6th Women's Grand Prix Doha 2011 (4)
Unstoppable Danielian beats Dzagnidze to move to 4/4
Mark Crowther - Friday 25th February 2011
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
Nana Dzagnidze
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
Zhu Chen
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
Xu Yuhua
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 | . | . | . | 2½ | 2637 | |||||||
3. | Sebag, Marie | g | FRA | 2489 | 0 | . | * | . | . | . | . | 1 | 1 | . | ½ | . | 2½ | 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 | . | . | 1½ | 2389 | |||||||
10. | Stefanova, Antoaneta | g | BUL | 2546 | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | 0 | 0 | * | 1 | . | 1½ | 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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vs
TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.