tag: Women's Grand Prix 2012 Kazan - Page 1

Kazan GP R11: Humpy, Muzychuk share first at Women's GP

6/23/2012 – The three top seed finished in the first three place: all won their final round games, which put Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk on top of the score table with 7.5/11 points each. Both did not lose a single game. In third we find, half a point behind, women's world champion Hou Yifan, who lost two but won five. Here is the fnal report with pictures, stats, and commented games.

Kazan GP R10: Humpy, Cmilyte, Muzychuk lead with one round to go

6/21/2012 – A round ago three GMs were in the joint lead. One of them, Elina Danielian of Armenia, lost her second game in a row to drop half a point behind, while Lithuanian GM Viktorija Cmilyte won her game against Nadezhda Kosintseva to join the leaders. Friday is the final round with all three leading players wielding the black pieces. Illustrated round ten report.

Kazan GP R09: Danielian falters, as Koneru, Kosteniuk and Hou win

6/21/2012 – The FIDE Women Grand Prix in Kazan is gradually reaching its culmination. Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru won their games, both with the black pieces, while Alexandra Kosteniuk inflicted the first defeat on the tournament leader Elina Danielian. Now, with two rounds to go, the three top seeds – Koneru, Danielian and Muzychuk – are in the joint lead, with 6.0/9 points. Round nine report.

Kazan GP R08: Four decisive games – almost six in all

6/19/2012 – Betül Yildiz and Viktorija Cmilyte looked poised to win their games, but the opponents, the Kosintseva sisters, both managed to cling on and draw. Otherwise we would have seen six decisive games. Anna Muzychuk, Hou Yifan, Elina Danielian and Humpy Koneru all won their white games, leaving Danielian in the lead ahead of Muzychuk. Tuesday is a free day. Round eight report.

Kazan GP R07: Cmilyte and Kosteniuk score

6/18/2012 – Two decisive games saw Alexandra Kosteniuk winning a complicated game against Alisa Galliamova, and Viktorija Cmilyte beating Betul Yildiz to catch up with Kateryna Lahno and Anna Muzychuk on shared 2-4 places. Elina Danielian drew against Antoaneta Stefanova and kept her lead on the scoreboard. Four rounds remain in this Women's Grand Prix. Round seven report.

Kazan GP Rd.5: two decisive games, Muzychuk joins lead

6/16/2012 – The fifth round was quite peaceful – four draws, only two decisive games. Anna Muzychuk beat Betul Yildiz to join Elina Danielian in the lead with 3.5/5. Top seeds Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru escaped defeat in precarious positions. On the free day before the round many participants went on a guided tour of the Kazan Kremlin, which includes the dramatically leaning Soyembika tower.

Kazan GP R06: four decisive games, Danielian leads

6/16/2012 – Today Armenian GM Elina Danielian defeated the second Kosintseva sister, Nadezhda, while her closest rival Anna Muzychuk drew her game against Alexandra Kosteniuk. Ukrainian GM Kateryna Lahno defeated former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, and now Lahno and Muzychuk are in 2-3 position, half a point behind the leader. Report after round six.

Mikhalchishin: how to beat a World Champion

6/15/2012 – He has a daunting task: GM Adrian Mikhalchishin coaches WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz, bottom seed at the Women's Grand Prix in Kazan. In round two she faced the reigning women's world champion Hou Yifan, rated almost three hundred points above her, with the black pieces. But Betül managed to trick her Chinese opponent and pull off her first win against her. Mikhalchishin tells us how.

Kazan GP Rd.4: Hou Yifan loses again, Danielian in the sole lead

6/13/2012 – The women's world champion is definitely out of sorts. After losing in the second round to the bottom seed she lost today, again with the white pieces, against Lituanian GM Viktorija Cmilyte. Four games were decisive, and the win by Elina Danielian against Tatiana Kosintseva brought the Armenian GM 3.0/4 and sole first place, with a 2703 performance. Round four report.

Kazan GP Rd.3: four decisive games, Muzychuk and Danielian lead

6/12/2012 – Nadezhda Kosintseva and Viktorija Cmilyte won their white games, the former in a 78-move grind against Alexandra Kosteniuk, the latter in a super-sharp middlegame attack. Hou Yifan recovered after the previous round loss and outplayed Tatiana Kosintseva with black, Elina Danielian defeated Betul Yildiz from Turkey. Anna Muzychuk drew with Humpy Koneru but still leads. Round three report.

Kazan GP: Turkey's Yildiz shocks world champion Hou Yifan

6/11/2012 – It was the top against the bottom seed, the highest rated against the lowest rated player in the event. But Turkish law student WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz, playing with the black pieces, profited from a time trouble blunder by her opponent, Chinese GM Hou Yifan and finished the reigning women's world champion off in 34 moves. We bring you an illustrated report after round two.

FIDE Women's Grand Prix starts in Kazan

6/10/2012 – This twelve-player round robin has a 40,000 Euro prize fund, is part of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix circuit, and has most of the world's elite female players – Hou Yifan, Muzychuk, Humpy, Lahno, the Kosintseva sisters, Stefanova – at the start. Sunday is the first round, and the organisers have promised HD video broadcasts. The opening ceremony was yesterday – here's an illustrated report.
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