Sharjah 04: And then there was one

The sixth and final stage of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2013-2014 is taking place at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club, (UAE) from the 24th of August until the 7th of September 2014. Over eleven rounds, twelve of the strongest women players in the world will compete in the round robin tournament with the standard FIDE time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes being added at that point and an additional 30 seconds per move through the entire game.

Round Four

Zhao Xue ½-½ Dronavalli Harika
An interesting game. White's attack on the kingside culminated with a piece sacrifice, but the Indian player completely ignored it in order to create her own center counterplay. With neither side crashing through the complications ended in some simplifcations; and oddly a quiet and drawish endgame.

A well played and hard-fougt draw

Koneru Humpy 0-1 Hou Yifan
A nearly perfect game from the World Champion. Black somehow obtained the slightest of edges in the opening thanks to her piece activity, and Black was only a minor bit better in the endgame; but somehow this was enough for Hou Yifan to play like a machine and take a full important point with Black against the number two seed.

Nothing that Humpy could do: Hou Yifan played perfectly today

Kosintseva, Tatiana ½-½ Muminova, Nafisa
A very long and hard-fought game. Muminova chose a variation that sacrifices a piece for two pawns, and although the theoretical value of the sacrifice is questionable, the practical difficulties posed by it are hard to solve over the board. After a very drawn out series of maneuvers White counter-sacrificed her piece, but obtained a good position and eventually won a pawn. Kosintseva surely had a winning endgame with her good knight and extra pawn, but she botched it up horribly and Muminova escaped with a draw.

Muminova escapes by the skin of her teeth, like her opponent did against her last round. Karma?

Ushenina, Anna 1-0 l'Ami, Alina
In a normal middle game position l'Ami went out with two unfortunate sorties: one with the queen to a5 and on the other side of the board with a knight to h5. The combination of these two moves left her center too vulnerable to White's pieces and her position fell apart surprisingly quickly.

Alina l'Ami and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs share (chess) war stories before the round

Ju Wenjun 1-0 Danielian, Elina
It's hard ot say exactly what happened in this game. Ju Wenjun was completely winning with an extra pawn, the initiative and a better position, but she blundered her advantage away and was even worse. Then, in an endgame where Black had a bishop for two pawns, it seems as if she forgot that pawns can move forward and threaten to queen. Somehow or another Danielian lost track of White's h-pawn and it basically just queened. Very strange.

She'll take it! Ju Wenjun is the new leader

A new definition of j'adoube

Zhu Chen 0-1 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg
Another game that went completely the wrong way. Zhu Chen's pressure in the endgame netted her a pawn and she realistic winning changes, but she botched it up slightly and allowed Tuvshintugs to escape with a draw. However, that was not enough, somehow Zhu Chen confused herself even further and lost a pawn, lost track of it and lost the game.

Zhu Chen, like l'Ami, is on 0.0/4, but on the other hand Batchimeg has been a revelation this tournament with a 2700 performance and winning 19 rating points!

Round Four Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Photos of Round Four by Maria Emelianova

Pairings and Schedule

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.