpy 2613
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Zhao Xue 2538
0-1
Danielian, Elina 2460
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Ju Wenjun 2532
1-0
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
½-½
Dronavalli Harika 2503

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

Round 01 – June 19 2014, 15:00h
Koneru Humpy 2613
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
Zhao Xue 2538
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Hou Yifan 2629
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Ju Wenjun 2532
1-0
Danielian, Elina 2460
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
½-½
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Dronavalli Harika 2503
½-½
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Round 02 – June 20 2014, 15:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
½-½
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
0-1
Dronavalli Harika 2503
Danielian, Elina 2460
½-½
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2532
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
0-1
Hou Yifan 2629
Koneru Humpy 2613
½-½
Zhao Xue 2538
Round 03 – June 21 2014, 15:00h
Zhao Xue 2538
0-1
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
Koneru Humpy 2613
Ju Wenjun 2532
1-0
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Dronavalli Harika 2503
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2460
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
1-0
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Round 04 – June 22 2014, 15:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
1-0
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Danielian, Elina 2460
1-0
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
0-1
Dronavalli Harika 2503
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
0-1
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
Koneru Humpy 2613
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2532
Zhao Xue 2538
0-1
Hou Yifan 2629
Round 05 – June 24 2014, 15:00h
Hou Yifan 2629
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
Ju Wenjun 2532
1-0
Zhao Xue 2538
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
1-0
Koneru Humpy 2613
Dronavalli Harika 2503
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2460
Round 06 – June 25 2014, 15:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2460
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
0-1
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
0-1
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Koneru Humpy 2613
1-0
Dronavalli Harika 2503
Zhao Xue 2538
0-1
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
Hou Yifan 2629
1-0
Ju Wenjun 2532
Round 07 – June 26 2014, 15:00h
Ju Wenjun 2532
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
0-1
Hou Yifan 2629
Dronavalli Harika 2503
½-½
Zhao Xue 2538
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
½-½
Koneru Humpy 2613
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
1-0
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Danielian, Elina 2460
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Round 08 – June 27 2014, 15:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2460
Koneru Humpy 2613
½-½
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Zhao Xue 2538
½-½
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
Dronavalli Harika 2503
Ju Wenjun 2532
½-½
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
Round 09 – June 29 2014, 15:00h
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
0-1
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
Dronavalli Harika 2503
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2532
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
0-1
Hou Yifan 2629
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
½-½
Zhao Xue 2538
Danielian, Elina 2460
1-0
Koneru Humpy 2613
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
1-0
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Round 10 – June 30 2014, 15:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518
Koneru Humpy 2613
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2332
Zhao Xue 2538
0-1
Danielian, Elina 2460
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532
Ju Wenjun 2532
1-0
Muzychuk, Anna 2561
Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
½-½
Dronavalli Harika 2503
Round 11 – July 01 2014, 13:00h
Dronavalli Harika 2503   Stefanova, Antoaneta 2488
Muzychuk, Anna 2561   Dzagnidze, Nana 2541
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2532   Ju Wenjun 2532
Danielian, Elina 2460   Hou Yifan 2629
Muminova, Nafisa 2332   Zhao Xue 2538
Khotenashvili, Bela 2518   Koneru Humpy 2613

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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