TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Women's Candidates 2024 (6)
Four decisive games in Round 6 of the women's Candidates
Mark Crowther - Thursday 11th April 2024
Tan Zhongyi continues to lead after a win against Anna Muzychuk in Round 6. Photo © | https://candidates.fide.com
Tan Zhongyi leads the women's Candidates on 4.5/6 after a round where all the games finished decisively. Tan played the Colle system against Anna Muzychuk and hit a bullseye as black drifted into trouble. Objectively there weren't early problems but Carlsen won with black playing 9...cxd4 against Bluebaum, you have to take that as a serious recommendation. After 9...Be7 10.Ne5 cxd4 11.exd4 Nxe5 12.dxe5 white was already better and following 12...Nd7? Tan was close to winning. Tan made some inaccuracies along the way but Muzychuk never equalised and lost in 37 moves.
Aleksandra Goryachkina kept second place after grinding out a win against Nurgyul Salimova in a Catalan. Rameshbabu Vaishali got into trouble quite soon after the opening against Kateryna Lagno and when she didn't find the difficult but only move 21.Re3 she was just lost. Humpy Koneru has had a difficult start to the event and is almost certainly out of contention. She struggled to maintain equality out of the opening with white against Lei Tingjie and then after the sequence 36.Nf5?! Nb5 37 c4? Nc3! she was busted and lost a few moves later.
Round 6 Standings: 1st Tan Zhongyi 4pts, 2nd Goryachkina 4pts, 3rd Lagno 3.5pts 4th Lei Tingjie 3pts, 5th= Salimova, Vaishali 2.5pts 7th= Koneru, Muzychuk 2pts
Round 7 11th April at 19:30BST: Lagno-Salimova, Goryachkina-Tan, Muzychuk-Koneru, Lei-Vaishali.
Round 6 Summary
Rameshbabu Vaishali was well beaten by Kateryna Lagno in a Ruy Lopez Marshall. Vaishali's problems started with 14.bxc3= (14.Nxc3 kept an edge) and already by move 20 she had to find an only move. After a long thought 21.Qxb4? was played when the ropey looking 21.Re3 exposing her back rank was strictly the only move. After this she was busted and had to resign on move 29.
Tan Zhongyi resumed her winning ways by beating Anna Muzychuk. Having commented on Muzychuk's play in the event by saying she got good positions and then messed them up, today this really wasn't the case. Tan chose the Colle/Zuckertort System and it was really quite remarkable how well this worked. Muzychuk's 12...Nd7? (12...Ne4 was the only move) put her in a world of hurt. Tan was perhaps not accurate 16.Rae1?! (16.Rb1 was better) but Muzychuk needed to find 16...d4 or 17...d4 and she'd still be worse. Tan didn't play perfectly, 24.f5 was strong but nowhere near the best (24.fxg5! but also 24.Bxh7+, 24.Bb5 were winning) it didn't matter as black collapsed anyway.
Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Nurgyul Salimova with the black pieces in a long and difficult Catalan. Black was at least equal after 19.Bh3 and won a pawn a few moves later. Converting this was no easy task, but neither was defending and progress was only really made after 45.Rb1? (45.Rb7 was a better try) and this allowed black to get her Queenside on the move and this eventually proved decisive.
Humpy Koneru is clearly misfiring in this event. Whilst not initially worse on the white side of a King's Indian against Lei Tingjie she was forced to be creative to maintain equality, her 17.Bxe5 (17.Qd2 seems the right move) was the start of her difficulties. After the Queens were traded on move 35 the game ought to have been headed for a draw but after 36.Nf4?! Nb5 37.c4? Nc3 Lei was suddenly winning and made no mistake in converting.
| FIDE Women's Candidates Toronto CAN (CAN), 3-26 iv 2024 | cat. XI (2517) | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Tan, Zhongyi | g | CHN | 2521 | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 4½ | 2703 |
| 2. | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | g | FID | 2553 | . | . | * | * | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 4 | 2635 |
| 3. | Lagno, Kateryna | g | RUS | 2542 | ½ | . | ½ | . | * | * | ½ | . | . | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 3½ | 2584 |
| 4. | Lei, Tingjie | g | CHN | 2550 | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | * | * | ½ | . | . | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 3 | 2519 |
| 5. | Salimova, Nurgyul | m | BUL | 2432 | ½ | . | 0 | . | . | . | ½ | . | * | * | 0 | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 2½ | 2470 |
| 6. | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | m | IND | 2475 | 0 | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | . | . | 1 | . | * | * | ½ | . | ½ | . | 2½ | 2462 |
| 7. | Koneru, Humpy | g | IND | 2546 | ½ | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | * | * | . | . | 2 | 2387 |
| 8. | Muzychuk, Anna | g | UKR | 2520 | 0 | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | 2 | 2387 |
| Round 6 (April 10, 2024) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tan, Zhongyi | - Muzychuk, Anna | 1-0 | 37 | D05 | Colle System | |
| Salimova, Nurgyul | - Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 0-1 | 60 | E06 | Catalan | |
| Vaishali, Rameshbabu | - Lagno, Kateryna | 0-1 | 29 | C89 | Ruy Lopez Marshall | |
| Koneru, Humpy | - Lei, Tingjie | 0-1 | 48 | E97 | King's Indian Classical | |
FIDE World Championship Candidates Round 6 Commentary
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