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Alexandra Kosteniuk was initially given a pawn by her opponent Anna Muzychuk, but it was a tiny advantage that was to play no part in the outcome of this game. On the contrary, Kosteniuk made a remarkable breakthrough in the endgame with much reduced material, favoured by the unequal bishops:
Alexandra Kosteniuk is on the verge of winning the tournament in Munich, while Anna Muzychuk has had a disappointing tournament so far with 3.5/8 and 9th place.
Nana Dzagnidze dropped back a little after her loss to Elisabeth Pähtz. With a score of 4.5/8 each, Dzagnidze and Pähtz now share third place. In the game Dzagnidze had given her queen against the appropriate equivalent of R+N+P; but the necessary coordination of her pieces in the fight against Pähtz's queen then failed completely. Another tactical mistake followed, after which nothing more worked for the Georgian:
Elisabeth Pähtz and Nana Dzagnidze now share third and fourth place
Alina Kashlinskaya lost to Humpy Koneru when she was under pressure in a worse bishop endgame and couldn't find the right defence. Humpy Koneru is now sole second, 1.5 points behind Alexandra Kosteniuk and half a point ahead of Dzagnidze and Pähtz.
The opening of the game between Humpy Koneru and Alina Kashlinskaya
Dinara Wagner lost to Zhu Jiner, ostensibly due to a tactical error in the middlegame, but she had another chance in the endgame which she failed to take:
With 2.0/8 Dinara Wagner remains last
Finally, Harika Dronavalli and Zhansaya Abdumalik as well as Tan Zhongyi and Mariya Muzychuk all drew without leaving the draw range - although in both games Black had a certain "moral" advantage.
