Sharjah 09: Ju Wenjun leads, Hou Yifan wins GP

by Alejandro Ramirez
9/4/2014 – With a fantastic and risky game Ju Wenjun was able to vanquish Harika with the Black pieces, leaving her as the sole leader of the Sharjah Grand Prix. Hou Yifan drew against Danielian, which puts her three points ahead of Humpy and with two rounds to go this means that the World Champion is now also the 2013-2014 Grand Prix series Winner. Report of a very well fought round.

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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 Nine

Round 09 – September 04 2014, 15:00h
l'Ami, Alina 2446
0-1
Zhao Xue 2508
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
½-½
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
Hou Yifan 2661
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2490
Dronavalli Harika 2521
0-1
Ju Wenjun 2559
Koneru Humpy 2598
½-½
Zhu Chen 2461
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
0-1
Ushenina, Anna 2487

l'Ami, Alina 0-1 Zhao Xue
A tactically complicated game, despite the symmetricla pawn structures. White and Black's knights were always hanging in different variations, and only accurate calculation was necessary to navigate the lines. Both sides erred at some point, but it was l'Ami's bad decision to not trade dark-squared bishops that caused her real problems. With the removal of the knight from d4 her kingside was too weak and Zhao Xue lunged for a quick checkmating attack with knights and queen.

A few players got Henna tatoos on their day off.
We will bring you a report of their rest day before round ten.

Muminova, Nafisa ½-½ Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg
The battle of superior pawn structure and space against the two bishops is a typical one for the Rossolimo Sicilian. Tuvshintugs was able to achieve her c5 break, but it cost her even more problems in the pawn structure after Muminova's accurate 25.Nce5! The game ended in a draw after Muminova could not see any ways to create additional pressure.

The battle of the lowest rated players was relatively even, and with this draw
Batchimeg keeps her third place only one point away from Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan ½-½ Danielian, Elina
An even game all through-out. Hou Yifan chose a variation that gives White a risk-free but minimal edge, and Danielian defended excellently, never allowing the World Champion any real winning attempts. The double-edged rook endgame was well handled by both sides and the game ended in a draw.

Danielian still has to play the two Indian players, but she has had a good result so far

Hou Yifan clinches the Grand Prix series with this
draw as Humpy mathematically cannot catch her

Her prize is one of these tropies. The little one is for her, the big one goes to FIDE offices.

Dronavalli Harika 0-1 Ju Wenjun
A very brave game from Ju Wenjun. Her opening delayed development for a long time and it seemed as if the Indian player could take advantage of this by opening up the position. However Black was able to keep all pawn trades under control and was in no real danger, even though she had to king walk from e8 to a7 (without castling!). One her king was safe the superior pawn structure on the board left her with a clear advantage that she masterfully converted.

Ju Wenjun's boldness paid off with a beautiful win

Kosintseva, Tatiana 0-1 Ushenina, Anna
Ushenina's excellent use of tactics in the middle-game left her with a superior pawn structure going into the endgame. She traded off ever piece into a superior knight vs. bishop endgame which she accurately assessed and converted. The king on e3 was the d4 pawn's only defender and that meant that Kosintseva's position was too passive to deal with the invading king on the queenside. A nice game from the Ukrainian player.

Anna dominated her opponent in
every phase of the gaming, finally converting in a long endgame

Koneru Humpy ½-½ Zhu Chen
Humpy never achieved much from the opening, and after simplifying many pieces in a symmetrical pawn structure position the players reached a draw.

Zhu Chen had no problems holding with Black today

Round Nine Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Photos by Maria Emelianova and A. Karlovich

Pairings and Schedule

Round 01 – August 25 2014, 15:00h
Zhu Chen 2461
0-1
Zhao Xue 2508
Ju Wenjun 2559
½-½
Ushenina, Anna 2487
Danielian, Elina 2490
½-½
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
1-0
Koneru Humpy 2598
l'Ami, Alina 2446
0-1
Dronavalli Harika 2521
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
0-1
Hou Yifan 2661
Round 02 –August 26 2014, 15:00h
Zhao Xue 2508
½-½
Hou Yifan 2661
Dronavalli Harika 2521
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
Koneru Humpy 2598
1-0
l'Ami, Alina 2446
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
½-½
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
Ushenina, Anna 2487
1-0
Danielian, Elina 2490
Zhu Chen 2461
0-1
Ju Wenjun 2559
Round 03 –August 27 2014, 15:00h
Ju Wenjun 2559
1-0
Zhao Xue 2508
Danielian, Elina 2490
1-0
Zhu Chen 2461
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
½-½
Ushenina, Anna 2487
l'Ami, Alina 2446
0-1
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
½-½
Koneru Humpy 2598
Hou Yifan 2661
½-½
Dronavalli Harika 2521
Round 04 –August 28 2014, 15:00h
Zhao Xue 2508
½-½
Dronavalli Harika 2521
Koneru Humpy 2598
0-1
Hou Yifan 2661
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
½-½
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
Ushenina, Anna 2487
1-0
l'Ami, Alina 2446
Zhu Chen 2461
0-1
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
Ju Wenjun 2559
1-0
Danielian, Elina 2490
Round 05 –August 30 2014, 15:00h
Danielian, Elina 2490
1-0
Zhao Xue 2508
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2559
l'Ami, Alina 2446
½-½
Zhu Chen 2461
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
½-½
Ushenina, Anna 2487
Hou Yifan 2661
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
Dronavalli Harika 2521
½-½
Koneru Humpy 2598
Round 06 –August 31 2014, 15:00h
Zhao Xue 2508
1-0
Koneru Humpy 2598
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
1-0
Dronavalli Harika 2521
Ushenina, Anna 2487
0-1
Hou Yifan 2661
Zhu Chen 2461
½-½
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
Ju Wenjun 2559
1-0
l'Ami, Alina 2446
Danielian, Elina 2490
½-½
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
Round 07 –September 01 2014, 15:00h
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
0-1
Zhao Xue 2508
l'Ami, Alina 2446
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2490
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2559
Hou Yifan 2661
1-0
Zhu Chen 2461
Dronavalli Harika 2521
½-½
Ushenina, Anna 2487
Koneru Humpy 2598
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
Round 08 –September 02 2014, 15:00h
Zhao Xue 2508
½-½
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
Ushenina, Anna 2487
½-½
Koneru Humpy 2598
Zhu Chen 2461
½-½
Dronavalli Harika 2521
Ju Wenjun 2559
½-½
Hou Yifan 2661
Danielian, Elina 2490
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
1-0
l'Ami, Alina 2446
Round 09 – September 04 2014, 15:00h
l'Ami, Alina 2446
0-1
Zhao Xue 2508
Muminova, Nafisa 2315
½-½
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
Hou Yifan 2661
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2490
Dronavalli Harika 2521
0-1
Ju Wenjun 2559
Koneru Humpy 2598
½-½
Zhu Chen 2461
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
0-1
Ushenina, Anna 2487
Round 10 –September 05 2014, 15:00h
Zhao Xue 2508   Ushenina, Anna 2487
Zhu Chen 2461   Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494
Ju Wenjun 2559   Koneru Humpy 2598
Danielian, Elina 2490   Dronavalli Harika 2521
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346   Hou Yifan 2661
l'Ami, Alina 2446   Muminova, Nafisa 2315
Round 11 – September 06 2014, 13:00h
Muminova, Nafisa 2315   Zhao Xue 2508
Hou Yifan 2661   l'Ami, Alina 2446
Dronavalli Harika 2521   Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2346
Koneru Humpy 2598   Danielian, Elina 2490
Kosintseva, Tatiana 2494   Ju Wenjun 2559
Ushenina, Anna 2487   Zhu Chen 2461

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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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