Nanjing: Dzagnidze leads FIDE Women Grand Prix

Round three report

by FM Geoffrey Borg

Playing former world champion, Zhu Chen of Qatar, GM Nana Dzagnidze chose a side line in the main line of the Meran: 13.Nd4 and after Black failed to respond with the best move here 13...Qb6, a very tactical game ensued with White posing the biggest threats. White eventually broke through starting with 19.Nc6 and technically finishing with the very nice move 26.Qb6+! forcing either mate or massive haemorrage of pieces.

Dzagnidze,N (2535) - Zhu Chen (2488) [D49]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (3), 30.09.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 axb5 12.exf6 gxf6 13.Nxd4 Bb7 14.Bxb5 Rg8 15.Be3 Qa5+ 16.Ke2 Rxg2 17.a4 Bd5 18.Rc1 Rg4 19.h3 Rg6 20.Nc6 Qc7 21.Ne7 Qe5 22.Nxd5 exd5 23.Qd4 Bd6 24.Rhe1 Kd8 25.Kf1 Qh5 26.Qb6+

26...Ke7 27.Bc5+ Kf8 28.Qxd6+ Kg7 29.Bxd7 Qf3 30.Rc3 Qg2+ 31.Ke2 Qe4+ 32.Kd2 Qh4 33.Re8 1-0.

In another key decisive game, GM Xu Yuhua continued to show great form by beating IM Lilit Mkrtchian. Lilit has just had a very good result in Ningbo some weeks earlier during the World Team Championship and had started the tournament very solidly with two draws so far.

In a Nimzo Indian Defence, Lilit played 4.Qc2 which she had tried earlier in the tournament and black chose an interesting setup. 9.b3?! was the start of some of the mishaps that white had to face and soon black got a very imposing position.

Mkrtchian,L (2468) - Xu Yuhua (2485) [E32]
FIDE GP w Nanjing CHN (3), 30.09.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.e3 b6 8.Nf3 Nbd7 9.b3 Ba6 10.Bb2 c5 11.Rd1 Rc8 12.Nd2 Qe7 13.Be2 dxc4 14.Nxc4 b5 15.Qa5 bxc4 16.Qxa6 cxd4 17.bxc4 Nc5 18.Qa5 dxe3 19.fxe3 Qb7 20.Bxf6 Qxg2 21.Rf1 gxf6 22.Qxa7 Qxh2

White continued with 23.Rf2 and Black could have wrapped the game up with 23...Qg1+. Instead Xu Yuhua chose 23...Qe5 and allowed White to struggle on to move 38 before resigning. 24.Qe7 Ne4 25.Rg2+ Kh8 26.Rd4 Rce8 27.Qb7 f5 28.Qb5 Qf6 29.Rxe4 fxe4 30.Qb1 Qc3+ 31.Kf2 f5 32.Rh2 f4 33.Qxe4 fxe3+ 34.Kg3 Rg8+ 35.Kh3 Rg6 36.Rg2 Rh6+ 37.Kg3 Rg8+ 38.Bg4 e2+ 0-1.

GM Zhao Xue played a nice game and beat Nanjing player, WGM Shen Yang. The Chinese players show great fighting spirit and all games between them have been highly combative. Again, Nimzo Indian prevailed and Black had successfully equalised after the opening. White drifted around move 25 and Zhao Xue took over the initiative and never left it go. Just after the time control White gave up the d4 square and the game.

In the fourth decisive game this round, Ju Wenjun moved closer to the leaders after a win over Turkish player, Betul Cemre Yildiz. The game started out as a Queen's gambit Accepted and hovered around equality for quite some time. The endgame got a bit trick for black after some inaccurate moves and white converted the full point.

In the other two drawn games we had fighting chess all the way, and IM Martha Fierro was unfortunate not to get the win, after GM Sebag lost a pawn shortly out of the opening.

The final chance to win evaporated after she gave up her c-pawn whereas 46.Re7 would have kept the fire alive. WGM Mungutuul came very close to a win after WGM Kovanova blundered a piece after some fine opening and middle game play. Fortunately she defended dourly and managed to exchange off white's last pawn to get the draw.

The Women's Grand Prix round three in action

• Here are the games of round three with comments by FM Geoffrey Borg

Results and standings after round three

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