Women's
Grand Prix in Nalchik
The Third Women's Chess Grand Prix is taking place in Nalchik, Russia, from
April 25th (arrival) to May 8th (departure) 2010. Games start at 15:00 Local
Time (GMT+3).
Round four
Zhu Chen |
0-1 |
Hou Yifan |
Zhao Xue |
0-1 |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
Danielian Elina |
0-1 |
Cramling Pia |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
0-1 |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
Dzagnidze Nana |
1-0 |
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
Kovanova Baira |
½-½ |
Koneru Humpy |
Five decisive games out of six, four with the black pieces, were much to the
liking of the audience. Tatyana Kosintseva, who was leading after three rounds,
outplayed Munguntuul Batkhuyag from Mongolia on the black side of a Spanish
game; Nana Dzagnidze beat Betul Yildiz in an English Opening; Pia Cramling scored
her first win in this tournament on the balck side of a Slav Defense against
Elina Danielian from Armenia; Lilit Mkrtchian from Armenia also won with the
black pieces, in a quite unusual opening variation in Queen's Indian Defense,
but mainly due to a horrible oversight by the opponent.
Zhao Xue (2490) - Mkrtchian,L (2503) [E15]
FIDE GP w Nalchik RUS (4), 29.04.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 b5 6.cxb5 Bxb5 7.Bg2 Bb4+ 8.Bd2
a5 9.Bxb4 axb4 10.Qd2 Qe7 11.Qg5 d5 12.Qxg7 Rg8 13.Qh6 c5 14.Qd2 Nc6 15.a4 Ba6
16.Ra2 c4 17.bxc4 Bxc4 18.Rb2 Rxa4 19.0-0 Qd6 20.Rc1 Ke7 21.Ne5 Nxe5 22.dxe5
Qxe5 23.Rxb4 Rxb4 24.Qxb4+ Qd6 25.Qd2 Rb8 26.Nc3 Qe5 27.e3 Rb3 28.Qc2 Qb8 29.e4
Rb2 30.Qa4 Qb6
31.Nd1?? Ra2. Woops, the queen has no square and is lost.
0-1.
A similar tragedy – with a black rook deep on the white queenside –
struck former women's world champion Zhu Chen, who lives in Qatar, against the
16-year-old Chinese GM Hou Yifan. Zhu Chen equalised with ease in a Nimzo Indian
Defense, and after wasting a lot of time on her clock, blundered in a slightly
worse position.
Zhu Chen (2476) - Hou Yifan (2570) [E32]
FIDE GP w Nalchik RUS (4), 29.04.2010
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Qe8 7.b4 d6 8.Bb2
b6 9.Qf3 d5 10.Rc1 c6 11.e3 a5 12.bxa5 bxa5 13.Qd1 Ba6 14.Nf3 Nbd7 15.Bd3 Nb6
16.Nd2 Rb8 17.Bc3 Qe7 18.Ra1 Nxc4 19.Nxc4 dxc4 20.Be2 Nd5 21.Bxa5 Rb3 22.0-0
Rxa3 23.Qc2 Ra8
24.e4?? Nf4 25.Bf3 Rxf3! Can't be taken because of ...Qg5
and mate. 26.Bd2 and 0-1. Full
report here...
Round five
Koneru Humpy |
0-1 |
Zhu Chen |
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
0-1 |
Kovanova Baira |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
1-0 |
Dzagnidze Nana |
Cramling Pia |
½-½ |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
½-½ |
Danielian Elina |
Hou Yifan |
1-0 |
Zhao Xue |
Tatyana Kosintseva gained the upper hand against Nana Dzagnidze from Georgia
and consolidated the gap between herself and her competitors. The Russian chess
player stood at 4.5 points out of five and was ahead of her immediate pursuers
by 1.5 points. Hou Yifan played a fine game against her compatriot, Grand Prix
series leader Zhao Xue. Yifan used a new scheme in the well-known Spanish game
and created difficult riddles for her opponent to solve. The rating favorite
of the tournament, Humpy Koneru from India, played white against Zhu Chen from
Qatar, got into trouble right in the opening and made a serious mistake on the
25th move.
Koneru,H (2622) - Zhu Chen (2476) [D30]
FIDE GP w Nalchik RUS (5), 30.04.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 a6 5.Bg2 dxc4 6.0-0 Nc6 7.e3 Bd7 8.Qe2
b5 9.Rd1 Rb8 10.e4 Be7 11.d5 exd5 12.e5 Ne4 13.Rxd5 Nc5 14.Be3 Nd3 15.Bh3 Bxh3
16.Rxd8+ Rxd8 17.Ng5 Bxg5 18.Bxg5 Rd5 19.Qe4 Ndb4 20.Nd2 Rxe5 21.Qh4 Be6 22.Nf3
Rd5 23.Bd2 Nc2 24.Rd1 N6d4 25.Qe4??
25...f5 and the queen is trapped (26.Qh4 Nxf3+) 0-1.
Full
report here...
Round six
Zhu Chen |
½-½ |
Zhao Xue |
Danielian Elina |
0-1 |
Hou Yifan |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
1-0 |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
Dzagnidze Nana |
½-½ |
Cramling Pia |
Kovanova Baira |
0-1 |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
Koneru Humpy |
1-0 |
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
Tatyana Kosintseva from Russia scored her fifth win, playing with black against
her compatriot, Baira Kovanova. Hou Yifan beat Elina Danielian with black to
remain in second place, 1.5 points behind Kosintseva. Top seed Humpy Koneru
beat Betul Yildiz from Turkey to reach 50% in this disappointing tournament.
Full
report here...
Round seven
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
0-1 |
Zhu Chen |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
½-½ |
Koneru Humpy |
Cramling Pia |
1-0 |
Kovanova Baira |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
½-½ |
Dzagnidze Nana |
Hou Yifan |
1-0 |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
Zhao Xue |
1-0 |
Danielian Elina |
The 7th round started off with a minute of silence in memory of FIDE’s
ex-president, Florencio Campomanes. The Grand Prix leader, Zhao Xue, who suffered
three discouraging defeats at the start of the tournament, finally scored her
first win, against Elina Danielian from Armenia.
Hou Yifan scored her fourth victory in a row, playing with white against Munguntuul
Batkhuyag from Mongolia. Having outplayed her opponent in the opening, Yifan
only had to make proper use of her palpable advantage, which she eventually
did and with much confidence too, crowning the game with an attack on the enemy
king.
The leader of the tournament, Tatyana Kosintseva, playing the white side of
a Chelyabinsk Variation against the rating favorite, Humpy Koneru, failed to
gain material advantage. The Russian player sacrificed an exchange but did not
get full compensation in return. At one point the Indian player had an opportunity
of ensuring a better endgame for herself but missed it. Tatyana led the game
to a forced draw.
Pia Cramling of Sweden, playing white, used a fairly unusual formation in the
English Opening, which left her opponent, Baira Kovanova, surprised. White gained
solid advantage already by the 16th move and continued to build the pressure.
Black’s attempt to risk counterplay only helped speed the game up toward
the denouement. The Swedish player scored a win on the 36th move. Full
report here...
Standings after seven rounds

Pictures and interviews

Tournament leader Tatiana Kositnseva
Kosintseva: My opponent gave me a big surprise today in the
opening by choosing the Tchelyabinsk Variation in the Sicilian Defence. She
never played like that before. I opted for a sacrifice variation. She made a
strong move, 24...Kh8, and I made a mistake by playing 25.d7. I should have
played positionally after 25.f4 f6 26.fxe5 fxe5. My position became worse after
25.d7 but my opponent played wrong as well, and so the game ended in a draw.
I’m going to keep playing the same way as I’ve played so far and
give all I’ve got to win each game, because the gap isn’t really
that large. I’ll try not to think about points and just play.

Indian GM and top seed Humpy Koneru
Humpy: My mother isn’t a professional player. But she
knows the moves and currently she is a housewife, she supports and encourages
me constantly. The whole of my family is interested in sports activities. My
sister also used to play chess: she gained the second category but then gave
it up. My mother used to accompany me to tournaments, but now my father does
it. The beginning of this event wasn’t good for me, and I was disappointed
by the game with Zhu Chen. That’s why I decided not to go anywhere on
the free day. But now I hope to be back to the front.

Chinese wondergirl Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan: Both the knockout and the round robin systems are
good for me. I gained a wealth of experience at the world championship, but
this current tournament demands more responsibility. Anyway, both of the tournaments
are important and interesting for me. My mother plays chess, but not professionally,
and father can’t accompany me because of work, that’s why usually
my mother does it. I don’t like travelling alone. When I am with my coach,
he helps me in chess. When I travel with my mother, she helps me in my daily
life. I feel comfortable with both of them.
I like Nalchik very much, because the air is fresher than in China, the vegetation
is beautiful and very green. People are very kind. It is nice here. The local
food is good, but usually I prefer the Chinese. I like swimming and also I am
fond of skipping-rope. I like learning something new, now I am studying English.
Of course I spend a lot of time with the computer – that’s why I
am a person wearing spectacles.

Betul Yildiz from Turkey
Betul: I live in Izmir. It is on the third largest city in
our country – Istanbul is on the first one, Ankara is on the second, and
then comes Izmir. It is the most modern city in Turkey. I am studying at the
University that is why I have not got so much time playing chess. One day before
coming here I passed the last exams. I am going to become a lawyer.
The members of my family are chess amateurs and I learnt the game when I was
watching them play. My elder brother didn’t want to play with me. Then
I went to the chess club at school and I didn’t tell him about it. And
now usually I refuse if he asks me to play with him. GM Andrian Mikhalchishin
is my trainer since 2006. He is the coach of the Turkish chess women team, and
he helps me during tournaments.
Yes, I drive a car. It is Peugeot. I like it very much, the color is grey.
I am not a girl who has red or pink colors. Yes, I like shopping – all
girls like shopping. But not so much as others. I am a fan of the Turkish cuisine.
I like your food too, but in China the dishes are terrible for me. To tell the
truth I have a sweet tooth.

Grand Prix leader Zhao Xue
Zhao Xue: I’ll try to forget about the results and simply
do all I can to succeed. I was lucky today. The position was unclear, nothing
special, but at some point my opponent just sacrificed her queen, and that was
the wrong choice. I’m really happy because this is my first win at the
tournament. I am very sad at the death of Florencio Campomanes. I met him at
the men’s team world cup in Israel in 2005, and I have a photo of him
together with our team.
Remaining schedule
04.05.2010 |
10th day: Round 8 |
05.05.2010 |
11th day: Round 9 |
06.05.2010 |
12 day Round 10 |
07.05.2010 |
13th day: Round 11 & Closing Ceremony |
08.05.2010 |
14th day: Departure |
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 the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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