Sharjah 08: Not many changes

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 Eight

Psychically infusing the pawn with more powers?

Energy for the players!

Some less healthy than others...

Zhao Xue ½-½ Kosintseva, Tatiana
An extremely sharp King's Indian Defense. White's attack on the queenside was much quicker than Black's, but Kosintseva was not without counterplay. It is possible that at some point White had a winning continuation, but the position was so murky that it was difficult to find. The draw was probably a little lucky for Kosintseva, but not an unfair result.

A collection of local newspaper articles of the tournament!

Ushenina, Anna ½-½ Koneru Humpy
White's approach against the Ragozin even left her in a worse position, but not by much. Black had some pressure thanks to her powerful knight on f4 but it was not enough to give her a clear attack direction. The resulting mass trades in the queenside liquidated the game into a draw.

Anna had to defend today, but she was never in any real danger

Zhu Chen ½-½ Dronavalli Harika
White obtained very little in this Queen's Gambit Declined, but she could still have tried to play on in the final position instead of taking a quick repetition.

Harika giving Zhu Chen "the look"

Ju Wenjun ½-½ Hou Yifan
It didn't seem as if either side tried to hard to win. All the pieces came off and a draw was agreed past the 30 move mark.

They went through the motions, but it wasn't a very hard fought game

Danielian, Elina 1-0 Muminova, Nafisa
Danielian's choice of opening was spot-on as Muminova clearly was not familiar with the plans of the position. She quickly lost the pair of bishops and conceded the open c-file, more than enough for White to have an almost decisive advantage. Danielian put her pieces where they belonged and scooped an easy victory.

Nafisa was no match for her opponent today

Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 1-0 l'Ami, Alina
Black basically did everything right. Her opening netted her a good pawn structure with decent counter-chances; and a complex middle game emerged. White's control of the b-file and space advantage was compensated by Black's active queen and Tuvshintug's shattered pawn structure. Just when things were heating up and looking good for l'Ami, she blundered badly and lost a piece, effectively ending the game.

Batchimeg can be happy with the gift she received. She's solidly in third place now!

Alina has been very unlucky this tournament

Round Eight Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Photos by Maria Emelianova and A. Karlovich

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.