Women's Grand Prix: Goryachkina wins five in a row

by André Schulz
11/7/2024 – Aleksandra Goryachkina wins and wins and wins. In round 7 of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix she won with Black against Batkhuyag Munguntuul - her fifth win in her last five games. She now leads with 6.0/7 and is one point ahead of Tan Zhongyi who won in round 7 against Nurgyul Salimova. | Photos: Konstantin Chalabov and Anastasia Abramova (FIDE)

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In order to give the top female players more opportunities to play in strong tournaments, FIDE changed the format of the Grand Prix series, increasing the number of tournaments from four to six and allowing more players to take part in the series. The prize money was also increased.

The winner of the series will take home $18,000. A total of $120,000 will be up for grabs in each tournament, with $30,000 going to the winner.

The first tournament of the 2024-25 series was held in Tbilisi and was won by Alina Kashlinskaya. The next tournaments will take place in Monaco, Cyprus, India and Austria from February to May 2025.

Aleksandra Goryachkina is the dominant player in the second tournament, which is now drawing to a close in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. The Russian grandmaster came close to becoming Women's World Champion when she lost in the tiebreak against Ju Wenjun in the World Championship match in January 2020.

In Shymkent, Goryachkina started with two draws and then won five games in a row. In round seven she defeated Batkhuyag Munguntuul in a well-known line of the Sveshnikov.

Goryachkina's closest pursuers are Stavroula Tsolakidou and Tan Zhongyi. Tsolakidou drew in round 7 against Kateryna Lagno but Tan Zhongyi won against Nurgyul Salimova. The Chinese Grandmaster took the pawns offered to her and then showed her defensive skills to win the game.

In a Reti Opening Bibisara Assubayeva had an advantage in a queenless middlegame against Divya Deshmuk but then failed to find the right way to liquidate and lost her advantage. This game ended in a draw, as did the game between Elisabeth Pähtz and Humpy Koneru.

Both players have struggled in the tournament and did not mind an early draw.

Results

Standings

Games

Tournament page...

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Topics: FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024/2025
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
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See also

Women's Grand Prix Shymkent - live

11/8/2024 – The second tournament of the 2024-25 Women's Grand Prix Series takes place in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. It's a ten-player-round-robin, the best two players in the Grand Prix series qualify for the next Women's Candidates Tournament. After eight rounds second seed Aleksandra Goryachkina leads with 6.5/8, one point ahead of the number one seed, Tan Zhongyi with 5.5/8. The ninth and final round starts at 13.00 local time (9.00 CET, 3.00 EST). Follow the games live with commentary. | Photo: FIDE / Konstantin Chalabov
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See also

WGP Shymkent: Goryachkina continues to win

11/6/2024 – In the 6th round of the Women's Grand Prix Tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, Aleksandra Goryachkina won her fourth game in a row. She played against German Grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz, who missed study-like drawing chances in a difficult endgame. Stavroula Tsolakidou, Tan Zhongyi and Kateryna Lagno also won their games. With three rounds to go Goryachkina now leads with 5.0/6, followed by Tsolakidou and Tan Zhongyi with 4.0/6 each. | Photos: Konstantin Chalabov and Anastasia Abramova (FIDE)
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Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.