Women's Grand Prix in Lopota begins

The fourth stage of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2013-2014 is taking place at the Ugra Chess Academy, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from the from the 19th of June until the 1st of July 2014. It is a twelve-player round robin with time controls of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes plus an additional 30 seconds per move for the rest of the game. The total prize fund is 60,000, with the winner getting 10,000 Euro.

Opening Ceremony

The fifth Women's Grand Prix in the 2013-14 series has begun in Lopota, Georgia.

The city of Lopota is next to the lake of the same name in Georgia

Georgian player Beata Khotenashvili with her daughter at the opening ceremony

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov came to open the event

Ju Wenjun with a beautiful view in the background

As usual for the Grand Prix series the event started off with folkloric dances

And in action!

World Champion Hou Yifan is the top rated player and got the number three seed

Anna Muzychuk being presented a traditional shawl as a gift

The participants, from left to right: Kosteniuk, Dzagnidze, Harika, Hou Yifan, Stefanova, Muzychuk A, Danielian, Muminova, Zhao Xue, Humpy, Khotenashvili and Ju Wenjun

Round One

Koneru Humpy 1-0 Stefanova, Antoaneta
The combination of a dubious opening and the strength of Humpy's play was sufficient for White to take this game. It was very interesting and quite complex, with many tactics and difficult decisions, but at the end of the day when the smoke cleared the resulting endgame was complex for the Bulgarian player.

Antoaneta fell victim to India's top female player

Zhao Xue ½-½ Khotenashvili, Bela
The fighting spirit of both players was commendable, but the game was very equal throughout and no real fireworks occured.

Dzagnidze, Nana ½-½ Kosteniuk, Alexandra
White missed a golden opportunity:

Alexandra salvaged a position that was nearly resignable had her opponent found the correct path

Ju Wenjun 1-0 Danielian, Elina
White held the advantage throughout the game and Black made some mistakes in the endgame that helped the Chinese player. The game went down to a rook vs. knight endgame in which Danielian had one passed pawn against Jun Wenjun's single remaining last pawn. A mistake let Ju Wenjun block the passer and win easier than she should have.

The Chinese players scored 2.5/3 today. Ju Wenjun did her part by beating Elina Danielian.

Dronavalli Harika ½-½ Muzychuk, Anna
The Indian player found herself with a weak but extra pawn throughout most of the game. However she was unable to make progress in a very long rook endgame and eventually the game reached a draw.

Hou Yifan 1-0 Muminova, Nafisa
White's relatively quiet set up susprisingly almost backfired badly:

Not the cleanest point, but a point is a point: Hou Yifan

Nafisa missed a golden chance to upset the World Champion today

Round One Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Photos by Alina l'Ami, from the official website

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All Games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.