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Women's
Grand Prix in NalchikThe 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).
Zhu Chen |
0-1 |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
Dzagnidze Nana |
1-0 |
Danielian Elina |
Kovanova Baira |
1-0 |
Zhao Xue |
Koneru Humpy |
½-½ |
Hou Yifan |
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
0-1 |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
1-0 |
Cramling Pia |
Tatiana Kosintseva defeated Pia Cramling, who was trailing her by one point and could have caught her with a victory.
Cramling tried to do this with a surprise Rauser, but it turned out that her opponent knew the line well and played a long theoretical variation to reach a better endgame and ultimately victory. This meant that Kosintseva had 8.0/10, a point and a half ahead of the field, and thus had won the tournament before the last round could begin.
The winner with one round to go: Tatiana Kosintseva
Tatyana: "It was a very tough game. Pia gave me a big surprise in the opening – I hadn’t expected a Rauser. A long forced variation followed. I think I chose quite an acceptable continuation and ensure and was paid off with a good endgame where I had and advantage of two bishops. In the end, on the 40th move, Black played f3. I think it’s a pretty good chance involving a passed pawn. But then it would have been a better option to play 42…Nf8 which would maintain advantage on White’s side but might promise good chances for an escape at the same time."
Pia Cramling: "It was really a rather unpleasant endgame. White had pair of bishops available, and one had to play with caution. At some moment I made the wrong moves. There were some tactical complications after f3, and a few chances to secure a draw still remained – I just shouldn’t have played f8 with my knight on the 42nd move."
Zhu Chen, one of the leaders, was defeated by...
... the Mongolian player Munguntuul Batkhuyag
Baira Kovanova of Russia beat...
... Grand Prix leader Zhao Xue in an extremely dramatic game
Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan survived her game against top seed Humpy Koneru
Hou Yifan, playing black against top seed Humpy Koneru, equalized with ease and then decided not to force a draw but instead made a few bad moves to find herself in a rook endgame a pawn down. But the plucky young Chinese GM held and the marathon 75-move game was drawn.
A disappointing event for top seed Humpy Koneru, India
Cramling Pia |
1-0 |
Zhu Chen |
Mkrtchian Lilit |
0-1 |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
Hou Yifan |
1-0 |
Yildiz Betul Cemre |
Zhao Xue |
1-0 |
Koneru Humpy |
Danielian Elina |
0-1 |
Kovanova Baira |
Munguntuul Batkhuyag |
½-½ |
Dzagnidze Nana |
The winner by 1.5 points: GM Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia
In the final round the remarkable Ms Kosintseva beat Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia to finish on 9.0/11 and a 2735 performance.
Second in Nalchik, leading in the Grand Prix: Chines GM Hou Yifan
The next-best player, Hou Yifan of China, beat the Turkish player Betul Yildiz and ended with 7.5/11 and a 2601 performance. In equal third were Nana Dzagnidze and Pia Cramling, both with 7.0/11, with Dzagnidze higher on tiebreak points.
The most heavily photographed participant in Nalchik...
... Betul Yildiz, here with her lucky, lucky trainer GM Adrian Mikhalchishin
At the closing ceremony Tatiana Kosintseva receives a check of 6,500 Euros...
... and a dashing bridegroom from the Caucasus Mountains (just kidding,
obviously!)
The newly crowned queen of chess addresses the audience...
... as does FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
All photos by Ilya Akhobekov, Eldar Mukhametov, courtesy of FIDE
Here are the latest standings in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix
| Rank |
Name |
Istanbul |
Nanjing |
Nalchik |
Total |
Events |
| 1 |
Hou, Yifan |
120 |
|
130 |
250 |
2 |
| 2 |
Zhao, Xue |
90 |
120 |
40 |
250 |
3 |
| 3 |
Dzagnidze, Nana |
|
130 |
100 |
230 |
2 |
| 4 |
Koneru, Humpy |
160 |
|
70 |
230 |
2 |
| 5 |
Cramling, Pia |
65 |
|
100 |
165 |
2 |
| 6 |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
|
|
160 |
160 |
1 |
| 7 |
Xu, Yuhua |
|
160 |
|
160 |
1 |
| 8 |
Sebag, Marie |
80 |
80 |
|
160 |
2 |
| 9 |
Danielian, Elina |
120 |
|
10 |
130 |
2 |
| 10 |
Monguntuul, Batkhuyag |
|
50 |
70 |
120 |
2 |
| 11 |
Zhu Chen |
|
30 |
70 |
100 |
2 |
| 12 |
Shen, Yang |
25 |
60 |
|
85 |
2 |
| 13 |
Fierro, Martha. |
65 |
20 |
|
85 |
2 |
| 14 |
Mkrtchian, Lilit |
|
80 |
|
80 |
1 |
| 15 |
Ju, Wenjun |
|
80 |
|
80 |
1 |
| 16 |
Kovanova Baira |
|
40 |
40 |
80 |
2 |
| 17 |
Chiburdanidze, Maia |
45 |
|
|
45 |
1 |
| 18 |
Stefanova, Antoaneta |
45 |
|
|
45 |
1 |
| 19 |
Yildiz, Betul Cemre |
10 |
10 |
20 |
40 |
3 |
| 20 |
Mamedjarova, Zeinab |
25 |
|
|
25 |
1 |
LinksThe 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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