Dzagnidze winner 4th FIDE Women GP
Nana Dzagnidze won the 4th FIDE Women Grand Prix in Jermuk, Armenia. The Georgian grandmaster finished on 9/11 (a 2748 performance), 1.5 points ahead of Tatiana Kosintseva.
The 4th FIDE Women Grand Prix tournament took place June 23 - July 6 in Jermuk, Armenia. Hou Yifan (CHN, 2589), Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL, 2560), Pia Cramling (SWE, 2536), Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS, 2534), Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO, 2514), Xu Yuhua (CHN, 2484), Nana Dzagnidze (GEO, 2478), Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM, 2477), Elina Danielian (ARM, 2473), Shen Yang (CHN, 2452), Baira Kovanova (RUS, 2366) and Martha Fierro (ECU, 2363) played. More info, also on the FIDE Women GP in general, can be found in our first report.
Rounds 9-11
Nana Dzagnidze had already reached a phenomenal score of 7.5 points after 8 rounds, and didn't need much energy to secure tournament victory. This was partly because her closest rival Tatiana Kosintseva, who kept pace in round 9 by beating Hou Yifan, missed a win in the penultimate round. (Well, 43...b5 looks like winning - see the game in the viewer below.) The Russian outplayed former World Champ Antoaneta Stefanova with Black, but then blew it and almost lost.

Here the game ended in perpetual check. Can you find the win for White?
Missing an opportunity to come within half a point of Dzagnidze, a disappointed Kosintseva blundered a rook against Danielian on move 25 in the final round. This way Dzagnidze could go for a well-known theoretical move repetition in the Catalan (you've seen Qc2-c1-c2 & Bb7-e4-Bb7 before) to clinch first prize. The Georgian GM finished 1.5 points ahead of Kosintseva, who on her turn had a full point more than Elina Danielian and Lilit Mkrtchian, who shared third.

Games rounds 9-11
Game viewer by ChessTempo

The closing ceremony with the same figures as during the opening ceremony...

...one by one asking the players to come forward - here Lilit Mkrtchian...

...Hou Yifan, in her own chess-themed dress



A joyful finish of the tournament

Mkrtchian, Kosintseva and Dzagnidze holding a FIDE cheque

Hou Yifan, Shen Yang, Xu Yuhua and Lilit Mkrtchian

Tatiana Kosintseva and Baira Kovanova

And the winner is... Nana Dzagnidze
Photos © Arman Karakhanyan courtesy of FIDE, more here
Links
Latest articles
-
17 hours 58 sec ago
-
1 day 19 min ago
-
1 day 17 hours ago
-
1 day 22 hours ago
-
1 day 22 hours ago
-
2 days 1 hour ago
-
2 days 12 hours ago
-
2 days 12 hours ago
-
3 days 14 hours ago
-
3 days 23 hours ago
-
4 days 16 hours ago
-
4 days 22 hours ago
-
5 days 15 hours ago
-
5 days 17 hours ago
-
5 days 22 hours ago
-
5 days 23 hours ago
-
6 days 13 hours ago
-
1 week 12 min ago
-
1 week 15 hours ago
-
1 week 15 hours ago






Comments
Castro
2 years 11 months ago
Permalink
@Thomas
:-) So, we patzers have opinions.
Yes, you could be right, in the end it's posible there is no win, but I think exactely what I wrote before. Natural seems to be trying. Of course black must be careful (though with no stress at all, I think), but praticaly she's the only one who can positively try something. And in her place, I would (except for those kind of posible "external" factors I mentioned).
And no, I think exactely the oposite of your "In any case" conclusion heheh.
Right, both types of cases depend on various factors but, as far as the information I have, and my opinion, the "Bok case" is far more common and understandable.
Castro
2 years 11 months ago
Permalink
Just to add:
Maybe precisely because I'm such a great patzer is the reason I find that ending (still) so interesting and worth insisting!
Thomas
2 years 11 months ago
Permalink
@Castro: I am just a patzer, but I don't think black has serious winning chances after 67.-Qxb3 68.Qe4! with beautiful centralization. The f-pawn is going nowhere for the time being, and she actually has to be careful - f7 might fall, and then mating motives for white could appear. True, black can still bail out with perpetual check, but then why not do so right away?
In any case, playing a quick book draw with white seems "more odd" than saying "draw" to a long fighting game with black at some stage ... .
Castro
2 years 11 months ago
Permalink
The abrupt end in Danielian-Ferro B. is somewhat frustrating. Black "must" go for Qxb3 and try to win, instead of repeating moves.
At least because, as for the position on the board only, black seems to risk nothing at all!
Of course one can understand maybe having a bad tournament so far, and a hard game so far against a very strong oponent are good reasons for Marta to call it a day there. (Also there can have been other reasons: Tiredness? Time pressure?)
If not considering these posible "extern" factors, this draw looks far more "odd" than any Bok-vanWely :-)
Nick
2 years 11 months ago
Permalink
congratulations
Your comment
By posting a comment you are agreeing to abide our Terms & Conditions