Tashkent 10: Humpy leads, one to go

by ChessBase
9/30/2013 – Koneru Humpy easily dispatched Gulishkan Nakhbayeva and enters the last round of the tournament with a full point lead. The only player that has a chance to catch up with her is her compatriot Dronavalli Harika, who after some problems beat Nafisa Muminova. Both players are black in the last round but Humpy only needs a draw to clinch solo first. Round ten pictorial report

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The Tashkent Women's Grand Prix is currently being held in Uzbekistan from September 17th - October 1st. The tournament is part of the Women's World Championship cycle that will determine the next challenger for the world title. The twelve player round robin will feature 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 10

Round 10 – September 29, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2535
Danielian, Elina 2470
½-½
Girya, Olga 2439
Koneru, Humpy 2607
1-0
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
0-1
Zhao Xue 2579
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2293

Kosteniuk had her chances, but she ended up with her second draw of the tournament

Kosteniuk, Alexandra ½-½ Ju Wenjun
Kosteniuk obtained a minimal advantage from the opening and through a complicated series of events she emerged a pawn up in a queen endgame. With the exposed position of her king it was a hard path to a win, but it seems as if she was almost there. 65.Kg5! would've won her a second pawn and made Black's resistance futile, but she erred and let Ju Wenjun find a last second perpetual.

A little bit of luck doesn't hurt anyone: Ju Wenjun escaped the jaws of defeat today

"And right out from the opening I already thought the game will be the first to finish today as the endgame with queens and bishops was completely drawish. She could play 28…Qc6 and Qd6 and we shake hands", - said the Russian on the press conference. "But here she surprised me so much with Kg7! But I don't know what happened at the end. I was very happy with 57.Kg4, and was already about to play 61.Kg5, but then got scared from some checks. And at least I could have taken on g6. I couldn't decide when to capture it and finally never did that."

 

Danielian, Elina ½-½ Girya, Olga
Both players followed the game between Karjakin-Van Wely of 2009 and it's hard to say what Danielian had planned in terms of an improvement. The aforementioned game ended in a draw and in this case Black was able to eat away at White's pawn structure while the Armenian created a strong counterattack; however this attack was only good enough for a perpetual right before Black's a-pawn promoted to a queen.

Danielian is at -1 and all of her three losses have come to the leaders: Humpy, Harika and Lagno

Nakhbayeva has finished in last place and she must still face Lagno tomorrow

Koneru, Humpy 1-0 Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan
This was an important game for Humpy. She was white against the lowest scoring player in the tournament, and she needed to avoid another mistake to retain her lead. Today's game however was incredibly clean, largely aided by Nakhbayeva's terrible choice of an opening. The sequence that the Kazakh chose is known to be inferior, and it left her with a terrible position after only ten moves of chess. Humpy didn't even find the most exact way to an advantage, but the way she chose was good enough for a free pawn and she outplayed her opponent from then.

The duel of pursuiters ended in a draw

Lagno, Kateryna ½-½ Khotenashvili, Bela
Lagno chose the Bishop Opening, mainly utilized to avoid any kind of opening theory. Black obtains equality in one of many ways, as Khotenashvili demonstrated it is possible to go after the bishop on c4 quickly and equalize in that way. Neither side truly had anything to work with throughout the game and although they fought on as they both needed to win to keep their hopes of winning the tournament alive, it just wouldn't happen and they repeated in a position that was slowly running out of life.

Kateryna: "I was thinking to play c5 couple of moves before, but here probably played too quickly and didn't consider it"

In the endgame Black had a comfortable position with come chances to play actively by 41. ... Nf4+ 42. Bxf4 Bxf4 43. Kf3 Bh2 44. Rg2 Be5. "But I already was too tired to continue", - said Bela at the press conference.

Maria Emelianova: "What was your plan for this game as you were both in the group of followers and had a chance to pretend on the first place if you won today?"

Bela: "I always fight for a win, no matter of the situation, but I feel very tired at the end of the tournament."

Katya: "I never calculate my points until the tournament is finished. I just want to play good games."

Maria: "So does Boris Gelfand! Is he your favorite player?"

Katya: "Yes, actually he is, but in Paris I support my compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk and wish him a very good luck!"

Stefanova simply underestimated her opponent's activity

Stefanova, Antaoneta 0-1 Zhao Xue
Zhao Xue was able to deflect her opening difficulties by finishing her development and forcing Stefanova to simplify her isolated queen's pawn without any effect, which created a symmetrical and equal position. The game continued with near equality until the dreadful 30.Nd5?, retreating the bishop was sufficient for a level game. However with the move played Zhao Xue obtained a very fast initiative and White's pieces started to look silly on the queenside. Her position didn't last long under the combined pressure of Black's pieces and Zhao Xue bounces back to win her second game in a row.

Antoaneta: "Maybe 28.b4 was not correct. The game was complicated, and I tried to play for an advantage, but didn't expect that 22…g5 can be so dangerous. I thought I could always make a draw, but had to play more precisely." 

Zhao Xue is at +1 but losing nearly ten rating points

Harika, Dronavalli 1-0 Muminova, Nafisa
Harika kept outplaying Muminova through the middlegame, but an important slip allowed the local player to organize a dangerous initiative with only a queen and a rook that forced Harika's pieces back into a defensive posture. In a position that had relatively low risk for Black, she managed to blunder first an important pawn and then a checkmating attack. Truly a recap of Muminova's tournament so far.

The saying so close, yet so far away really applies to Muminova's tournament, but she seems cheerful despite all of it

"But I misplayed something after that, I shouldn't allow 36…Ba3. Then all Black's problems were over. Maybe 35.Na4 was not good"

Evgenij Miroshnichenko: "Maybe 33.Nd7 is interesting with some tricky ideas after 34.Nb6"

Harika: "And after 50…Kh8 I am already fine"

On the question about her feelings before this game, Harika replied: "After yesterday's blow I was so upset, that I couldn't even sleep, and today I didn't plan to play for any result, even a draw was fine."

A nice little glare to let Muminova know who is in charge

Two of the arbiters: Irina Geovorgyan and Tahmina Turdalieva

Pictures by Maria Emelianova

Standings

Replay round ten games

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Schedule

Round 01 – September 18 2013, 14:00h
Danielian, Elina 2470
½-½
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Koneru, Humpy 2607
1-0
Ju Wenjun 2535
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
½-½
Girya, Olga 2439
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
1-0
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
1-0
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
0-1
Zhao Xue 2579
Round 02 – September 19 2013, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
0-1
Zhao Xue 2579
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
½-½
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Girya, Olga 2439
½-½
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Ju Wenjun 2535
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Danielian, Elina 2470
0-1
Koneru, Humpy 2607
Round 03 – September 20 2013, 14:00h
Koneru, Humpy 2607
1-0
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
1-0
Danielian, Elina 2470
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
0-1
Ju Wenjun 2535
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
1-0
Girya, Olga 2439
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
1-0
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Zhao Xue 2579
0-1
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Round 04 – September 21 2013, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
1-0
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
½-½
Zhao Xue 2579
Girya, Olga 2439
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
Ju Wenjun 2535
½-½
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Danielian, Elina 2470
½-½
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Koneru, Humpy 2607
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Round 05 – September 23 2013, 14:00h
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
1-0
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
½-½
Koneru, Humpy 2607
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
1-0
Danielian, Elina 2470
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
1-0
Ju Wenjun 2535
Zhao Xue 2579
1-0
Girya, Olga 2439
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
1-0
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Round 06 – September 24 2013, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
1-0
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Girya, Olga 2439
0-1
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Ju Wenjun 2535
1-0
Zhao Xue 2579
Danielian, Elina 2470
½-½
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
Koneru, Humpy 2607
½-½
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Round 07 – September 25 2013, 14:00h
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
½-½
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
½-½
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
0-1
Koneru, Humpy 2607
Zhao Xue 2579
0-1
Danielian, Elina 2470
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
0-1
Ju Wenjun 2535
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
0-1
Girya, Olga 2439
Round 08 – September 26 2013, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
0-1
Girya, Olga 2439
Ju Wenjun 2535
½-½
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Danielian, Elina 2470
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Koneru, Humpy 2607
1-0
Zhao Xue 2579
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
½-½
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
½-½
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Round 09 – September 28 2013, 14:00h
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
0-1
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
0-1
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Zhao Xue 2579
1-0
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
1-0
Koneru, Humpy 2607
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
0-1
Danielian, Elina 2470
Girya, Olga 2439
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2535
Round 10 – September 29, 14:00h
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
½-½
Ju Wenjun 2535
Danielian, Elina 2470
½-½
Girya, Olga 2439
Koneru, Humpy 2607
1-0
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
½-½
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
0-1
Zhao Xue 2579
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
1-0
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
Round 11 – September 30, 11:00h
Muminova, Nafisa 2293   Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Zhao Xue 2579   Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514   Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307   Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Girya, Olga 2439   Koneru, Humpy 2607
Ju Wenjun 2535   Danielian, Elina 2470

The games start at 11:00h European time, 13:00h Moscow, 5 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here.

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The games will be 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


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