Monaco GP: Kosteniuk and Goryachkina score

Four co-leaders in Monte Carlo

Four players entered the third round of the Women's Grand Prix in Monaco tied for first place, having each scored a win and a draw in the previous rounds. All four co-leaders remained at the top of the standings after drawing their games on Thursday.

In the only direct encounter between frontrunners, Batkhuyag Munguntuul and Humpy Koneru agreed to a 40-move draw in a Giuoco Piano. Meanwhile, Sara Khadem and Kateryna Lagno, also among the leaders, comfortably held draws with the black pieces against Elisabeth Paehtz and Harika Dronavalli, respectively.

The two remaining games ended decisively, as Aleksandra Goryachkina and Alexandra Kosteniuk both returned to a fifty-percent score by defeating Bibisara Assaubayeva and Tan Zhongyi. The two winners had suffered defeats in the opening round but bounced back with strong performances. Kosteniuk successfully defended against Tan's sacrificial attack in the middlegame, emerging with a winning position, while Goryachkina prevailed in a prolonged strategic struggle featuring a mostly closed pawn structure.

Attacking with the Jobava London System

The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.

With all four co-leaders drawing their games, the standings remain tightly contested. Khadem and Munguntuul will face each other in the fourth round, with Khadem playing the white pieces. Meanwhile, Lagno and Humpy, the other two frontrunners, will also have the advantage of the white pieces as they look to break the deadlock at the top of the table.

Elisabeth Paehtz is the only player who started the event with three draws in a row - on Thursday, she drew Sara Khadem with the white pieces | Photo: Niki Riga

Kosteniuk 1 - 0 Tan

Kosteniuk, Alexandra2484

1–0

Tan, Zhongyi2561

FIDE Women GP Monaco 2024-25 20.02.2025[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.h4 A fashionable way to face the Gruenfeld Defence, favoured by the likes of Firouzja and Mamedyarov. dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.d5 Bg4 The main line goes 7...b5 8.h5 0-0 9.hxg6 fxg6 10.e5 Ng4 with good results for White, on average. 8.Qa4+

8...Bd7 A novelty, played after 23 minutes, which is not approved by the engines. 8...Nbd7 9.e5 b5 10.Qxb5 Rb8 11.exf6 Rxb5 12.fxg7 Rg8 is a fun line, played at the club level, ten years ago. White won that game. 9.Qxc4 0-0 10.Qxc5 Black's inaccurate decision on move 8 has left her with a positional disadvantage. White is better developed. e6 11.dxe6 Bxe6 12.Ng5 Nc6 13.Bf4 An inaccuracy, which balances the chances, according to the engines. The position is full of life still, though. White could have played the natural 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Bg5 and, e.g. h6 15.Rd1 Qe8 13...Ng4 14.e5 Ncxe5 15.Rd1 Qe8 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Bg3 Rc8 18.Qb5 Qe7 19.Be2 Rf5 Creative but inaccurate. By this point, Tan had 5 minutes to Kosteniuk's 9. The complications in the opening prompted both players to quickly find themselves in time trouble. Better is the more cautious 19...Rc6 20.0-0 Rb6 21.Qa4 Nh6 20.Qa4 b5

Very ambitious and ingenious - but mistaken as well! White now gets a clear advantage by simply taking the material. After 20...Nf6 21.0-0 Nh5 22.Bxh5 Rxh5 White is still better, but given the situation on the clocks, anything can still happen. 21.Nxb5 Qc5 22.0-0 Ne3 The idea. 23.b4 Qb6 24.Nd6 White has found a crucial two-move sequence that, perhaps, Tan did not foresee. Nxf1 Black was still in deep trouble, but slightly better is 24...Rcf8 25.Nxf5 Nxf5 26.Qb3 with a clear material edge. 25.Nxc8 Nxg3 Tan gives up the queen for a couple of pieces. Her attacking plan has backfired. 26.Nxb6 Nxe2+ 27.Kf1 Ng3+ 28.Kg1 Ne2+ 29.Kf1 Ng3+ 30.Ke1 After repeating moves to gain a bit of time, Kosteniuk plays the king to e1, avoiding the draw by repetition. Nf3+ 31.gxf3 Bc3+ 32.Rd2 axb6 33.Qe8+ Kg7 34.Qe7+ Rf7 35.Qxe6 Nf5 36.Kd1 Bxd2 37.Kxd2

White emerges with a queen and two pawns for a rook and a knight. The conversion is not trivial, but Kosteniuk patiently converted her advantage into her first win of the event. 37...Rf6 38.Qe4 Rd6+ 39.Kc1 Kf6 40.a4 Rd4 41.Qc6+ Rd6 42.Qc7 Ke6 43.Qxh7 Ne7 44.h5 gxh5 45.Qxh5 Nd5 46.Qg4+ Ke7 47.Qe4+ Kd7 48.f4 Kc7 49.Kb2 Nf6 50.Qe7+ Nd7 51.Kc3 Rf6 52.Qe4 Rd6 53.Kc4 Rc6+ 54.Kb5 Rd6 55.a5 bxa5 56.bxa5 Rf6 57.Qc4+ Kb8 58.a6 Rb6+ 59.Ka5 Rb1 60.Qd4 Kc7 61.a7 Nb6 62.Qxb6+ Rxb6 63.a8N+ An elegant path to victory! Kd6 64.Nxb6 Ke6 65.Kb5 1–0

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

Tan Zhongyi's attacking plan backfired | Photo: Niki Riga

Assaubayeva 0 - 1 Goryachkina

Assaubayeva, Bibisara2492

0–1

Goryachkina, Aleksandra2546

FIDE Women GP Monaco 2024-25 20.02.2025[CC]

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 d4 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.e3 Nge7 7.d3 0-0 8.e4 Assaubayeva chooses to close the structure. Not the most ambitious of alternatives in this position. e5 9.Nbd2 a6 10.a3 a5 11.Ne1 a4 12.f4 White opens up the kingside, perhaps thinking that she will get better attacking chances at some point. Delaying the decision about how to proceed on the kingside with 12.b4 axb3 13.Nxb3 might have been prudent here. 12...exf4 13.gxf4 Ra6 14.Kh1

14...f5 A good positional decision by Goryachkina. She stops White from getting an initiative on the kingside and keeps the strategic nature of the battle. The opening has gone well for the Russian GM. 15.e5 Qe8 16.b4 axb3 17.Nxb3 Ba7 18.Nc2 Ng6 19.Qh5 Be6 20.a4 Qc8 21.Bd2 Qd7 22.a5 Rb8 23.Kg1 Bf7 24.Qh3 Nf8 25.Qf3 Ne7 26.Bb4 Ne6 27.Bxe7 Qxe7 28.Kh1 c6 29.Qh3 g6 The manoeuvring battle begins. Only two pawn moves will be seen in the next 21 moves (h2-h3 by White and h7-h6 by Black). 30.Qg3

30...Bc5 31.Rfb1 Rba8 32.Qf2 R8a7 33.Rb2 Qd8 34.Rab1 Qd7 35.h3 Ra8 36.Kh2 Rd8 37.Nc1 Ra7 38.Qh4 Be7 39.Qg3 Bf8 40.Qh4 Nc5 41.Ra1 Qc7 42.Rba2 Rd7 43.Bf1 Be7 44.Qf2 Qd8 45.Ne1 Ra6 46.Qb2 Bf8 47.Ng2 h6 48.Nb3 Nxb3 49.Qxb3 Be6 50.Qb1 g5 White lacks active plans, with her light-squared bishop looking particularly bad on f1. Black has a target on a5 and intends to create threats with her bishop pair eventually. 51.Rb2 Qc7 52.Qe1 Bg7 53.Kh1 Re7 54.Qg3 Rxa5 White ends up giving up the pawn on the queenside, as she needs to deal with Black's subtle threats on the other flank of the board. Goryachkina's handling of her advantage was exemplary, as she patiently targeted White's weaknesses while keeping everything under control on her own camp. 55.Rab1 Bc8

56.h4 g4 57.Qf2 Qd8 58.Kg1 h5 59.Qd2 Bf8 60.Kf2 Ra3 61.Ra2 Rxa2 62.Qxa2 Rg7 63.Kg3 Bc5 64.Qa8 Qc7 65.Be2 Kh7 66.Bd1 Re7 67.Bb3 Kg7 68.Bc2 b6 69.Bd1 Bb7 70.Qa1 Re8 71.Qb2 Ra8 72.Ra1 Rxa1 73.Qxa1 Kf8 74.Ne1 Be7 75.Qxd4 c5 76.Qc3 A crucial mistake by White. Black has given up her extra pawn to get open lines, and her queen will now be able to infiltrate on opposite camp decisively. A better defensive try is 76.Qe3 Qc6 though Black is still clearly for choice. 76...Qd8 77.Ng2 Kg8 78.Bc2 Bxg2 79.Kxg2 Qa8+ 80.Kg1 Qf3 81.Qd2 Qg3+ 82.Kf1 Qxh4 83.Qg2 g3 84.Bd1 Qxf4+ 85.Qf3

85...Qxf3+ Goryachkina correctly assessed that the endgame with bishops of opposite colours is winning for Black. 86.Bxf3 h4 87.Kg2 Kg7 88.Bd5 Kg6 89.Kf3 Kg5 90.Bc6 Bd8 91.Bd7 Bc7 92.e6 Bd6 93.Bc6 Kf6 94.Bd5 h3 0–1

The Endgame Academy Vol.1: Checkmate & pawn endgames

From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!

The beginning of a very long struggle - Bibisara Assaubayeva v. Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: Niki Riga

Round 3 results

Standings

All games

Links

• Official website
• Alina Kashlinskaya victorious in Tbilisi after scoring back-to-back wins
• Goryachkina scores 7/9, obtains convincing victory in Shymkent