Chessable Houska's Caro

6th Women's Grand Prix Doha 2011 (4)

Unstoppable Danielian beats Dzagnidze to move to 4/4

Elina Danielian has started with an amazing 4/4. Photo ©

Elina Danielian has started with an amazing 4/4. Photo © | http://qatar2011.fide.com

Elina Danielian moved to 4/4 and has already opened a lead of a point and a half over the rest of the field after defeating Nana Dzagnidze with the black pieces in round 4. Danielian's pawn storm proved far more powerful than her opponents. Elo favourite Humpy Koneru made no progress against Antoaneta Stefanova in a drawn game. Martha Fierro Baquero drew today against Cramling to be in second place on 2.5/4 alongside Marie Sebag who beat Zhu Chen.

Nana Dzagnidze lost to leader Elina Danielian Photo © http://qatar2011.fide.com/.

Elina Danielien took her score to 4/4 by beating Nana Dzagnidze on the black side of a Semi-Slav. In doing so she not only opened an early lead of a point and a half but she also promoted the chances of the Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan in the Grand Prix, she isn't playing in the event and she needs Dzagnidze to finish outside the top two to avoid being caught by her.

Dzagnidze perhaps played her Kingside push a bit slower than she should have playing moves such as 12.Kb1.

Elina Danielian

r___rnk_
_b_nq_p_
______Pp
___p_B__
p_pPPN__
_p___N__
PPQ__P__
_K_R__R_

Nana Dzagnidze

Position after 24...b3

Both players have got their pawn storms in but surely black's is the more dangerous.

25. Qc3 a3 26. Rd2?

Now white is just losing. It seems that white has better chances in the sample line 26. axb3 axb2 27. Nd2 Qa3 28. Qxb2 c3 29. Qxa3 Rxa3 30. e5 cxd2 31. Kb2 Rea8 32. Rxd2 Ra2+ 33. Kc3 Rc8+ 34. Kd3

26... Nb6 27. axb3 axb2

Better might be. 27... dxe4 28. Ne5 Qf6 29. Qh3 Bc8

28. Rxb2 Ra3 29. Nxd5 Bxd5 30. exd5 Qf6 31. Bg4 Rea8 32. Kc2 cxb3+

Black is winning easily with many options.

33. Rxb3 Ra2+ 34. Kd1 Ra1+ 35. Ke2 R8a2+ 36. Nd2 Rxg1 37. Be6+ Nxe6 38. Rxb6 Rxd2+ 39. Qxd2 Nf4+ 40. Kf3 Qxb6 41. Kxf4 Rxg6 42. Ke3 Rd6 43. Qa2 Qb5 44. Qa8+ Kf7 45. Qa7+ Rd7 46. Qa3 Qxd5 47. Qd3 h5 48. f3 Rb7 49. Kf4 Qd6+ 50. Ke3 Qh6+ 51. f4 Qe6+ 52. Kf2 Rb2+ 53. Kf3 Rb3 0-1

Maia Chiburdanidze. Photo © http://qatar2011.fide.com/.

But for some time trouble problems in the first two games former women's world chess champion Maia Chiburdanidze could be on 4/4 as well. She has consistantly come out of the opening well in the tournament and for the second day running she managed to convert this into victory this time against Lilit Mkrtchian.

Humpy Koneru is the only other player in the field that can catch Hou Yifan in the over-all standings. Today she and Antoaneta Stefanova contested a semi-slav where the position was more or less balanced throughout and ended in a draw after 47 moves.

Marie Sebag beat Zhu Chen. Photo © http://qatar2011.fide.com/.

Marie Sebag

r____rk_
___b__pp
p___p___
_p_p_pqP
___P__P_
nPNQPP__
P____KN_
__R___R_

Zhu Chen

Position after 22...f5

Marie Sebag moved into joint second place on 2.5/4 with a win against Zhu Chen. This was a sharp game where a blunder on move 23 left Sebag with a very big position which she then proceded to turn to win into a winning king and pawn ending.

23. Ne2?

23. gxf5 and everything remains up in the air.

23... fxg4 24. f4

(24. Ngf4)

24... Qf5

(24... b4)

25. Qd2

25. Qxf5 exf5 is a much better defence.

25... Rac8 26. Ng3 Rc2 27. Rxc2 Qxc2 28. Qxc2 Nxc2 29. Rc1 Rc8 30. Ne1 Nxe1 31. Rxc8+ Bxc8 32. Kxe1 b4 33. Kf2 Kf7 34. Nh1

(34. Nf1 g6 35. h6 g5 36. Nh2 e5)

34... a5 35. Kg3 Ba6 36. Nf2 Be2 37. Kh4 Kf6 38. Nxg4+ Bxg4 39. Kxg4

The ending is fairly straightforward now.

h6 40. Kg3 g6 41. Kg4 gxh5+ 42. Kxh5 Kf5 43. Kxh6 Ke4 44. Kg6 Kxe3 45. Kg5 Ke4 46. Kf6 Kxf4 0-1

Pia Cramling equalised easily enough against Martha Fierro Baquero but the game never looked anything like being another draw for the Swede.

Xu Yuhua interviewed after her first win. Photo © http://qatar2011.fide.com/.

Xu Yuhua scored her first win by beating Batkhuyag Munguntuul fairly easily on the white side of a Sicilian. She gained a lot of tempo off black's king then found a nice theme exploiting a back-rank weakeness to finish things off.

Batkhuyag Munguntuul

__r__n_k
B____Qpp
B__ppb__
____q___
____P___
________
PP____PP
_____R_K

Xu Yuhua

Position after 26.Ba6

Here Xu Yuhua can chase the black rook down with her bishops as it is tied to the back rank.

26... Rd8 27. Bb6 Ra8 28. Bb7 Rb8 29. Bc7 Qb5 30. Rxf6 gxf6 31. Qxf6+ Kg8 32. Bxb8 Qb4 33. h3 1-0

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 * . 1 . . 1 1 . . . . 1 4
2. Fierro Baquero, Martha L. m ECU 2353 . * . 0 ½ 1 . . 1 . . . 2637
3. Sebag, Marie g FRA 2489 0 . * . . . . 1 1 . ½ . 2572
4. Koneru, Humpy g IND 2607 . 1 . * ½ 0 . . . ½ . . 2 2491
5. Cramling, Pia g SWE 2516 . ½ . ½ * . . . ½ . ½ . 2 2482
6. Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2550 0 0 . 1 . * . . . . . 1 2 2456
7. Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2502 0 . . . . . * 1 . . 1 0 2 2455
8. Xu, Yuhua g CHN 2484 . . 0 . . . 0 * . 1 . 1 2 2486
9. Zhu, Chen g QAT 2495 . 0 0 . ½ . . . * 1 . . 2389
10. Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2546 . . . ½ . . . 0 0 * 1 . 2428
11. Mkrtchian, Lilit m ARM 2475 . . ½ . ½ . 0 . . 0 * . 1 2320
12. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag m MGL 2410 0 . . . . 0 1 0 . . . * 1 2304
Round 4 (February 25, 2011)
Fierro Baquero, Martha L. - Cramling, Pia ½-½ 42 A10 Dutch, QI and KID Systems
Koneru, Humpy - Stefanova, Antoaneta ½-½ 47 D45 Anti-Meran Variations
Dzagnidze, Nana - Danielian, Elina 0-1 40 D43 Anti-Meran Gambit
Xu, Yuhua - Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 1-0 33 B47 Sicilian Paulsen
Zhu, Chen - Sebag, Marie 0-1 46 D10 Slav Defence
Mkrtchian, Lilit - Chiburdanidze, Maia 0-1 52 E42 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein

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