Danielian lead down to half a point after loss. Koneru back with chance

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6th Women's Grand Prix Doha 2011 (10)

Danielian lead down to half a point after loss. Koneru back with chance

Mark Crowther - Friday 4th March 2011

Humpy Koneru back in the hunt after an odd day of chess in Doha. Photo ©

Humpy Koneru back in the hunt after an odd day of chess in Doha. Photo © | http://qatar2011.fide.com

The fate of the 6th Doha Grand Prix and qualification for the Women's World Chess Championship was blown wide open today after a series of results that couldn't have gone better for Humpy Koneru. For a start Koneru didn't play especially well, she threw away an opening advantage and it was her opponent Lilit Mkrtchian who miscalculated in not taking a small edge but instead going for everything and blundering a piece. Then leader Elina Danielian was outplayed nicely by Pia Cramling. Marie Sebag took a quick draw against Maia Chiburdinadze. Now in the final round if Danielian takes a quick draw with white against Antoaneta Stefanova (not out of the question as it guarantees a share of first), Sebag can't win with black against Batkhuyag Munguntuul then Koneru needs a win with black against Zhu Chen (but who won today) to qualify. More tension is guaranteed in the final round.

Humpy Koneru. Photo © http://qatar2011.fide.com/.

Humpy Koneru put herself back in contention for a share of first place with a win over Lilit Mrktchian in a Catalan syle Queen Pawn Game. At first Koneru got a comfortable advantage after only a few moves. However then she drifted and allowed a position that was even a little favourable for black. Then black just messed it all up horribly, dropped a piece and Koneru had her required win.

Lilit Mkrtchian

Humpy Koneru

Position after 31.Qd3

31....d4?!

Going for an attacking idea that simply doesn't work. 31... Bxf4 32. gxf4 Nxh2+ 33. Kg1 Ng4 looks simple and comfortable for black.

32. Bxd6 Nxh2+?

Just loses a piece for no compensation. Black presumably overlooked that the h7 pawn is en-prise later on if black tries to save the knight 32... Rxd6 33. Qe4 Nxh2+ 34. Kg1 Nf3+ 35. Kg2 Ne5 36. Qxa8 Rxa8 and the game goes on.

33. Ke2 Rxd6 34. Rh1 e5

Desperate but there is nothing to be done.

35. Rxh2 e4 36. Qc4 Qd8 37. Nxe4 d3+ 38. Kf1 Rd4 39. Qc6 Qe7 40. Rh4 f5 41. Nc3 Rxh4 42. gxh4 Qxh4 43. Rd1 Rd8 44. Rxd3 1-0

Elina Danielian against Pia Cramling. Photo © http://qatar2011.fide.com/.

Pia Cramling got a nice positional edge as white in the Cambridge Springs variation of the Queen's Gambit against leader Elina Danielian. White had the two bishops and her pieces were just better co-ordinated on the run up to move 40. Cramling cleverly repeated a couple of times without taking the draw and from moves 31 to 40 pushed Danielian into a lost position.

Elina Danielian

Pia Cramling

Position after 30.Bf1

30....Rc2

Maybe 30... Nfd7 getting a knight to help with the control of the c-pawn is better.

31. Bd3 Ra2 32. h4 h5 33. Bf1 Rc2 34. Bd3 Ra2 35. Rd1 Ra4 36. Be1 Re8 37. Bc3 Ra3 38. Bb4 Ra4 39. Bd2 Rc8 40. Bc2 Ra3 41. Bb4

White has made huge progress and finishes off the game comfortably.

41....Re3 42. c5 Kg7 43. Bb3 Na8 44. Rd8 Nc7 45. c6 Rxd8 46. Rxd8 Re8 47. Rd2 Re1+ 48. Kh2 Re3 49. Kg1 Bc8 50. Kf2 Re8 51. Bc3 Re7 52. Rd8 Be6 53. Bxe6 fxe6 54. Be5 Nce8 55. Nc4 a5 56. Rd7 Kf8 57. Bxf6 Nxf6 58. c7 Re8 59. Rd8 1-0

It was a bad day for Nana Dzagnidze not only did she play pretty badly with white to allow tail-ender Zhu Chen to score only her second win but she also watched her qualification for the Women's World Chess Championship which looked almost in the bag yesterday disappear. Now she is totally reliant on others to do her a favour tomorrow.

Marie Sebag played very insipidly against Maia Chiburdanidze's French Defence (11.Bxf6 is particularly biteless) and the game meandered to a draw in 23 moves.

Xu Yahua played very nicely with black to beat Martha Fierro Baquero in a heavy piece ending.

Antoaneta Stefanova and Batkhuyag Munguntuul drew a game where both seemed to have chances at one stage or another. Stefanova may be joint bottom but she will have a big say on how things go tomorrow as she plays the leader Elina Danielian with black in the final round.

6th Women GP Doha (QAT), 22 ii-5 iii 2011															cat. X (2490)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Danielian, Elina	g	ARM	2454	*	0	1	0	1	1	½	1	1	1	.	1	7½	2681
2.	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2607	1	*	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	½	½	.	7	2626
3.	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2489	0	½	*	1	1	½	½	.	1	1	½	1	7	2647
4.	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2516	1	½	0	*	1	½	½	0	½	.	1	½	5½	2524
5.	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2550	0	1	0	0	*	.	1	1	0	1	1	0	5	2482
6.	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2502	0	0	½	½	.	*	1	0	1	1	½	½	5	2482
7.	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2475	½	0	½	½	0	0	*	½	.	1	0	1	4	2433
8.	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	m	MGL	2410	0	0	.	1	0	1	½	*	0	0	½	1	4	2426
9.	Fierro Baquero, Martha L.	m	ECU	2353	0	0	0	½	1	0	.	1	*	0	½	1	4	2433
10.	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2484	0	½	0	.	0	0	0	1	1	*	1	½	4	2416
11.	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2546	.	½	½	0	0	½	1	½	½	0	*	0	3½	2378
12.	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2495	0	.	0	½	1	½	0	0	0	½	1	*	3½	2367

Round 10 (March 4, 2011)
Koneru, Humpy	- Mkrtchian, Lilit	1-0	44	A46	Queen's Pawn Opening
Sebag, Marie	- Chiburdanidze, Maia	½-½	23	C10	French Rubinstein
Cramling, Pia	- Danielian, Elina	1-0	59	D52	Queens Gambit Cambridge Springs
Dzagnidze, Nana	- Zhu, Chen	0-1	48	D11	Slav Defence
Fierro Baquero, Martha L.	- Xu, Yuhua	0-1	40	A13	Reti Opening
Stefanova, Antoaneta	- Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	½-½	43	D00	Queen's Pawn Game

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