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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.
Rest Day
The players had a rest day on September 22nd. A few of the players decided to stay in and rest, but many of them went exploring. This time they went to what is known as Old Town.
Not a bad way of starting the rest day: Stefanova and Nakhbayeva shopping for local products
The players got a private tour of the Museum of Applied Arts, famous for its beautiful hand-crafted exhibits
A traditional Central Asian cap: a Tubeteika. It is considered an applied art form and an important part of the traditional folk costume.
Kateryna Lagno posing behind locally crafted glassware
Things that are intrinsically tied to each other: chess sets in a museum and chess players with smartphones
A close-up of the beautifully hand-crafted set made of wood and paper-mache.
Off to the next destination...
but not without stopping for some necessary middle-of-the-day coffee
This will not be necessarily be accepted by FIDE in their new dress code rules
Tashkent was part of the Great Silk Road. Here the players stop at an old bazar: Chor-Su. It is famous for its enormous blue-colored dome. Chor-su means "crossroads" or "four streams" in Persian.
Olga Girya expertly picking out local nuts
Elina Danielian trying out a kaftan
The last stop: Alexandra Kosteniuk and Olga Girya posing in front of the Telyashakyakh Mosque (also known as the Khast Imam Mosque). It contains the Uthman Qur'an, considered to be the oldest extant Qur'an in the world, dating from 655 and stained with the blood of the murdered caliph, Uthman.
Round 5
After a rest day the girls came back with an incredible fighting spirit. Only Humpy was able to defend her black pieces as all the other games were won by the white side.
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 |
Khotenashvili, Bela 1-0 Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan
Khotenashvili employed a typical Catalan sacrifice, and as a result she obtained some kingside pressure coupled with the pair of bishops. Nakhbayeva cleverly responded by sacrificing the pawn back to get rid of her main weakness as well as accelerating her development. Things seemed about even until Khotenashvili's 'bluff' worked. Her pawn push 27.d5 was probably the best move anyways, but it is no doubt a sacrifice as black can simply take the pawn thanks to basic tactics. Nakhbayeva must have been to cautious, but this allowed White a free initiative that she converted into extra material soon afterwards.
This game had the potential to be excellent. Both players showed great prowess strategically and tactically up until around the last moves of time control, where time pressure keeps being a burden for Nakhbayeva.
Stefanova, Antoaneta ½-½ Koneru, Humpy
Stefanova's opening yielded nothing and Humpy was able to equalize rather comfortably. After that a symmetrical structure arose and there was little for either player to do. They both fought on but eventually the game was drawn.
Muminova, Nafisa 1-0 Ju Wenjun
Ju Wenjun (above) was certainly shocked about this result. Playing against the lowest rated player she chose a sharp variation of the Rauzer Sicilian. However she might not have been entirely familiar with the variation. When the time came to sacrifice a pawn on d5 (as it is common to remove White's pressure on the d-file) she chose not to do it, instead she awkwardly moved the bishop back and forth from d7 and c6. This gave Muminova enough time to launch a kingside attack that crashed through violently.
Muminova has no draws, and this is her second win
Dronavalli, Harika 1-0 Danielian, Elina
Harika chose an interesting version of the English that completely confused her opponent. Out of the opening the Indian player enjoyed an extra pawn and any compensation for it was shaky at best. White's tripled pawns were of course a weakness, but they also covered very important squares. Black's king proved to be much weaker than White's and a swift attack finished Danielian off.
Harika has caught up with Humpy with this important win
Lagno, Kateryna 1-0 Kosteniuk, Alexandra
Lagno's handling of the reversed Dragon was definitely better than Kosteniuk's. She was able to obtain strong pressure against her opponent's queenside. Eventually a long tactical series ensued and the Ukrainian outcalculated the Russian girl as she emerged up an exchange and with a winning advantage. With simple technique Lagno moves to +2.
Lagno is now only half a point away from the Indian leaders
Zhao Xue 1-0 Girya Olga
The Schlecter systems in the Slav are extremely solid but somewhat passive. Girya was close to equality in this game but she was too aggressive with her queen sortie to the queenside, specifically the maneuver 16...Qb4?! and 17...Qb3? After this White had many positional advantages and she converted her position without any hiccups.
Pictures by Maria Emelianova
Standings
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
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 | Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan | 2307 | |
Girya, Olga | 2439 | Khotenashvili, Bela | 2514 | |
Ju Wenjun | 2535 | Zhao Xue | 2579 | |
Danielian, Elina | 2470 | Muminova, Nafisa | 2293 | |
Koneru, Humpy | 2607 | Dronavalli, Harika | 2475 | |
Lagno, Kateryna | 2532 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2496 | |
Round 07 – September 25 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2496 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2495 | |
Dronavalli, Harika | 2475 | Lagno, Kateryna | 2532 | |
Muminova, Nafisa | 2293 | Koneru, Humpy | 2607 | |
Zhao Xue | 2579 | Danielian, Elina | 2470 | |
Khotenashvili, Bela | 2514 | Ju Wenjun | 2535 | |
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan | 2307 | Girya, Olga | 2439 | |
Round 08 – September 26 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2495 | Girya, Olga | 2439 | |
Ju Wenjun | 2535 | Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan | 2307 | |
Danielian, Elina | 2470 | Khotenashvili, Bela | 2514 | |
Koneru, Humpy | 2607 | Zhao Xue | 2579 | |
Lagno, Kateryna | 2532 | Muminova, Nafisa | 2293 | |
Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2496 | Dronavalli, Harika | 2475 | |
Round 09 – September 28 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Dronavalli, Harika | 2475 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2495 | |
Muminova, Nafisa | 2293 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2496 | |
Zhao Xue | 2579 | Lagno, Kateryna | 2532 | |
Khotenashvili, Bela | 2514 | Koneru, Humpy | 2607 | |
Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan | 2307 | Danielian, Elina | 2470 | |
Girya, Olga | 2439 | Ju Wenjun | 2535 | |
Round 10 – September 29, 14:00h | ||||
Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2495 | Ju Wenjun | 2535 | |
Danielian, Elina | 2470 | Girya, Olga | 2439 | |
Koneru, Humpy | 2607 | Nakhbayeva, Gulishkan | 2307 | |
Lagno, Kateryna | 2532 | Khotenashvili, Bela | 2514 | |
Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2496 | Zhao Xue | 2579 | |
Dronavalli, Harika | 2475 | 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.
LinksThe 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 |