Women’s Grand Prix Munich 2023: Pairings announced
The full pairings for every round of the upcoming Women’s Grand Prix Munich 2023 has been announced. The second leg of Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23 will take place in Munich from February 1-14, 2022. Twelve players will compete in a round-robin tournament. In each WGP tournament, every player scores WGP points according to her position in the final standings; the winner of the WGP Series is a player who scores the most cumulative points earned in all three WGP tournaments she played. The participants of WGP Munich received the following starting numbers: 1. GM Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany), 2. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (FIDE), 3. GM Tan Zhongyi (China), 4. GM Harika Dronavalli (India), 5. GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan), 6. GM Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), 7. GM Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), 8. GM Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), 9. GM Humpy Koneru (India), 10. WGM Zhu Jiner (China), 11. IM Alina Kashlinskaya (Poland), 12. WGM Dinara Wagner (Germany) Full pairings: February 2Round I / 3:00 pm Paehtz Elisabeth – Wagner DinaraKosteniuk Alexandra – Kashlinskaya AlinaTan Zhongyi – Zhu JinerHarika Dronavalli – Koneru HumpyAbdumalik Zhansaya – Dzagnidze NanaMuzychuk Mariya – Muzychuk Anna February 3Round II / 3:00 pm Wagner Dinara – Muzychuk AnnaDzagnidze Nana – Muzychuk MariyaKoneru Humpy – Abdumalik ZhansayaZhu Jiner – Harika DronavalliKashlinskaya Alina – Tan ZhongyiPaehtz Elisabeth – Kosteniuk Alexandra February 4Round III / 3:00 pm Kosteniuk Alexandra – Wagner DinaraTan Zhongyi – Paehtz ElisabethHarika Dronavalli – Kashlinskaya AlinaAbdumalik Zhansaya – Zhu JinerMuzychuk Mariya – Koneru HumpyMuzychuk Anna – Dzagnidze Nana February 5Round IV / 3:00 pm Wagner Dinara – Dzagnidze NanaKoneru Humpy – Muzychuk AnnaZhu Jiner – Muzychuk MariyaKashlinskaya Alina – Abdumalik ZhansayaPaehtz Elisabeth – Harika DronavalliKosteniuk Alexandra – Tan Zhongyi February 6Round V / 3:00 pm Tan Zhongyi – Wagner DinaraHarika Dronavalli – Kosteniuk AlexandraAbdumalik Zhansaya – Paehtz ElisabethMuzychuk Mariya – Kashlinskaya AlinaMuzychuk Anna – Zhu JinerDzagnidze Nana – Koneru Humpy February 7Day-offMunich charity chess gala / 6:00 pm February 8Round VI / 3:00 pm Wagner Dinara – Koneru HumpyZhu Jiner – Dzagnidze NanaKashlinskaya Alina – Muzychuk AnnaPaehtz Elisabeth – Muzychuk MariyaKosteniuk Alexandra – Abdumalik ZhansayaTan Zhongyi – Harika Dronavalli February 9Round VII / 3:00 pm Harika Dronavalli – Wagner DinaraAbdumalik Zhansaya – Tan ZhongyiMuzychuk Mariya – Kosteniuk AlexandraMuzychuk Anna – Paehtz ElisabethDzagnidze Nana – Kashlinskaya AlinaKoneru Humpy – Zhu Jiner February 10Round VIII / 3:00 pm Wagner Dinara – Zhu JinerKashlinskaya Alina – Koneru HumpyPaehtz Elisabeth – Dzagnidze NanaKosteniuk Alexandra – Muzychuk AnnaTan Zhongyi – Muzychuk MariyaHarika Dronavalli – Abdumalik Zhansaya February 11Round IX / 3:00 pm Abdumalik Zhansaya – Wagner DinaraMuzychuk Mariya – Harika DronavalliMuzychuk Anna – Tan ZhongyiDzagnidze Nana – Kosteniuk AlexandraKoneru Humpy – Paehtz ElisabethZhu Jiner – Kashlinskaya Alina February 12Round X / 3:00 pm Wagner Dinara – Kashlinskaya AlinaPaehtz Elisabeth – Zhu JinerKosteniuk Alexandra – Koneru HumpyTan Zhongyi – Dzagnidze NanaHarika Dronavalli – Muzychuk AnnaAbdumalik Zhansaya – Muzychuk Mariya February 13Round XI / 1:00 pm Muzychuk Mariya – Wagner DinaraMuzychuk Anna – Abdumalik ZhansayaDzagnidze Nana – Harika DronavalliKoneru Humpy – Tan ZhongyiZhu Jiner – Kosteniuk AlexandraKashlinskaya Alina – Paehtz Elisabeth Official website: womengrandprix.fide.com/
Ter-Sahakyan and Gevorgyan win Armenian championship
GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and WGM Maria Gevorgyan are the new champions of Armenia, winning their second and fifth (!) national titles, respectively. The 83rd Armenian Championship and the 78th Women’s Armenian Сhampionship were held simultaneously in the Tigran Petrosian Chess House in Yerevan from January 13-21. Both events were 10-player round robins with classical time control. As expected, the open championship (a part of the FIDE Circuit) was a very close contest that came down to the wire. Although Manuel Petrosyan led for the most part of the event Samvel Ter-Sahakayn caught up with him, heading into the decisive final round. Both leaders played with the white pieces, but only Samvel pulled off a victory over Robert Hovhannisyan, while Manuel managed only a draw vs Zaven Andriasian. As a result, Ter-Sahakyan (pictured below) leapfrogged his main rival by a half-point and clinched the title. Petrosyan finished second; Robert Hovhannisyan tied for third place with Tigran Harutyunyan but took bronze thanks to a better Sonneborn-Berger. Final standings: 1 GM Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel 2605 6½ 2 GM Petrosyan, Manuel 2632 6 3 GM Hovhannisyan, Robert 2597 5½ 4 GM Harutyunyan, Tigran 2511 5½ 5 GM Hakobyan, Aram 2626 5 6 GM Andriasian, Zaven 2580 5 7 GM Petrosian, Tigran 2551 4½ 8 IM Gharibyan, Mamikon 2490 3½ 9 IM Barseghyan, Armen 2403 2 10 FM Sargsyan, Sargis 2314 1½ The top six finishers of the 83rd Armenian Сhampionship earned FIDE Circuit race points: 1. 7,40 2. 5,92 3. 5,0 4. 4,63 5. 2,78 6. 0,93 In the women’s event, the rating favourite WGM Maria Gevorgyan (pictured below) suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands of Polina Kobak in Round 2. It was a wake-up call for Maria, who scored three straight victories (including one over her main competitor, second-rated WIM Susanna Gaboyan), grabbed the lead and held it to the very end. Gaboyan finished a half-point behind the champion and earned silver; Arpine Grigoryan came clear third. Final standings: 1 WGM Gevorgyan, Maria 2269 7 2 WIM Gaboyan, Susanna 2158 6½ 3 WFM Grigoryan, Arpine 2010 5½ 4 Hakobyan Astghik 2074 5 5 WFM Khachatryan, Anna 2031 4½ 6 Kobak, Polina 1733 4 7 Yedigaryan, Asya 1859 4 8 WIM Gasparian, Narine 2022 3½ 9 Khachatryan, Veronika 2023 3 10 Hayrapetyan, Nvard 1543 2 Official webpage: chessfed.am/ Photo: Armenian Chess Federation Facebook page
Tata Steel Masters: Abdusattorov pulls away
As many as four games ended in victories in the “bloodiest” seventh round at the Tata Steel Masters. Nodirbek Abdusattorov broke away from his closest rivals, increasing the gap to a full point, while Wesley So and Praggnanandhaa joined Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana, tying for second place. Arjun Erigaisi – Nodirbek Abdusattorov 0-1 After getting a slight edge in a rare line of Petrov Defence, Arjun let his guard down and allowed Nodirbek to create a dangerous counterplay based on his advanced d-passer. Just a few moves down the road, White’s activity on the kingside backfired as Black quickly transferred his queen and started probing weaknesses. To make things even worse, Erigaisi traded his h5-pawn for the opponent’s b7-pawn and fell under heavy pressure. In the final portion of the game, we saw Abusattorov at his best as, with a series of energetic blows, the Uzbek GM shattered White’s defences and scored his fourth victory in the event. Parham Maghsoodloo – Fabiano Caruana ½–½ In arguably the most exciting game in Round 7, Parham emerged slightly better in the Ragozin Defence, but his plan of f2-f3 followed by e3-e4 backfired, as Fabiano regrouped his pieces traded in the center and put some pressure on the d4-pawn. The American then sacrificed a pawn but got sufficient compensation in the form of very active pieces. He soon restored material equilibrium, but White pinned his hopes on his b-passer, although objectively, the position was in balance. Trying to win at any cost, Parham crossed a fine line – he advanced his pawn to b7 but lost a piece along the way. Fabiano had to trade his bishop for the b-passer but snatched the h-pawn to liquidate into queen endgame with an extra pawn and White’s king misplaced. A seven-piece tablebase evaluates the ending as won for Black, and Caruana came very close but being short on the clock, he missed a couple of winning continuations and allowed Maghsoodloo to transfer his king to back to his camp, securing a draw. Praggnanandhaa R – Jorden van Foreest 1-0 The Dutch GM introduced a very interesting pawn sacrifice in Chebanenko Variation of Slav Defence (10…b4 followed by 11…Rb8 and 12…a5) and got some compensation, but just a few moves down the road made a grave mistake that turned his position from playable to strategically hopeless. Instead of maintaining the tension, Black closed the center with 15…e4? The rest of the game, although it required precision from White, was one-way traffic. Slowly but surely, Praggnanandhaa traded some pieces, advanced his passer and infiltrated into Black’s camp. As soon as Black’s c6-pawn fell, Van Foreest capitulated. Gukesh D – Wesley So 0-1 The American GM comfortably equalized in a topical line of Ruy Lopez but then first missed an interesting sacrifice (17…Bxh3) and then misplaced his knight on h5 and handed White a clear advantage. Most likely Wesley missed 20.Nh4 followed by a very strong 21.Qd1. However, Gukesh failed to capitalize and buckled under pressure. After 22. g3 Bxh3 23. d4 White would have an overwhelming advantage. The Indian youngster missed this opportunity, and, a few moves later, blundered a pawn and quickly packed it in. Magnus Carlsen – Richard Rapport 1-0 The World Champion deviated from the main theoretical lines of the Petrov Defence and got a fresh position with mutual chances. This approach paid off surprisingly quickly as Rapport chose the wrong version of piece sacrifice, then added another one to the fuel of his attack, only to resign on move 36. Vincent Keymer – Ding Liren ½–½ The German GM quickly obtained a sizable advantage in his pet line of English Opening after Ding overoptimistically played 11..Ba6 and traded the pawns in the center. Keymer increased pressure with a series of precise moves but when the time came to reap the harvest, he suddenly switched to reverse gear. After natural 21. e5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Ng8 23. Rd7 White would have got an overwhelming position. Instead, Vincent started hovering around and allowed Black to greatly improve his situation. Keymer got a new chance in the rook ending, but again, instead of the most natural and winning continuation, he played differently and let Ding get off the hook. Levon Aronian – Anish Giri ½–½ After slow manoeuvring in a balanced position that emerged from the Italian Game a burst of activity in the center resulted in massive exchanges and a quick draw. Standings after Round 7: 1. Nodirbek Abdusattorov – 5.5; 2-5. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So – 4.5; 6. Levon Aronian – 4; 7-9. Parham Maghsoodloo, Ding Liren and Magnus Carlsen – 3.5; 10. Arjun Erigaisi – 3; 11. Richard Rapport – 2.5; 12-13. Vincent Keymer and Jorden Van Foreest – 2; 14. Gukesh – 1.5. Photos: tatasteelchess.com, Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes