New Delhi GP: Assaubayeva beats Vaishali

by Klaus Besenthal
3/28/2023 – The second-round games of the Women’s Grand Prix in New Delhi were played on Monday. Bibisara Assaubayeva, the 19-year-old IM from Kazakhstan, is the only player who has so far scored a win in the tournament, as she defeated India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu with black. A look at the standings does not help much at the moment: six players have played two games, four have played only one. | Photo: FIDE / Ismael Nieto
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Three draws and a win

Following the haphazard start of the tournament, calm seems to have set in. In all likelihood, the tournament will continue with four games per day and a discreet quiescence related to the initial scandals. But who knows: Bobby Fischer, who also refused to play once or twice, is said to have done a lot for the (professional) chess community...

Three games ended in draws today, without ever leaving the ‘drawing range’ in the meantime: Aleksandra Goryachkina against Nana Dzagnidze (20 moves), Polina Shuvalova against Humpy Koneru (19 moves) and Harika Dronavalli against Zhu Jiner (52 moves, fought out to the end in a knight endgame).

It could have been a nice, trouble-free tournament — if everything had worked at the beginning | Photo: FIDE / Ismael Nieto

In the game between Vaishali and Assaubayeva, there was an interesting battle surrounding Vaishali’s weak, isolated pawn. In the end, Assaubayeva actually won a pawn, although it was not the one isolated in the centre:

 

Results - Round 2

 

Standings - Round 2

 

All games

 
 

Links

Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.