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Home » Chess News » Events » 6th FIDE Women Grand Prix 2011 » Dzagnidze beats Koneru in Round 1 of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Doha

The first round of the 6th and final FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Doha saw a potentially decisive clash for the whole Grand Prix. With World Champion Hou Yifan having set a total to catch but not playing it was left to Nana Dzagnidze and Humpy Koneru to win the event and overtake her. These two met in the first round. Humpy Koneru certainly went for the win with aggressive intentions against her opponent's king, however on the run up to the first time control and Koneru missed something and her position disintegrated. Dzagnidze will be very happy and has taken a huge step towards winning the event by defeating the top seed.

6th Women GP Doha QAT 2011.02.22 (1)

White: Koneru, Humpy

Black: Dzagnidze, Nana

Result 0-1

ECO D46

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. O-O Be7 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 h6 11. Rad1 Qc7 12. Qe2 Rad8 13. Ne5 dxc4 14. bxc4 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Nd7 16. f4 Nc5 17. Bb1 Rxd1 18. Nxd1 Rd8 19. Nf2

This is the first new move. White has a threatening looking attack but black has counter-play 19. Qc2 g6 20. Nf2 h5 21. g4 hxg4 22. Nxg4 Nd3 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Nxf7 Kxf7 25. Bd4 c5 26. Qxd3 Rg8 27. Bc3 Qc6 28. e4 a6 29. Qh3 b5 30. Rd1 Qc8 31. Bc2 Bc6 32. Rd2 b4 33. Bb2 a5 34. Rg2 Rh8 35. Qe3 Rg8 36. Rg3 a4 37. Rg4 Qd8 38. h3 Qa8 39. f5 gxf5 40. exf5 Rxg4+ 41. hxg4 Qg8 42. fxe6+ Ke8 43. Bf5 Qg5 44. Kf2 Qxe3+ 45. Kxe3 Bg5+ 46. Kd3 a3 47. Ba1 Ke7 48. Be4 Ba4 49. Bf5 Bc6 50. Be4 Be8 51. Ke2 Ba4 52. Bf5 Bc6 53. Kd1 Bf3+ 54. Kc2 Be2 55. Kb3 Be3 56. Be4 Bxg4 57. Ka4 Bxe6 58. Bd3 Bd7+ 59. Kb3 Bg4 60. e6 Kxe6 61. Bg7 Bd1+ 62. Bc2 Bf3 63. Bd3 Bc6 64. Bc2 Bf4 65. Bd1 Kf5 66. Bc2+ Kg4 67. Bf8 Be3 68. Bd6 Kf3 69. Bd3 Kf2 70. Bc2 Ke2 71. Bf8 Kd2 72. Bd6 Ba4+ 0-1 Zvjaginsev,V (2635)-Dreev,A (2640)/Groningen NED 1997

19...Nd7 20. Ne4 c5 21. Ng3 Nf8 22. Bc3 a6 23. Nh5 g6 24. Nf6+ Bxf6 25. exf6 Qc6 26. e4 b5 27. Rf3 bxc4 28. Bc2 Rd4 29. Qe3

29. e5 Qd5 30. Qe3 Bc6 31. h4 h5 32. a4

29... Qd6 30. f5 g5

30... exf5 is also very playable. 31. Qxh6 Qxf6 32. Rxf5 with balanced play.

31. h4 exf5

32. hxg5?

32. Rxf5 looks compulsory with Bc8 33. Rxc5 Qxc5 34. Bxd4 Qa5 being level.

32... Bxe4

I'm not at all clear what white has missed but her position has now disintegrated.

33. gxh6 Bxc2 34. Qg5+ Ng6 35. h7+ Kh8 36. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 37. Rf2 Be4 38. Qh6 Qxf6 39. Qe3 Qa1+ 40. Kh2 Qd4 41. Qxd4+ 0-1

Martha Fierro Baquero from Ecuador defeated local representative Zhu Chen in a strange ending. Zhu found the right idea with 43...f5 but after 44.exf5 her 44...e4 was a terrible idea, instead the simple Kd5 or Kc5 penetrating with her king should hold reasonably comfortably.

Marie Sebag of France lost her way on move 49 of a Caro-Kann against Elina Danielian 49.Bb1 is bad, 49.Qg3 is the most accurate, and resigned just three moves later.

Pia Cramling of Sweden had a small pull against Lilit Mkrtchian but couldn't make anything of it as the game was drawn in 44 moves.

Antoaneta Stefanova was defeated by Xu Yuhua when she forced mate quite handily.

Finally former World Chess Champion Maia Chiburdanidze was pressing for a long time against Batkhuyag Munguntuul but she lost control and although maybe not objectively worse her position was terribly difficult and she quickly lost material.

The time control 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one. I had been assuming it was the longer time-rate used in the men's event. It may go some way to explain some of the errors in round 1 it certainly prompted me to check.

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.	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2550	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	1
2.	Danielian, Elina	g	ARM	2454	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1
3.	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2484	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	1
4.	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	m	MGL	2410	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1
5.	Fierro Baquero, Martha L.	m	ECU	2353	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1
6.	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2516	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	½	2475
7.	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2475	.	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	½	2516
8.	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2607	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	0
9.	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2546	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	0
10.	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2489	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	0
11.	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2502	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	0
12.	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2495	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 1 (February 22, 2011)
Fierro Baquero, Martha L.	- Zhu, Chen	1-0	55	A20	English Opening
Cramling, Pia	- Mkrtchian, Lilit	½-½	44	E15	Queens Indian
Koneru, Humpy	- Dzagnidze, Nana	0-1	41	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Stefanova, Antoaneta	- Xu, Yuhua	0-1	49	E00	Catalan
Sebag, Marie	- Danielian, Elina	0-1	58	B14	Caro Kann Panov
Chiburdanidze, Maia	- Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	0-1	76	D12	Slav Defence

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