Nana Dzagnidze played the Exchange Variation of the French Defence against Valentina Gunina and, given the Russian's active style, was able to positionally get the upper hand in the middlegame. White then turned her positional advantage into a tangible edge — her central advance bore fruit by move 24:
Gunina pinned the d5-pawn with 24...♜ad8 only to find herself vulnerable to a dangerous discovered attack after 25.♕a1.
Nana Dzagnidze has been ruthless so far in Kazan | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
The second win of the day was achieved by Kateryna Lagno, who had the black pieces against Mariya Muzychuk. From an aggressive setup of the Two Knights Defence, Black gave up an exchange and went on to get an attack:
With 33...♞d3, Black got the advantage. There followed 34.♖b1 ♛f2+ and Black had won a pawn. The material advantage was enough to get an eventual win, the first one for Lagno in the tournament.
Mariya Muzychuk v Kateryna Lagno | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Commentary provided by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko and IM Elisabeth Paehtz
