Hou Yifan wins Women’s GP with 1 round to spare

The 5th tournament of the FIDE Women’s Grand-Prix 2013-2014 is taking place from 18th June to 2nd July in Lopota, Georgia.

Twelve players compete in the round robin tournament. The event is organized by the Georgian Ministry of Sport and Youth, FIDE and Georgian Chess Federation, and sponsored by SOCAR.

The 10th round ended earlier than usual and many of the participants do not hide that their reserves of energy are close to the bottom, despite the pleasant geographical location and exquisite Georgian cuisine.

Hou Yifan’s relatively short, but nevertheless entertaining, draw with Kosteniuk ensured the World Champion’s clear tournament win with one round to go.

By winning against Muzychuk, Ju Wenjun steps a bit closer to the already unreachable leader and trails now by 1,5 points.

After the unfortunate result of her yesterday’s hyper-ambitious approach, Dzagnidze played a safe and relatively eventless draw against Dronavalli.

This allowed Danielian (who won with Black against Zhao Xue), to free herself of the tie with the Georgian and occupy the clear third position.

Koneru’s win against Muminova is a good example of how strong the Indian is, to fully recover after yesterday’s shock, while Stefanova’s draw with Khotenashvili preserves the Bulgarian’s overall good performance.

Games with analysis

Round 10 results:
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2488 – GM Khotenashvili Bela 2518 ½ – ½
GM Koneru Humpy 2613 – WGM Muminova Nafisa 2332 1 – 0
GM Zhao Xue 2538 – GM Danielian Elina 2460 0 – 1
GM Hou Yifan 2629 – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2532 ½ – ½
WGM Ju Wenjun 2532 – GM Muzychuk Anna 2561 1 – 0
GM Dzagnidze Nana 2541 – GM Dronavalli Harika 2503 ½ – ½

Round 10 standings:
1. GM Hou Yifan 2629 CHN – 8½
2. WGM Ju Wenjun 2532 CHN – 7
3. GM Danielian Elina 2460 ARM – 6½
4. GM Dzagnidze Nana 2541 GEO – 6
5-7. GM Koneru Humpy 2613 IND, GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2488 BUL and GM Dronavalli Harika 2503 IND – 5½
8. GM Muzychuk Anna 2561 UKR – 5
9. GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2532 RUS – 4½
10. GM Zhao Xue 2538 CHN – 2½
11. GM Khotenashvili Bela 2518 GEO – 2
12. WGM Muminova Nafisa 2332 UZB – 1½

Round 11 pairings:
GM Dronavalli Harika 2503 – GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2488
GM Muzychuk Anna 2561 – GM Dzagnidze Nana 2541
GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2532 – WGM Ju Wenjun 2532
GM Danielian Elina 2460 – GM Hou Yifan 2629
WGM Muminova Nafisa 2332 – GM Zhao Xue 2538
GM Khotenashvili Bela 2518 – GM Koneru Humpy 2613

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