Humpy in striking distance – showdown on Saturday

The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a series of elite tournaments organised by FIDE and Global Chess, with six legs over two years in various countries around the world, with three tournaments every year. The winner of each tournament gets 6,500 Euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 Euros, and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 Euros at the end of the series. The sixth event of the cycle is currently being held from the 21st of February to 5th of March. It is taking place in the Sharq Village and Spa in Doha, Qatar. Games start: Rounds 1-10 at 3:00 PM local time, round 11 at 12 AM local time, the rest day is February 27th (after round 6).

Results of round ten

Elina Danielian (above left) played the Cambridge Springs Variation of the QGD against Pia Cramling, with the queens coming off the board by move 14. The Swedish GM used her bishop pair very effectivel and slowly overran the Armenian's defences with some very nice piece play. Danielian resigned after 59 moves.

A critical game: Humpy must win to keep her chances alive for a world championship challenge

Koneru,Humpy (2607) - Mkrtchian,Lilit (2475) [A46]
6th Women GP Doha QAT (10), 04.03.2011
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 d5 6.a4 b4 7.c4 bxc3 8.Nxc3 a5 9.Qb3 Ba6 10.Bf4 c6 11.Rfd1 Be7 12.Ne5 0-0 13.e4 Ra7 14.exd5 Rb7 15.Qc2 cxd5 16.Bf1 Bxf1 17.Kxf1 Ne8 18.Rac1 Qb6 19.Nd3 Qxd4 20.Nb5 Qb6 21.Be3 Qd8 22.Nc5 Rb6 23.Qd2 Nd6 24.Qxa5 Nf5 25.Bf4 Nc6 26.Qd2 Nd6 27.Nxd6 Bxd6 28.Be3 Ne5 29.b4 Qa8 30.Bf4 Nf3 31.Qd3 d4 32.Bxd6

Fritz tells us that Black has only one chance: 32...Rxd6 33.Qe4 Nxh2+ 34.Kg1! Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Ne5 36.Qxa8 Rxa8 37.a5, but with a position that is difficult to defend. However after 32...Nxh2+? White's task becomes easier: 33.Ke2 Rxd6 34.Rh1 (threatening an x-ray mate on h7) 34...e5 35.Rxh2 e4 36.Qc4 Qd8 37.Nxe4 d3+ 38.Kf1 Rd4 39.Qc6 Qe7 40.Rh4 f5 41.Nc3 Rxh4 42.gxh4 Qxh4 43.Rd1 Rd8 44.Rxd3 1-0.

Standings after ten rounds

Grand Prix standings

Here are the pairings for the final day:

Round ten (on Sat. March 5th at 12:00 noon local time)

So here's the situation: Danielian may opt to take a short draw against Antoaneta Stefanova to secure at least equal first. Humpy needs to beat Zhu Chen with black in the last round in order to challenge the reigning world champion Hou Yifan in this year's championship match.

You can watch the games which start at noon Qatari time = 12:00 noon Moscow, 10:00 a.m. Berlin/Paris, 04:00 a.m. New York. You can find the exact starting time for other locations here.

All photos by Maria Bolshakova and Anastasiya Karlovich

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN All games are being broadcast on the official site and on Playchess. To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.