Lopota Rd4: Hou Yifan retakes lead

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 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 four

The day before the rest day, Hou Yifan decides to be the only one who sleeps well, by taking the lead while the others can sweat it. It was a bloody round as only one draw was scored, while five ended in decisive results. The foremost was Yifan who overpowered Zhao Xue and scored her third win in four games.

Hou Yifan is in excellent form

Her motto on the back of her shirt

The Georgian derby Bella Khotenashvili - Nana Dzagnidze was no less original. The strong GMs, and friends as well, soon entered uncharted territory when, in the Petrosian system of the Queens Indian, they were out of theory in less than ten moves.

Shortly before the time control...

Though Humpy Koneru and Ju Wenjun drew their game, the question was really whether the Chinese player had somehow missed a win somewhere.

Had Ju Wenjun won her game in round four, she would be sharing the lead

Chess is a game that requires lots of fuel

Although satisfied with the sustenance, Muzychuk lost to Danielian

As to Harika Dronavalli, she won her game against Muminova repeating the line played previously

In the game between former World Champions Antoaneta Stefanova was in the driver's seat the entire game against Alexandra Kosteniuk after a botched opening by the Russian. The Bulgarian tried to end the game with an attack, but it never came, and she squeezed in a long endgame for her point.

A study in handbags by Alina

Standings after four rounds

Round four 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.