Alina Kashlinskaya victorious in Tbilisi after scoring back-to-back wins

"My 10-month-old baby helped a lot"

Alina Kashlinskaya started the Tbilisi Women's Grand Prix - the inaugural event of the series - with 5 draws in a row. After the rest day, however, she collected 3 wins in 4 games (she drew the remaining encounter) to claim outright victory in Georgia's capital. She beat R. Vaishali, Lela Javakhishvili and Mariya Muzychuk in rounds 6, 8 and 9 to claim the title. Her victory granted her 130 GP points and a 20,000 Euros prize.

Aged 30, Kashlinskaya is married to Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Last year, the couple had a son, who now joined his mother at the tournament in Tbilisi. After securing tournament victory, Kashlinskaya confessed, referring to her 10-month-old son:

He helped a lot. I will definitely bring him with me to the next tournament. [...] For motherhood, it is important to be with the baby as much as possible.

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Kashlinskaya's 6/9 undefeated performance earned her a second GM norm and 16.4 rating points. She is now ranked 13^th in the women's live ratings list.

Sole second place went to 20-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva from Kazakhstan. The youngster had grabbed the sole lead after round 7, but her final 2 draws allowed the eventual champion to leapfrog her in the standings. Still, Assaubayeva collected 105 GP points in the event - the top 2 finishers in the series will get spots in the next edition of the Women's Candidates.

A 3-player pack tied for third place, with Nana Dzagnidze joining Anna Muzychuk and Stavroula Tsolakidou in this group thanks to her final-round win over Sara Khadem.

As per the FIDE calendar, the next event of the series should start on 29 October in Shymkent, a city in Kazakhstan located near the border with Uzbekistan.

The podium: Bibisara Assaubayeva (2^nd), Alina Kashlinskaya (1^st) and Stavroula Tsolakidou (3^rd on tiebreaks) | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

M. Muzychuk 0 - 1 Kashlinskaya

Muzychuk, Mariya2508

0–1

Kashlinskaya, Alina2474

FIDE Women GP Tbilisi 2024 24.08.2024[CC]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.Bc2 Nb8 13.a4 Nbd7 14.Bd3 c6 This move has been often played by Gata Kamsky. 15.Qc2 h6 This is a novelty by Kashlinskaya, who had a 20-minute disadvantage on the clock after spending a while considering how to proceed on her last two turns. With the bishop on f8, it makes sense to play 15...g6 16.b3 and here are many possible ways to continue, as we often seen in these Ruy Lopez lines, e.g.: Rc8 17.Bb2 Nh5 18.Bf1 exd4 19.cxd4 d5 etcetera. 16.Nf1 exd4 17.cxd4 c5 18.Ng3

18...c4 Pushing the pawn this far is a major decision for Black. Kashlinskaya trusts that White will not be able to create much with her flexible central pawns. A different kind of battle would have arisen after 18...cxd4 19.axb5 axb5 20.Rxa8 Qxa8 21.Bxb5 Rc8 22.Qe2 with an asymmetrical structure. 19.Bf1 d5 20.e5 A closed central structure appears on the board. Players will now need to find the best way to manoeuvre their pieces around the pawns. Engines evaluate the position as close to equal. Ne4 21.Bf4 Nb8 22.Nxe4 dxe4

23.Nd2 Muzychuk plays the most natural-looking move, though she could have gone for a sharp tactical continuation by sacrificing an exchange on e4. Engines prefer 23.Rxe4 Bxe4 24.Qxe4 Nd7 and White gets compensation by tactical means, e.g.: 25.Bxh6 gxh6 26.axb5 Nb6 27.bxa6 with double-edged play. 23...Nc6 24.Nxe4 Nxd4 25.Qc3 Bxe4 26.Rxe4 Nb3 Black is in the driver's seat here - but placing the knight on e6 might have been a slightly better idea. 26...Ne6 27.Be3 Rc8 further coordinating Black's pieces. 27.Rae1 Nc5 28.Rd4 Qc8 29.a5 An inaccurate decision from a strategic point of view. It is Black who will be able to create active play in the centre - thanks to her spatial advantage - so fixing the structure on the queenside was not the best idea for White. Ne6 30.Rde4 Nxf4 Not the engines' favourite move here, though it makes sense to get rid of the bishop pair from a human point of view. The black dark-squared bishop, now unopposed, will play a key role later in the game. Strong is 30...Qc6 31.g3 Rad8 and more pieces are joining the fun. 31.Rxf4 Qe6 32.Rfe4 Rad8

33.Kh2 A crucial mistake by Muzychuk. It simply misses how strong Black's next (innocent-looking) move actually is. Better was 33.b3 cxb3 34.R4e3 trying to keep it together in defence. 33...Qf5 34.f3 Almost forced, further weakening the dark squares around the white king. Rd5 35.g4 Qd7 Black now needs to find a way to break through - at this point, it is fully evident that Kashlinskaya is in the driver's seat. 36.Kg3 Bc5 37.R1e2 Rd3 38.Qc2 Qd5 39.Kg2 Rxe5 White's position begins to fall apart. Muzychuk had a bit over 2 minutes on her clock at this point (Kashlinskaya had 14). 40.Qc1 Of course not 40.Rxe5 due to Qxf3+ 41.Kh2 Qg3+ 42.Kh1 Qg1# 40...Rxe4 41.Rxe4 Rd2+ 42.Be2 Qd3

Using the pin along the second rank. 43.Qe1 Rxb2 44.h4 c3 45.g5 h5 46.Kg3 Qd6+ 47.Kh3 Qd7+ 48.Kg3 Leaving the pin, but White is already doomed. c2 49.Qc3 Rb1 Allowing White to capture the pawn - but the rook is now ready to give lethal checks from behind along the first rank! 50.Qxc2 Qc7+ 51.f4 51.Rf4 Rg1+ 52.Kh3 Qxf4 with mate from g3 coming. 51...Bf2+

The queen is lost. Game over. 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.

Alina Kashlinskaya during round 9 | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

Local favourite Nana Dzagnidze scored a win on Saturday | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

Stavroula Tsolakidou and Alexandra Kosteniuk in good spirits | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

Final standings

All games

Links

• Official website
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