Zhao Xue leads, Humpy and Hou Yifan in hot pursuit

by ChessBase
8/6/2010 – The youngest player, GM Hou Yifan, 16, won two games in succession, while the highest ranked participant, Indian GM Humpy Koneru, scored 1.5/2. Both are now half a point behind the leader Zhao Xue, with a serene plus four and a 2743 performance. The draw rate is a remarkably low 39%. We bring you games, results and pictorial impressions in our rounds 5+6 report.

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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.

Round five

Round 5 – August 4th, 2010
Hou Yifan
1-0
Sebag, Marie
Stefanova, Antoaneta
1-0
Kosintseva, Tatiana
Chiburdanidze, Maia
1-0
Xu Yuhua
Zhu Chen
½-½
Koneru, Humpy
Munguntuul, Batkhuyag
½-½
Zhao Xue
Yildiz, Betul Cemre
0-1
Shen Yang

Stefanova-Kosintseva 1-0
A Trompovsky in which White established overwhelming power on queenside and took the initiative. Black got into time trouble and subsequently lost. Antoaneta Stefanova: "It was a very interesting game. In this structure it is not easy to play normally for both colors. My opponent found an interesting play: a long delay in castling and then go on the attack. I deliberately delayed castling and tried to organized my attack on the queenside. When I finally castled it became very complicated, we both were in time-trouble. I don’t know if we played best moves, I think we made mistakes here and there. When I sacrificed the exchange I had a good compensation because I took a pawn and pawns of my opponent were weak." Tatiana Kosintseva: "The game was mutually sharp. I moved too incautiously and recklessly and committed a number of errors. I should have been more careful. I should not have let my opponent play on counterstrikes and played more on defense. I should not allowed her to play Qa6. Probably I should’ve added a6-a4 including somewhere; also Bc8 move was interesting."

Yildiz,B (2235) - Shen Yang (2435) [C11]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (5), 04.08.2010
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.Nf3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.0-0-0 Bb7 10.Qe3 Rg8 11.Be2 Nd7 12.Kb1 Nb6 13.Nc5 Nd5 14.Qh6 Bxc5 15.dxc5 Qe7 16.Nd4 Qxc5 17.Bh5 Qf8 18.Qxh7 Rg7 19.Qd3 Nf4 20.Qc3

Shen Yang: "My opponent had a very good fighting spirit: she sacrificed a bishop, but I did not take it. I thought her position was slightly better, and she could have had some chances if she exchanged queens. But she did not find the right plan, and was also in time pressure." Yildiz: "I calculated many tactical variations. At this moment I should have found something and not allowed to her to castle queenside." 20...Nd5 21.Qb3 0-0-0 22.Bf3 Qc5 23.h4 f5 24.c3 Rgg8 25.Rhe1 Nb6 26.Bxb7+ Kxb7 27.g3 f4

White has been doing fine so far, coming under pressure, gaining an advantage which is now gone. But she is in no danger. Now comes the error: 28.Rg1? e5 29.Nc2 fxg3 (or even stronger: 29...Nc4 – but Black is winning anyway) 30.fxg3 Rxg3 31.Rgf1 Rxd1+ 32.Rxd1 Nc4 33.Nb4 Rg2 34.Nd3 Qe3 35.Ka1 e4 36.Nb4 Rxb2 0-1.


WGM Shen Yang scored her first win in this event

Hou Yifan (2577) - Sebag,M (2519) [B90]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (5), 04.08.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f4 b5 10.0-0-0 Be7 11.Kb1 0-0 12.f5 Bc4 13.Rg1 Qc7 14.g4

14...b4 15.Bxc4 bxc3? 16.Qxc3 Rfc8 17.Nd2 d5 18.exd5 Rab8 19.Qd3 e4 20.d6 Qc6 21.Qe2 Bxd6 22.Bb3 Be5 23.Nc4 Bc7 24.g5 Nd5 25.g6 Nxe3 26.Nxe3 Nc5 27.Qh5 Nxb3 28.Qxh7+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qxg7 Rf8 31.Nd5+ Ke8 32.gxf7+ Rxf7 33.Qg8+ Rf8 34.Nxc7+ Qxc7 35.Qe6+ Qe7 1-0.


Second seed Hou Yifan on the rise

Round six

Round 6 – August 5th, 2010
Zhao Xue
1-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta
Koneru, Humpy
1-0
Chiburdanidze, Maia
Xu Yuhua
1-0
Munguntuul, Batkhuyag
Shen Yang
½-½
Kosintseva, Tatiana
Sebag, Marie
0-1
Zhu Chen
Yildiz, Betul Cemre
0-1
Hou Yifan

Zhao Xue-Stefanova Antoaneta 1-0
In a Slav Defence White sacrificed a pawn to take the initiative during the transition to the middlegame. she regained the pawn with a space advantage in the middlegame, transferred the play from queenside to kingside, broke the coordination of the black pieces and won.

Yildiz-Hou Yifan 0-1
The game was a Moscow Variation of Sicilian defense, with the middlegame struggle centered around the d5 square. After move 43 the a queen endgame was on the board, with seven black pawns vs six on the white side. After the queen trade on move 56 the young Chinese GM was completely winning – and showed how it is done:


Turkish law student and WIM Betul Cemre Yildiz

Yildiz,B (2235) - Hou Yifan (2577) [B51]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (6), 05.08.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qd3 h6 9.a4 Rc8 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Rd1 Nf6 12.Nd2 Be7 13.Nf1 0-0 14.Ne3 Be6 15.Bd2 Rfd8 16.b3 Qc5 17.Be1 g6 18.Ra2 Kg7 19.Ncd5 Nxd5 20.Nxd5 Bg5 21.Bb4 Qc6 22.Bd2 Bxd5 23.exd5 Qc5 24.c4 a5 25.Bc3 f5 26.g3 Bf6 27.Kg2 Re8 28.Re2 Re7 29.Rde1 Kh7 30.Qc2 Bg7 31.h4 Rf8 32.f3 b6 33.Rh1 Qc8 34.Bb2 Qd7 35.Rhe1 Ref7 36.Rh1 Qd8 37.Qd2 Re8 38.Bc3 h5 39.f4 exf4 40.Rxe8 Qxe8 41.Re1 Bxc3 42.Qxc3 Re7 43.Rxe7+ Qxe7 44.Kf1 fxg3 45.Qxg3 Qf6 46.Qf2 Qd8 47.Qd4 Kg8 48.Qf2 Kf7 49.Qd4 Qb8 50.Qe3 Qd8 51.Qf2 f4 52.Qd4 Qxh4 53.Qxb6 Qh3+ 54.Ke2 Qe3+ 55.Qxe3 fxe3 56.Kxe3

56...h4 57.Kf4 g5+ 58.Kg4 Kf6 59.Kh3 Kf5 60.Kg2 g4 61.Kh2 Ke4 62.Kg2 g3 63.b4 axb4 64.a5 b3 65.a6 b2 66.a7 b1Q 67.a8Q Qb2+ 68.Kh3 Qh2+ 69.Kg4 g2 70.Qe8+ Kd4 0-1.


A second win in succession for GM Hou Yifan

Koneru,H (2600) - Chiburdanidze,M (2514) [E32]
5th FIDE GP w Ulaanbaatar MGL (6), 05.08.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.Bxe4 Qxe5 13.Bxh7+ Kh8 14.Bf4 Qf6 15.Be4 Re8 16.Rac1 Bd7 17.Qd3

17...Rxe4?! Black is desperate for active play and sacrifices the exchange for the bishop pair. Maia: "I though I would receive some compensation after sacrifice, but I did not see exact moves. I suppose the sacrifice was correct." Humpy: "I think Re4 was a bad move. The position is very tactical but all the time I had counterchances." 18.Qxe4 Re8 19.Qd5 Bg4 20.f3 Bc8 21.Rf2 Rd8 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Bg5 Qe5 24.Ng3 f6 25.Bd2 Bf8 26.Re2 Qxh5 27.Nxh5 a5 28.Nf4 Kf7 29.h4 Bf5 30.g4 Bh7 31.Ne6 Rd5 32.Nxf8 Kxf8 33.Kg2 Kf7 34.f4 Bd3 35.Ree1 f5 36.g5 a4 37.b4 axb3 38.axb3 Be4+ 39.Kg3 Kg6 40.b4 d3 41.Rc5 Rxc5 42.bxc5 Nd4 43.Ra1 Nf3 44.Ra2 Bd5 45.Rb2 Nd4 46.Rb6+ Bc6 47.Kf2 Kh5 48.Ke3 Ne6 49.Kxd3 Nxc5+ 50.Kd4 Nd7 51.Rb1 Kxh4 52.Ra1 Kh5 53.Ra8 Kg6 54.Bb4 Kf7 55.Bd6 Be4 56.Be5 Nf8 57.Rb8 Ne6+ 58.Kc4 Bc6 59.Bd6 Kg6 60.Rh8 Kf7 61.Kd3 Be4+ 62.Ke3 Bc6 63.Kf2 Kg6 64.Kg3 Kf7 65.Rh2 Kg6 66.Ra2 Be4 67.Ra5 Kf7 68.Re5 Bd3 69.Kf3 Be4+ 70.Ke3 Bc2 71.Bb4 Be4 72.Ba3 Bc2 73.Kf3 Be4+ 74.Kg3 Bd3 75.g6+ Kf6 76.Bb2 Ke7 77.Rd5 Be4 78.Ra5 Bd3 79.Ra8 Bb5 80.Rb8 Bc6 81.Be5 Be4 82.Kh4 Bc6 83.Rg8 Bd5 84.Rh8 Bc6 85.Rh7 Kf8 86.Rh5 Be4 87.Bd6+ Ke8 88.Kg3 Kd7 89.Ba3 Ke8 90.Rh8+ Kd7 91.Rh2 Ke8 92.Rd2 Bb1 93.Rd6 Ba2 94.Kf3 Bc4 95.Ke3 Ba2 96.Rb6 Bd5 97.Rb5 Be4 98.Re5 Kd7 99.Bb2 Bc2 100.Ba3 Be4

The end comes after 100 grueling moves: 101.Rxe4 fxe4 102.Bb2 Nc5 103.f5 Ke7 104.Bxg7 Nd7 105.Kxe4 Nc5+ 106.Kf4 b5 107.Bc3 Nd3+ 108.Ke3 1-0.


Tatiana Kosintseva and Shen Yang discussing their hard-fought 57-move draw


In the lead with plus four and a 2743 performance: GM Zhao Xue

Standings after six rounds

Statistics

After the first six rounds of this tournament a total of 42 games have been played. Of these:

  • 14 games = 39% ended in draws
  • White won 14 games = 39%
  • Black won eight games = 22%

Information and pictures from Ulaanbaatar supplied by FIDE


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