WGP Tbilisi: Kashlinskaya beats Vaishali to join the leading pack

Five co-leaders

Half the field is tied for first place at the inaugural event of the 2024/25 Women's Grand Prix, with only 3 rounds to go in Tbilisi. With 2 players standing a half point behind the co-leaders, it is absolutely impossible to predict who will prevail in the single round-robin.

Round 6 saw Alina Kashlinskaya joining the lead by beating R Vaishali with the white pieces. The Indian rising star took a risky approach by playing the King's Indian Defence. Moreover, she entered the most trying lines at different points in the game. The strategy backfired, as her experienced opponent made the most of the weaknesses created in Black's camp until obtaining a crucial 33-move victory.

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All the remaining games ended drawn, leaving Kashlinskaya tied atop the standings with Nana Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Stavroula Tsolakidou.

Thursday's seventh round will see a clash of co-leaders - not surprisingly - as Tsolkidou will play white against Dzagnidze.

Mariya Muzychuk survived an inferior position while playing white against Sara Khadem on Wednesday | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

Kashlinskaya 1 - 0 Vaishali

Kashlinskaya, Alina2474

1–0

Vaishali, Rameshbabu2506

FIDE Women GP Tbilisi 2024 21.08.2024[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Nf3 exd5 9.cxd5 The well-known, fighting King's Indian Defence structure promises a fierce struggle. b5

Vaishali was in a fighting mood, clearly. She plays this variation, which had been tried in the past by Jorden van Foreest (against Magnus Carlsen) and by Aram Hakobyan (against Arjun Erigaisi) - in both cases, the higher-rated player prevailed. More popular and typical of this structure is 9...Bg4 10.Nd2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 Re8 12.0-0 Na6 with usual KID's plans coming. 10.e5 dxe5 11.Bxc5 Re8 12.Bxb5 Nbd7 White emerges a pawn to the good, though she also has the looser pieces and more fragmented structure. 13.Ba3 Both contenders had blitzed out their moves up to this point. Here Kashlinskaya spent almost 20 minutes, and went for the more risky approach of leaving her bishop on the a3-f8 attacking diagonal - instead of centralising it on e3. The alternative line goes: 13.Be3 Ng4 14.0-0 Nxe3 15.fxe3 Rb8 16.Qd2 13...e4 The natural continuation, now that White has placed her bishop on a3. All 3 results are possible. 14.Nd4 Ng4

This move, played after no less than 45 minutes, is a mistake. Vaishali continues to choose the boldest possibilities almost at every turn. Stronger is 14...Ne5 15.0-0 In case of 15.Bxe8 there is Nd3+ 16.Kf1 Qxe8 with great compensation for the exchange. 15...Bd7 finishing Black's development - surely this is what Vaishali was analysing during her long think. 15.Qxg4 Kashlinskaya fails to find the refutation - which, granted, leads to long forcing lines that must be calculated precisely. Stronger, though difficult to play in an OTB game, is 15.0-0 Qh4 16.h3 Nxf2 17.Rxf2 e3 Scary from White's perspective - moreover, the most trying continuation begins with the sharp 18.Rxf7 After 18.Rc2 Bxd4 19.Ne2 Be5 20.Qf1 engines evaluate the position as close to equal. 18...Bxd4 19.Ne2 Kxf7 20.Qxd4 Qf2+ 21.Kh1 and White is better. 15...Bxd4 16.0-0 f5 This pawn push, permanently weakening the black king, is a grave error. More importantly, it is a big miss by Vaishali, who could have simplified into an equal position with the forcing ...Bxc3 and ...Qa5. Very strong is 16...Bxc3 17.bxc3 Qa5 18.Bxd7 Qxa3 19.Bxc8 Not 19.Bxe8 Bxg4 19...Raxc8 with equality. 17.Qd1 Be5 18.d6 White is clearly better now. Rb8 19.h3 Kh8 20.Qa4 a6 21.Bc6 Nb6 22.Qc2 Kashlinskaya has lost some of her advantage in the previous moves, as transferring the queen first to a4 and then back to c2 gave away a couple of key tempi. The fearless engines show 22.Qb4 inviting a potential discovered attack, and e.g.: Bd7 23.Bxd7 Nxd7 24.Qc4 Rc8 25.Qa4 g5 with counterplay on the kingside. 22...Bd7 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Bxd5 Rc8 25.Qd2 g5

With only 2 minutes on her clock, Vaishali errs again (Kashlinskaya had 13 minutes still). There is no straightforward tactical shot for White but, positionally, it was not the right time to attack - in fact, further weakening the kingside only helps White. 26.Rac1 g4 27.Rxc8 Bxc8 28.Bf7 Rf8 The decisive mistake, though Vaishali was already running out of playable alternatives. Kashlinskaya does not falter in conversion from this point on. 29.Qd5 Beautiful centralisation. Bg7 30.d7 Bb7 30...Qxd7 31.Bxf8 Bxf8 31...Qxd5 32.Bxg7+ Kxg7 33.Bxd5 32.Rc1 31.Qxf5 gxh3 32.Bxf8 Qxf8 33.Qg5

and the d-pawn decides the game. 1–0

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Round 6 taking place in the very elegant playing hall | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

Standings after round 6

All games

Links

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