Top seed Anna Muzychuk had a good start in Tbilisi, Georgia where she is leading the ACP Women Cup after five rounds. The Ukrainian born IM, who has been playing for Slovenia since 2004, scored 4.5/5 while Kateryna Lahno and Pia Cramling are trailing by half a point. The ACP Women Cup is one of the strongest rapid events for women ever held, with a prize fund of US $40,000.

Anna Muzychuk, sole first in Tbilisi after round 5 | Photo © Anastasya Karlovich for the official website

The ACP Women Cup is organized by the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) and the Georgian Chess Federation. It is the final tournament of the ACP Women Series 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and is staged February 17-22 at the Sheraton Hotel, in Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia.

It is one of the strongest tournaments in the history of women chess with three world champions and five Olympic champions participating among twelve world top women chess players. The list of participants include:

Eight qualifiers from the ACP Women Series
1. Kosintseva Nadezhda (Russia)
2. Kosintseva Tatiana (Russia)
3. Muzychuk Anna (Slovenia)
4. Cmilyte Viktorija (Lithuania)
5. Stefanova Antoaneta (Bulgaria)
6. Cramling Pia (Sweden)
7. Lahno Katerina (Ukraine)
8. Zatonskih Anna (USA)

Four nominees of the Georgian Chess Federation
9. Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia)
10. Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia)
11. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia)
12. Zeinab Mamedyarova (Azerbaijan)

It is a round robin rapid tournament with 20 minutes and 5 seconds increment on the clock. Two rounds were played last Saturday and three on Sunday.

The playing hall | Photo © Anastasya Karlovich for the official website

As so often in women events, the is nothing wrong with the fighting spirit in Tbilisi! After five rounds, the drawing percentage is as low as 26,7%, with just 8 draws in a total of 30 games.

Anna Muzychuk started with four wins, against Anna Zatonskih, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Nana Dzagnidze and Zeinab Mamedyarova (one of the sisters of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov) and one draw against Viktorija Cmilyte. Muzychuk's win in the second round was impressive:

PGN string

In the third round Cmilyte followed the latest rage in the QGD with an early h2-h4:

PGN string

In the fourth round Nana Dazgnidze won a nice game against Alexandra Kosteniuk.

PGN string

It must also be noted that there have been some big mistakes. First, an endgame example.

PGN string

In the following game Black is already winning, but after White's move no technical phase is needed.

PGN string

There will three more rounds on Monday and also three on Tuesday. The ladies are fighting for a US $10,000 first prize (€ 7,577). The total prize fund (US $40,000) is provided by the main sponsor of the Georgian Chess Federation: the Georgian branch of the SOCAR Energy company from Azerbaijan.

ACP Women Cup 2012 | Round 5 standings