Tashkent Final: Humpy clinches, leads GP series

by ChessBase
10/1/2013 – Humpy drew against Girya to win the 3rd stage of the Women's Grand Prix series. She accumulated enough points to surpass Muzychuk and is now the leader of the Grand Prix. In other important results Harika lost, which paved the way for Lagno and Khotenashvili to tie for second after they both won their last round. Report of the final games and a beautiful pictorial of the closing ceremony.

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The Tashkent Women's Grand Prix was held in Uzbekistan from September 17th - October 1st. The tournament was part of the Women's World Championship cycle that will determine the next challenger for the world title. The twelve player round robin featured 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 11

Round 11 – September 30, 11:00h
Muminova, Nafisa 2293
0-1*
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Zhao Xue 2579
1-0
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
0-1
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Girya, Olga 2439
½-½
Koneru, Humpy 2607
Ju Wenjun 2535
½-½
Danielian, Elina 2470

Everything's set for the final round

Kosteniuk didn't have to work too hard today for her win

Muminova, Nafisa 0-1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra
The disgrace of the tournament, of course. Muminova did not make it out of the opening as her cell phone rang and she was immediately forfeited.

An amateur mistake is hard to justify in the Grand Prix series

Ju Wenjun ½-½ Danielian, Elina
White's symmetrical play did not bring her any advantage to speak of and both players agreed to a draw in a very even endgame.

Ju Wenjun could have had a better opening today to try to overpower her opponent

Zhao Xue 1-0 Dronavalli, Harika
A crushing defeat for Harika! Because of this game she was knocked out of the top three spots of the tournament, despite being in this position since the very beginning. Harika's mistake came with 18...f5? It was better to sacrifice the pawn on h6 than to weaken herself as much as she did. White soon crashed through and heavy material losses became unavoidable.

A fateful game! Harika was soundly outplayed by Zhao Xue who rebounded from her streak of losses by going on a winning streak

Khotenashvili, Bela 1-0 Stefanova, Antoaneta
Khotenashvili had already obtained a pleasant edge when Stefanova made a big mistake. Strategically speaking the move 17...Na6?! cannot be recommended as White gets an unbreakable hold on the light squares and on top of that the b5 pawn becomes unbelievably weak. White quickly won two pawns because of this, and that was the end of the game.

Nakhbayeva had a very sour tournament, despite obtaining many comfortable positions

Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 0-1 Lagno, Kateryna
After an equal opening, the game came to a very complicated tactical situation. Obviously both sides were quite tired by now and they consistently missed winning or saving resources, until a drawn endgame was reached. However, Nakhbayeva made a very obvious blunder and had to resign as she could not defend against mate in one...

With the combination of results Lagno got third on tiebreak, as Harika was out of the picture

Girya was better, but ended up barely surviving

Girya, Olga ½-½ Koneru, Humpy
White held a fair advantage as her pieces were significantly more active in the endgame. However, she underestimated the power of Black's a-pawn and found herself against the ropes as Black won a pawn. Girya was resilient and held the endgame despite Black's best attempts.

Pictures by Maria Emelianova

Final Standings

Replay final round games

Closing Ceremony

The official closing ceremony of the 3rd stage of the Women Grand Prix Series 2013-14 was held in the Gallery of Fine Arts of Tashkent on 30th of September. The ceremony was attended by many honoured guests such as the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Chairperson of Fund Forum's Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova, the Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov, the First Deputy Minister of Sports of Uzbekistan Zhasur Akramov, the Head of the Administration of Sports Rashid Talipov,  the Director of Tashkent branch of REU after G.V. Plekhanov acad. K.Kh. Abdurakhmanov, the Head of the Administration of Olympic reserve Kamil Bayazitov, the Head of The State Committee for Communication, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan Hurshid Mirzahidov and many others. 

The players had a chance to rest, enjoy some food and talk to some top FIDE officials before the closing ceremony

Many young fans came in for the autographs of the Grand Prix participants

Even Kirsan gave some autographs!

A traditiontal dance to open the tournament and to close it

A slight twist: the popular modern group Sahro also made an appearance

The Chairperson of Fund Forum's Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova gave a speech. Most importantly she announced the continuing partnership with FIDE and the guarantee that one of the Men's Grand Prix stages next cycle will be held in Tashkent!

Kateryna Lagno: 3rd place

Bela Khotenashvili: 2nd place. It's easier to give player's medals when you are naturally tall and are wearing six inch heels...

The winner of the tournament, Koneru Humpy, who only showed one game of weakness and convincingly overpowered the event

All of the girls with their respective prizes

Afterwards the players were invited to a closing dinner

Stefanova with one of the hardest working individual in this event: Evegenij Miroshnichenko, the commentator

The closing dinner was graced by a professional performance as well... by Kosteniuk and Lagno...

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Current Grand Prix Standings

Name Ti. Fed
Geneva
2013
Dilijan
2013
Tashk.
2013
Best 3
Koneru, Humpy g IND 160 160 320
Khotenashvili, Bela g GEO 160 10 120 290
Muzychuk, Anna g SLO 130 120 250
Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 100 120 220
Kosintseva, Tatiana g RUS 100 90 190
Lagno, Kateryna g UKR 60 120 180
Ushenina, Anna g UKR 75 80 155
Harika, Dronavalli g IND 60 85 145
Ju, Wenjun wg CHN 75 70 145
Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 45 55 100
Girya, Olga wg RUS 10 30 55 95
Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 60 30 90
Zhao, Xue g CHN 85 85
Batchimeg Tuvshintugs  wg MGL 20 60 80
Danielian, Elina g ARM 30 40 70
Cmilyte, Viktorija g LTU 30 30 60
Hou, Yifan g CHN 45 45
Muminova, Nafisa wg UZB 20 20
Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan wg KAZ 10 10

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
0-1*
Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2495
Zhao Xue 2579
1-0
Dronavalli, Harika 2475
Khotenashvili, Bela 2514
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta 2496
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan 2307
0-1
Lagno, Kateryna 2532
Girya, Olga 2439
½-½
Koneru, Humpy 2607
Ju Wenjun 2535
½-½
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.

Links

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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