Three co-leaders, one round to go

Four decisive results in round eight had a significant impact on the fight for the title at the Women's Grand Prix in Monaco. Kateryna Lagno, who entered the round as sole leader, signed a 21-move draw with Humpy Koneru, allowing two players to catch up with her after securing crucial victories on Wednesday. Batkhuyag Munguntuul and Aleksandra Goryachkina are now tied for first place with Lagno after defeating Elisabeth Paehtz and Sara Khadem, respectively.

Tan Zhongyi also scored a full point in the penultimate round, keeping her chances of winning the title alive after beating Bibisara Assaubayeva with the black pieces. Tan is now tied for fourth place with Humpy, just half a point behind the co-leaders.

The other winner of the day was Harika Dronavalli, who executed a well-timed exchange sacrifice to defeat Alexandra Kosteniuk.

In what was her third win of the event - following a first-round loss against Lagno - Goryachkina outplayed Khadem positionally in a Ruy Lopez. Already enjoying a clear middlegame advantage, Goryachkina found a precise combination to open lines on the kingside.

39.Nf5+ Bxf5 (39...gxf5 40.Qxh5 is also winning for White) 40.exf5 Nf4 41.Qf3 Nxd3 42.Qxd3 Qd7 43.Rc6 Reb8 44.fxg6 fxg6 45.Bb2, with the dark-squared bishop emerging as a strong attacking piece.

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.

The breaking f2-f4 followed two moves later. Goryachkina efficiently converted her advantage into a 50-move win.

In the final round, co-leaders Munguntuul and Goryachkina will face each other, while Lagno will play black against Khadem. Both Humpy and Tan will have the white pieces against Assaubayeva and Harika, respectively.

Aleksandra Goryachkina v. Sara Khadem | Photo: Niki Riga

Paehtz 0 - 1 Munguntuul

Paehtz, Elisabeth2427

0–1

Munguntuul, Batkhuyag2331

FIDE Women GP Monaco 2024-25 26.02.2025[CC]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Be2 dxc4 9.0-0 This line of the Semi-Slav has been explored by strong GMs such as Mamedyarov, Wojtaszek and Dubov, with good results for White. Bb4 9...Bd6 10.Nd2 Qe7 11.Nxc4 Bc7 12.f4 0-0 was played in Deac v. Shirov in 2020 (online, 0-1). 10.Ne4 Qe7 11.Bxc4 0-0 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.dxe5 b5 14.Bb3 c5 15.Qg4 Bb7 16.Bc2 Rad8 17.a3 Ba5 18.Nd6 Bc6

Black's position looks rather cramped with the white pawn on e5 and the knight on d6. However, she also has the bishop pair, the majority on the queenside and will soon play ...Ba5-c7. Paehtz had 52 minutes to Munguntuul's 34 here. 19.a4 b4 20.Be4 Qc7 21.Qf3 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Rd7 23.Rfc1 Bb6 24.b3 Qb8 25.f4 Bc7 26.Qc6 Rdd8 Things still look rather bad for Black, but here Paehtz failed to find the most accurate move to keep her advantage. 27.Ne4 Perhaps played due to positional reasons, centralising the minor piece. However, concrete play was the way to go here. Time trouble was surely a factor. Better is 27.Nb5 and engines think Black should give up a piece for activity: Bxe5 28.fxe5 Qxe5 29.Qf3 Rd7 and White is for choice with her extra piece, though Black does have some counterplay. 27...Rd5

28.a5 Bxe5 Black now gives up the piece under better circumstances. 29.fxe5 Qxe5 30.Nxc5 Qxe3+ 31.Kh1 Rfd8 Black has two extra pawns and active major pieces. Engines still evaluate the position as slightly favourable for White - but from a human point of view, White needs to be careful, especially during time trouble. 32.Nb7 R8d7 33.Re1 A blunder, played with around 9 minutes on the clock for 7 moves. Better is 33.a6 Qxb3 34.Re1 though it is understandable that White did not like this variation, which allows Black to get a dangerous passer on the b-file with the queens still on the board. 33...Qc3 34.Qxc3 bxc3 35.Rec1 c2

The point! White cannot capture the pawn due to back rank mate. 35...Rxb7 36.Rxc3 is also winning for Black, though not as principled. 36.h3 Rd1+ 37.Kh2 Rxc1 38.Rxc1 Rxb7 39.Rxc2 Rxb3 Munguntuul correctly assessed that this rook endgame is winning for Black. 40.Rc7 a6 41.Rc6 Ra3 42.Rxa6 g6 This was an inaccuracy - but Paehtz failed to find the idea that would have allowed her to get better drawing chances. Correct is 42...Ra2 43.Kg1 Kh7 slowly making progress. 43.Kg1 43.g4 was the way to go for White - in the game, Black got to play ...h6-h5 before g2-g4 came, which gave her more freedom to activate her king. 43...Ra2 44.Kh2 h5 45.h4 Kg7 46.Kg3 Kf6 47.Ra7 Ra4 48.a6 e5 49.Ra8 Kf5 50.a7 Ra3+ 51.Kh2 e4 52.Kg1 Kf4 53.Kh2 Ra1

White is in a bit of a zugzwang, as she has no good moves in this position. Paehtz resigned. 0–1

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.

Batkhuyag Munguntuul, the lowest-rated player in the field, is now sharing the lead with two of the strongest women players in the world | Photo: Niki Riga

Dronavalli 1 - 0 Kosteniuk

Dronavalli, Harika2489

1–0

Kosteniuk, Alexandra2484

FIDE Women GP Monaco 2024-25 26.02.2025[CC]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.d4 0-0 8.dxc5 d4 9.b4 Ne4 10.b5 d3 11.exd3 Nxc5 12.Qa3 Nb4 13.Qxb4 Nxd3 14.Qa3 Nxc1 15.Nc3 Bxc3 16.Raxc1 Bf6 17.c5 Qc7 18.Rfd1 Bf5 19.Nd4 Bg4 20.Bf3 Rfd8 21.Bxg4 Bxd4 22.c6 bxc6 23.bxc6 Rab8 24.Rc2 Rd6 25.Qa4 e5 26.Kg2 f5 27.Qc4+ Kg7 28.Bf3

Both players have shown good opening preparation and precise middlegame play to reach this dynamically balanced position. Here, however, Kosteniuk relaxes and plays a natural-looking move that turned out to be a critical mistake. 28...Kf6 Correct is 28...Bb6 preventing the line seen in the game, and e.g.: 29.Bd5 Rc8 30.Qc3 Kh6 when if 31.Qxe5 Black can force simplifications with Rxc6 32.Qxc7 R6xc7 33.Rxc7 Rxc7 29.Bd5 Kg7 30.Rxd4 The idea! A great find by Harika, who had not won a single game before this round. exd4 31.Qxd4+

It is all about king security, with White ready to use her three pieces to attack the opponent's vulnerable monarch. 31...Rf6 32.Re2 f4 33.g4 f3+ 33...g5 34.Re5 h6 35.f3 Rd8 36.h4 and White has a winning advantage. 34.Bxf3 Rd8 35.Qc3 Keeping the threat of g4-g5. g5 36.h4 h6 37.hxg5 hxg5 38.Re5 Kf7 39.Qb3+ Kf8 40.Rxg5 Rf7 41.Qc3 Qf4 42.Rh5 Ke7

The king has been forced to the centre of the board. Kosteniuk has no problem finding a path to victory. 43.Qc5+ Ke6 44.Bd5+ 1–0

The Art of Initiative - The key to Opening Success

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Harika Dronavalli | Photo: Niki Riga

Round 8 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