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

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.