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Round 6: Lagno advances to the top |
By WFM Maria Emelianova
 Kateryna Lagno enters the second half of FIDE Grand Prix in a good ood as she outplayed Antoaneta Stefanova to catch up the Indian leaders Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli, who have signed a peace in their principal battle. Another national derby was an upset for Zhao Xue to Ju Wenjun having quite comfortable position after the opening. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Bela Khotenashvili won their games against Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Olga Girya, while Nafisa Muminova drew against Elina Danielian.
After six rounds Koneru, Dronavalli and Lagno are leading with 4.5 points, Knotenashvili is half a point behind, Zhao has 3.5.
Full standings table you can find here.
Pictures of the 6th round and press conferences are in the Photo Gallery.
Ju Wenjun - Zhao Xue 1 - 0
After an unusual moves order players got into Catalan opening, where Black were OK, but Zhao Xue underestimated the power of White's knight and rooks after 24...Qxf2.
Xue: "I gad a good position out of the opening, but made a wrong judgment of the position. I shouldn't change the queens the way I did. The important move was 24...b4, and after 25.Rxd7 Qxf2+ 26.Kxf2 bxc3 there is more chances to draw for Black."
Girya - Khotenashvili 0 - 1 The opening went trough Pirc defense into a rare line of Sicilian, where Olga sacrificed a pawn at an early stage in order to get initiative. By the accurate play White organized a crucial attack on the king's side, but suddenly lost the cautiousness, and in just a couple of moves the Russian converted her position to a nearly lost. Afterwards Bela was playing accurate enough to get a maximum from the game.
Olga: "1... g6 was a surprise for me. I had very good compensation for the pawn, and Black should have played 18...0-0 otherwise it is lost"Bela: "Yes, I didn't like my position at all. My opponent was playing very good, but 25.Bc4 was a mistake. I expected 25.Bd4 Qa5 26.c3"
Kosteniuk - Nakhbayeva 1 - 0  The traps of Rossolimo Sicilian opening turned up a hard exam for Black. After 11...Be6 Alexandra didn't have any problems with converting advantage of a queen for two pieces into a full point.Alexandra: "I was a victim in this line at the European Championship, and I was defending even worse than my opponent today. Black has to be very precise here. Actually after 11...0-0 the position would have been unclear for me. After 11...Be6 first I considered not taking a queen but at the end decided that two pieces is not enough compensation for it. Probably Black still could have posed some questions to me, but in way they played it was quite easy for me to win the game."
Lagno - Stefanova 1 - 0 Kateryna surprised her opponent with an original variation in the Scotch opening. White had a slight advantage but was not accurate in a few moments, however Black didn't use the given opportunities to equalize. After this important victory Kateryna is sharing first place with Indian players while preparing to face Harika Dronavalli in the round seven.Kateryna: "In this opening Black usually play 7...g6, I am not sure Qf6 was good."
Antoaneta: "13...Ne5 was wrong, she even could have taken on a7"
Kateryna: "I even didn't consider this, but maybe it is possible. Anyway Black were ok after 13...Re8, maybe I am just slightly better"
Koneru - Dronavalli ½ - ½ In the Queen's Gambit Declined White refused to play Cambridge-Springs variation and went for Carlsbad structure (5.cd5). Humpy had a comfortable position with a slight advantage, but against well defended Harika it was not enough.Harika: "The game was all the time about equal, maybe with a small advantage for White. But I didn't like my position when she could play 33.Bc4, probably she can play for a win here."
Danielian - Muminova ½ - ½ Elina didn't get anything particular from the opening in symmetrical line of the Tarrasch defense, and with accurate play of both sides the game finally finished with a draw.
Nafisa: "I think 22...h6 was not very good move"Elina: "Definitely you should have played 22...g6 instead. But I liked the idea 24...Rb5. And maybe 28...Rxa3 was not necessary. Later I completely missed the opportunity 35.Bb7 with chances for White. Maybe it is still holdable, but Black have to defend well without pawn"
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