Nalchik GP: Zhao Xue with 9.5/10 with 3016 performance

The third stage of FIDE Women's Grand Prix cycle 2011-2012 is being staged from 8th to 23rd of October in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the Hotel Sindika. The playing days are October 9-12, 14-17, 19-21, the rounds start at 15.00h Moscow time (13:00h CEST, 7 a.m. New York)..

Round nine report

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Nadezhda Kosintseva vs Ekaterina Kovalevskaya: The duel between the Russian players players was a fascinating and uncompromising struggle to the end. They played 20 moves of a Rauzer with great speed, and it was only before her 21st move that Nadezhda started thinking for the first time. "I remembered it was necessary to transfer my king to g8, and the bishop to f8, but did not know when and what to do after that," she said. She also admitted she had overestimated the position. She came under pressure and around move 34 lost the thread completely. The game ended in a Black victory on move 45.

Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Alisa Galliamova: The second duel between Russian players ended with a victory for Kosteniuk. "The game was bright, fascinating and, obviously, not without mistakes," says the official bulletin. It ended soon after a fatal blunder (36 …Kh7) in time trouble in a very drawish position.

Antoaneta Stefanova vs Zhao Xue: The former world champion could not stop the tournament leader – the Chinese phenomenon outplayed her with the black pieces, without any help from mistakes, simply step by step, and with a flourish in the final phase. This victory put her three and a half point ahead of the field, with a 2993 performance.

• Full report on round nine here

Round ten report

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Only extreme examples can possibly compare to Zhao Xue’s result so far. This is no idle claim. 9.5/10 with a 3000+ performance, three and a half points ahead of the field. And she isn’t simply beating everyone, but beating them faster than anyone else as well. More than once her games were the first to finish, and not because of a quick draw. Round ten was yet another example, as she beat Tatiana Kosintseva in 29 moves, in impressive style. For anyone suspecting computer assistance, a perfectly understandable concern, it is worth adding that mistakes were made, and ones that could have cost her the win. But when it came to crunch time she had the goods when her opponents did not. Today’s win culminated in a beautiful winning sacrifice, that not only abandoned a rook, but took a pawn that seemed virtually untouchable. Analysis shows that it is winning in all variations. Superb.

Tatiana Kosintseva (the rueful lady on the left) and Super Woman Zhao Xue

Another Chinese player, Ju Wenjun, moved into sole second place with a black pieces win over her former compatriot (now living in Qatar) Zhu Chen. The game was a King's Indian in which Wenjun exerted relentless pressure, bringing down the former women's world champion in 69 moves.

Chinese WGM Ju Wenjun, above during the press conference, is now in second place

Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, who had shared the second place spot with Wenjun a round earlier, drew her game against compatriot Alisa Galliamova. Viktorija Cmilyte from Lithuania defeated Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine. With her 5.5/10 score she shares the 3rd-4th places with Ekaterina Kovalevskaya.

Batkhuyag Munguntuul from Mongolia (above) switche places at the bottom of the table with Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, whom she beat (and Alisa Galliamova). Nadezhda Kosintseva and Anoaneta Stefanova ended their game in a draw.

• Full report here

Current standings

Note that the final eleventh round of the competition will be played on Friday, October 21, and that unlike the previous days it will begin at 13:00h Moscow time. The most interesting game is bound to be Ju Wenjun vs Zhao Xue, the least interesting Tatiana Kosentseva vs Nadezhda Kosintseva, since the two sisters (like the Klitschko brothers) traditionally never fight against each other, but play a standard draw.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN – All ChessBase reports 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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