Round 9: The leaders defeated, Khotenashvili joins the group of followers |
By WFM Maria Emelianova
In spite of loss to Bela Khotenashvili, Humpy Koneru is still leading by a full point, as Kateryna Lagno and Harika Dronavalli were defeated by Zhao Xue and Alexandra Kosteniuk respectively. Elina Danielian and Antoaneta Stefanova both scored their second full points by winning against Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Nafisa Muminova accordingly. The only one draw was signed between Olga Girya and Ju Wenjun.
Pairings of the 10th round are available here. For the current standings table please kindly visit this section.
Pictures of the 9th round and press conferences are in the Photo Gallery. |
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Round 8: Koneru is one point ahead |
By WFM Maria Emelianova
The eighth round didn't bring any major changes to the leading group as Humpy Koneru outplayed Zhao Xue and increased her leading to one point. Harika Dronavalli and Kateryna Lagno drew against Antoaneta Stefanova and Nafisa Muminova accordingly to keep sharing second place. Ju Wenjun and Bela Khotenashvili also signed a peace with Guliskhan Nakhbayeba and Elina Danielian to stay on fourth to fifth places. In the Russian derby Olga Girya managed to score a point against Alexandra Kosteniuk. The full standings table you can find here. Pictures of the 8th round and press conferences are available in the Photo Gallery.
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Round 7: Black side revenges, Koneru is back to sole lead |
By WFM Maria Emelianova
Without any doubt, the seventh round of the Grand Prix happened to be the most exciting round here so far. Besides the theoretical clash of the leaders Harika Dronavalli and Kateryna Lagno, which finished with an early rather logical draw, none of the games had a predictable result. And after the principal battle of two former world champions, Antoaneta Stefanova and Alexandra Kosteniuk, finished in a draw with plenty of mistakes on both sides, one could have thought "OK, that was very exciting". But then we found ourselves watching how the lowest-rated Nafisa Muminova created a crucial attack on the king of the leader, top-seeded Humpy Koneru. However, the experience and steel nerves of the Indian helped her to fight back and outplay the Uzbek and once again get her sole leadership. Elina Danielian was celebrating her first victory in the tournament as she forced Zhao Xue to blunder in an uncomfortable position after an exchange sacrifice by Armenian. Ju Wenjun was stronger than Bela Khotenashvili to share with her the fourth place in the current standings. But "the sweetest treat" of the evening was the long battle of Guliskhan Nakhbayeva against Olga Girya, where the Russian after over 100 moves managed to convert a nearly equal endgame to her favor.
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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.
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Round 5: Tough day for Black |
By WFM Maria Emelianova
The fifth round of Women's Grand Prix in Tashkent appeared to be ucky for the white side as five of the six games finished in favor of those who made the first move, and Antoaneta Stefanova managed to make a draw with the leader Humpy Koneru despite the Indian had a slightly better position. Harika Dronavalli outplayed Elina Danielian to catch up her compatriot with 4 points, Kateryna Lagno and Zhao Xue are half-point behind them after beating Alexandra Kosteniuk and Olga Girya. Bela Khotenashvili has "+1" after defeating Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, and we have to point out a triumph of Nafisa Muminova over Ju Wenjun, which moved the leader of Uzbek female team to the middle of the standings table. Find more pictures by following the links: 5th round and press conferences.
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