Zhao Xue and Humpy lead in Women's Grand Prix

The FIDE Women Grand Prix, a series of elite tournaments organised by FIDE and Global Chess, is being held in various countries around the world. There are six tournaments spread over two years, with three tournaments every year. They have become part of the Women's World Championship cycle, which now becomes an annual event.

The current Grand Prix is taking place in the capital and largest city in Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (or Ulan Bator). The participants include four former Women World champions, playing together for the first time. The average rating of all 12 players is 2487, making this one of the strongest many-player women's events ever. Rounds one to eleven of the event are on July 30 to August 11th, with free days on August 3rd and 8th.

Rounds two and three

Indian GM Humpy Koneru, the highest ranked player in this event, scored a second victory, this time against France's Marie Sebag. Russian GM Tatiana Kosintseva beat Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua beat Turkish WIM Betul Yildiz and Mongolian WGM Batkhuyag Munguntuul won her first game, against Chinese WGM Shen Yang.

Koneru,H (2600) - Sebag,M (2519) [D45]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (2), 31.07.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 e5 9.Be2 e4 10.Nd2 a6 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Ne8 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nxd5 Bb7 15.Nc3 Rc8 16.a3 Qxg5 17.Ndxe4 Qg2 18.Rf1 Bxh2 19.b4 Nef6 20.Nc5 Nxc5 21.bxc5

In this very volatile position, according to Humpy her opponent had good chances with 21...h5. This was not the case after the following line: 21...Bg1 22.Qf5 Ne4 23.Qf3 Qg6 24.Nxe4 Bxe4 25.Qf4 Qg2 26.Qg4 Bh2 27.0-0-0 Qxg4 28.Bxg4 f5 29.Be2 Bd5 30.f3 Rfe8 31.Kd2 Bc7 32.Bc3 Re6 33.Bd3 Rf8 34.Rde1 Bg3 35.Re2 Bh4 36.Rg2 h6 37.e4 fxe4 38.fxe4 Bxe4 39.Rxf8+ Kxf8 40.Bxe4 Rxe4 41.Kd3 Rf4 42.c6 Bd8 43.d5 Rc4 44.Rxg7 Be7 45.Rh7 Bd6 46.Rxh6 Bf4 47.Rh4 Ke7 48.Bd2 1-0.

Kosintseva,T (2562) - Zhu Chen (2476) [C41]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (2), 31.07.2010
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 c6 8.a4 a5 9.h3 Nb6 10.Bf1 exd4 11.Nxd4 d5 12.e5 Ne8 13.Nce2 g6 14.Bh6 Ng7 15.Nf3 Nd7 16.Ned4 Nc5 17.c4 Nce6 18.Qb3 Nxd4 19.Nxd4 c5 20.Ne2 dxc4 21.Qxc4 Be6 22.Qc3 Qb6 23.Nf4 Rfd8 24.Nxe6 Nxe6 25.Bc4 Bg5 26.Bxg5 Nxg5 27.h4 Ne6 28.h5 Rd4 29.b3 Rad8 30.Qg3 Kg7 31.Re3 Rd1+ 32.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33.Kh2 Qd8 34.Bxe6 fxe6 35.Rf3 Qd2 36.Qh4 Qd8 37.Rf6 gxh5

After some incautious play by former women's world champion Zhu Chen she is on the ropes. white now had a chance to finish her off quickly, with 38.Qg5+ Kh8 39.Qf4 Qe7 40.Rf7 (40.Rf8+? Kg7) 40...Rd4 41.Qf3 Rh4+ 42.Kg1 Qg5 43.Rf8+ Kg7 44.Qf7+ Kh6 45.Qxe6+ Qg6 46.Rf6; or even quicker with 38.Qg3+ Kh8 39.Rf7 Qg8 40.Qf3 Qg6 41.Rf8+ Kg7 42.Rf6. Instead Tatiana Kosintseva Kosentseva chose the "longer" way, which however never left her ultimate victory in doubt. 38.Qxh5 Rd7 39.Rxe6 Rf7 40.Rh6 Kg8 41.Qg4+ Kh8 42.f4 Qf8 43.Qh4 Kg8 44.Rd6 Re7 45.Rf6 Qe8 46.Rf5 Re6 47.Rh5 Qf7 48.Qd8+ Kg7 49.Rg5+ Rg6 50.f5 Rxg5 51.Qxg5+ Kf8 52.e6 Qc7+ 53.Kh3 Qe5 54.Qd8+ Kg7 55.Qe7+ Kh6 56.Qh4+ Kg7 57.Qg3+ Qxg3+ 58.Kxg3 b5 59.axb5 c4 60.e7 1-0.

Local (Mongolian) participant WGM Batkhuyag Munguntuul

Shen Yang (2435) - Munguntuul,B (2421) [D43]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (2), 31.07.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.a3 g6 9.b4 Bg7 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Bd3 a6 12.a4 0-0 13.0-0 Qd6 14.Qb3 Nf6 15.b5 axb5 16.axb5 Be6 17.bxc6 bxc6 18.Na4 Nd7 19.Qc2 Rfc8 20.Rab1 Qa3 21.Nb6 Nxb6 22.Rxb6 c5 23.dxc5 Rxc5 24.Qb1 Rac8

This is a critical moment in the game – the Chinese girl goes on the attack: 25.Bxg6?! Rc1 26.Qd3 R8c3 27.Qa6? (White needed to follow up with 27.Qb5) 27...Qxa6 28.Rxa6 Bc8 29.Bxf7+ Kxf7 30.Ra7+ Kg8 31.h3 Rxf1+ 32.Kxf1 Bf5 33.Kg1 Rc2 34.Rb7 Be4 35.Ra7 Bc3 36.Rd7 Rb2 37.Rc7 Bb4 38.Rd7 Kf8 39.Ne5 Be1 40.Rf7+ Ke8 41.Rf4 Ba5 42.f3 Bb6 43.Nc4 Rb1+ 44.Kf2 Bc7 45.Rf6 Bd3 0-1.

In the third round our hero Batkhuyag Munguntuul lost for the second time in this event – to former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria; the luckless Zhu Chen lost against her (former) compatriot GM Zhao Xue; and the youngest player, GM Hou Yifan, took a full point from Xu Yuhua. Top seed Humpy Koneru could not manage more than a draw against bottom seed Betul Yildiz, in spite of applying pressure for 74 moves.

Hou Yifan (2577) - Xu Yuhua (2488) [C07]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (3), 01.08.2010
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nfxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 a6 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Bg5 0-0-0 13.Re3 Bc6 14.Rd3 Be4 15.Rd2 Qc7?

After this inconspicuous little error (15...Qb5 was better) the 16-year-old GM sees her chance: 16.Nxe6! Rxd2 17.Qxd2 Qd6 (17...fxe6 18.Bxe6+ is winning for White) 18.Nxf8 Qxd2 19.Bxd2 Rxf8 and the bishop pair with the extra pawn were enough for Hou Yifan to take her first full point in this tournament. 20.f3 Bg6 21.c3 Rd8 22.Be3 Nd5 23.Bd4 Nf4 24.Re1 b5 25.Bf1 Nd3 26.Re2 Nc1 27.Rd2 Nxa2 28.Be3 Kb7 29.Kf2 Kc6 1-0.

Zhu Chen (2476) - Zhao Xue (2462) [E39]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (3), 01.08.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.a3 Bxc5 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Bg5 b6 9.0-0-0 h6 10.Bh4 Be7 11.e4 Nh5 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Kb1 d6 14.Qd2 Rd8 15.g4 Qf6 16.gxh5 Qxf3 17.Be2 Qf6 18.Nb5 Bb7 19.Rhg1 Rd7 20.Rg3 Kh8 21.f4 e5 22.Bg4 Re7 23.Bf5 Qh4 24.Qxd6 Rg8 25.Rxg7 Rxg7 26.Qxh6+ Kg8

The live replay page gives 27.Qxc6??, which loses instantly to 27...Bxc6. Instead Zhao Xue is supposed to have played 27...Rg6 and won the game after forty more moves. Possibly a broadcast error. The game continued 28.Qxb7 Rxb7 29.hxg6 fxg6 30.Bxg6 exf4 31.e5 Re7 32.Be4 Rxe5 33.Bd5+ Kh7 34.Nxa7 Re1 35.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 36.Ka2 Qe3 37.Nb5 Kg6 38.Nc3 Kf5 39.Kb3 Ke5 40.Kb4 Qd2 41.Kb3 Qxh2 42.Ba8 Kd4 43.Na4 Qg3+ 44.Kb4 Qe1+ 45.Nc3 Qe6 46.Bd5 Qe7+ 47.Kb5 Qc5+ 48.Ka6 Qc8+ 49.Ka7 Ke3 50.Kxb6 f3 51.c5 f2 52.Bg2 Qd8+ 53.Kb7 Qg5 54.c6 Qxg2 55.Nd1+ Kd4 56.Nxf2 Qxf2 57.b4 Qe2 58.a4 Qe7+ 59.c7 Qxb4+? The position is now a theoretical draw. 60.Ka7 Qxa4+ 61.Kb7 Qb4+ 62.Ka7 Qf8 63.Kb7 Qe7

64.Kb8? White does not find the stalemate motif that saves the game: 64.Ka8!. Now Black can take the full point: 64...Kc5 65.Ka8 Qd7 66.Kb8 Kb6 0-1.

Standings after three rounds

At the bottom of the table, with just one draw from three games, we have:

WGM Shen Yang from China

Information and pictures from Ulaanbaatar supplied by FIDE

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