FIDE WGP Nicosia: Harika scores her second win and joins the lead
85-year-old WIM Edith Krizsán-Bilek is a pioneer in women’s chess. She has been playing all her life. In 1958, Krizsán-Bilek won the Hungarian Women’s Chess Championship and has represented Hungary in several Chess Olympiads, winning individual and team medals. Even now, she travels to Cyprus regularly, giving talks to kids and teaching chess, accompanied by friends and family. This afternoon she attended the fifth round of the Cyprus Women’s Grand Prix, inspiring all the players with her presence. It was a special moment for everyone involved when she was applauded by the players at the start of the round. The hero of the round was Harika Dronavalli. Supported by a few Indian fans who came to cheer her on, she defeated Oliwia Kiolbasa with Black and now shares the lead with Tan Zhongi and Lagno, who could only draw their games. GM Lagno, Kateryna vs GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra (0,5-0,5) The most important game of the round and, maybe, of the entire series. Goryachkina and Lagno have faced each other nine times in classical games, including two games during the current Grand Prix series. With two wins and seven draws, Goryachkina outscores Lagno by the slightest of margins, although it must be said that Lagno has had her fair share of victories in blitz and rapid. Today’s game was a theoretical battle in the 4.d3 Berlin defence in the Ruy Lopez. Instead of 5…0-0, which Goryachkina chose against Lagno a month ago in New Delhi, she decided to mix things up and go for 5…Nd4, an active line achieving the two bishops and initiative in exchange for a severely weakened pawn structure. All the games played in this line have ended in draws, including a 2019 encounter between Nakamura and Aronian or more recent games played by Giri or Kryvoruchko. Lagno had prepared a new idea, 13.Qd3, but as usual, Goryachkina had done her homework and uncorked a very nice exchange sacrifice to keep the balance. According to the engine, Aleksandra could have even gone for more had she played 22…Bxe3 instead of 22…Bf3+. The idea is to keep playing an exchange down and prioritize the centralization of the black king. Both players discussed this and other variations after the game while they were undergoing the fair-play postgame procedures. IM Kiolbasa, Oliwia vs GM Dronavalli, Harika (0-1) It’s hard to say for sure, but judging by the amount of time that Kiolbasa spent on the opening, it seems she was surprised by the Neo-Arkhangelsk variation of the Ruy Lopez that Harika played against her this afternoon. Although it’s not one of her main repertoire lines, she did play it recently against Zhu Jiner in the 2023 Munich leg of the Grand Prix. In this afternoon’s game, she can safely say that her work on the opening has been successful. Although Black has two sets of doubled pawns from the opening, it’s easy to see that only Harika is fighting for the advantage: strong doubled rooks on the f-file and clear attacking chances. Harika could have cashed in with 22…Rxf2, winning a pawn but losing part of her positional advantage. Instead, she preferred to play for the attack, especially taking into account Kiolbasa’s time trouble. With precise and aggressive play, she took down the point, cruising into joint lead with 3.5/5. In her postgame interview, she was joined by a team of local Indian supporters, who arrived just at the right moment to see her convert her advantage. “I’m not thinking much about the standings; I’m just trying to play my own chess and give my best,” were her wise words after the game. IM Shuvalova, Polina vs GM Khotenashvili, Bella (0’5-0’5) According to my database, Shuvalova and Khotenashvili had only played once together, a draw in the 2022 World Rapid Championship. This afternoon, Shuvalova’s opening preparation was spot on. In a dangerous side-line of the Grunfeld defence, she played fast and with a lot of confidence, blitzing out her attacking moves and putting maximum pressure on her Georgian opponent. By advancing her h-pawn to h6, she created a very dangerous wedge in Khotenashvili’s castled kingside – a decisive tactical option for a back-rank mate. The key moment was move twenty-seven. Instead of exchanging queens, 27.Rxa7 straight away was much better, reducing Black’s defensive opportunities in the double rook ending. The engine assesses the endgame as won for White, but Shuvalova chose a different option, grabbing a pawn but substantially reducing her winning chances, and the game finally ended in a draw. GM Dzagnidze, Nana vs IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara (0.5-0.5) Assaubayeva has demonstrated time and time again her strength on the black side of the King’s Indian defence, so it was no surprise to see the experienced Dzagnidze select one of the many offbeat side-lines with double fianchetto. The idea was to take her opponent out of the book as soon as possible and make her think for herself from the get-go. The plan was successful: Assaubayeva didn’t seem at home in the opening phase, spending much more time than usual. Dzagnidze got a small edge out of the middlegame: control over the central dark squares and potentially a two vs one pawn majority on the queenside. However, Assaubayeva defended well, keeping the disadvantage at a minimum. Approaching the time control, Assaubayeva misplayed her position in her opponent’s time trouble, landing in a very dangerous queen plus knight vs queen plus bishop endgame, totally lost according to the engines. Nonetheless, inaccurate play by Dzagnidze combined with strong defence by Assaubayeva earned the latter a well-deserved half point. IM Mammadzada, Gunay vs GM Tan, Zhongyi (0,5-0,5) In their first game together, Mammadzada went for the Catalan Opening with 3.g3, sidestepping Tan Zhongyi’s Queen’s Indian defence. After a few theoretical moves, Mammadzada forfeited her Catalan bishop in exchange for what seemed to be a superior pawn structure. However, as in other games in this event, the top Azerbaijan female player was spending too much time on the clock. With her opponent under severe time pressure,
FIDE WGP Nicosia: Goryachkina wins, Lagno and Tan Zhongyi lead
“Chess is hard, no one said it was going to be easy.” Wise words by Kosteniuk this afternoon summing up in a sentence how difficult it is to play good chess, especially at the highest level. This afternoon we saw an array of missed opportunities, tenacious defence, a couple of blunders, and some excellent endgame technique. With her win, the only victory of the fourth round, Aleksandra Goryachkina recovers some ground and joins the group that trails the leaders Tan Zhongyi and Lagno by just half a point. With seven rounds to go it’s still anyone’s game. GM Khotenashvili, Bella vs GM Lagno, Kateryna (0,5-0,5) The round had hardly started, with most of the games still under ten moves in, and my screen was already indicating a 30-move draw on one of the boards. After checking that it wasn’t a mistake, I rapidly went to search for the players. According to my database, this was the eighth classical game between Khotenashvili and Lagno: three wins for Lagno, three draws, and just one win for Khotenashvili. Interestingly, the first game they played together was back in 2002, in the International Youth Games Under-14 category! Khotenashvili happily explained what had happened. “I generally don’t like to play these long computer draws, but as Lagno repeated the same line I played in the second round against Kosteniuk, I deviated, and sometimes these things happen,” she explained in her brief postgame interview. “When you play such a strong tournament, you need good preparation and a lot of energy. So, I’m trying to do my best. For now, I feel that I’m in good shape.” GM Tan, Zhongyi vs IM Shuvalova, Polina (0,5-0,5) Clearly, the most equal game of the day, bordering on a quick theoretical draw. In a Neo-Grunfeld defence, Shuvalova equalised comfortably with great home preparation following a 2018 game between GM’s Inarkiev and Ponkratov. After twenty moves, most of the pieces were exchanged, and the opponents reached a completely equal ending. Maybe it can be argued that Tan Zhongyi had a minor academic edge, but it didn’t seem likely at all that she would be able to convert. A draw was agreed on move forty-three in an equal bishop endgame. GM Dronavalli, Harika vs GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra (0,5-0,5) Harika and Kosteniuk have a huge playing history. According to my database, they played more than ninety official games, although only twenty-four were classical. They are very closely matched: seven wins each and ten draws, the last of them three months ago at the Munich WGP. In yet another rather obscure line in the Catalan opening, Kosteniuk improved on her second-round game against Khotenashvili and achieved quite a decent position going into the middlegame. Excellent piece play, pawn structure, and king safety for just a pawn, but still a very difficult position to handle. “Neither of us had a clue on what was going on”, she said after the game in her first short interview of the event. IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara vs IM Mammadzada, Gunay (0,5-0,5) An interesting match-up between two young and upcoming stars. According to my database, this was the first classical game between them: in eight previous blitz and rapid games, Assaubayeva outscored Mammadzada by 5-3. Heavily prepared theoretically for the game, Assaubayeva went for a pawn sacrifice in the Exchange Slav, giving her strong tactical compensation with superior development and attack. The move 15.Ke2, played almost instantly, is a key indicator that she was playing fast, confident, and “still in the book”. Around move twenty-five, Assaubayeva had two times the amount of time than her opponent, who, it has to be said, defended a difficult position very tenaciously. Assaubayeva wasn’t able to cash in on the attack but did force a slightly favourable ending, even still being down a pawn. However, Mammadzada defended accurately, and a draw was agreed on move forty-two, in an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops. WGM Wagner, Dinara vs GM Dzagnidze, Nana (0,5-0,5) A missed opportunity for Dinara Wagner, who is displaying a great level of play here in Nicosia, and excellent time management. Dzagnidze tried, unsuccessfully, to surprise her opponent by employing a rare side-line in the Queen’s Gambit – the so-called Dzindzi-Indian defence, named after GM Roman Dzindzichashvili. But Wagner didn’t even blink. She proceeded to play fast and confidently, isolating one of Dzagnidze’s centre pawns and then exchanging off the appropriate pieces to reach a favourable ending with a clear extra pawn and, uncharacteristically for her, much more time on the clock. However, Dzagnidze defended very accurately and reduced the disadvantage to a minimum. A draw was agreed on move sixty-five. GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra vs IM Kiolbasa, Oliwia (1-0) The last game to finish and the only one with a decisive result. Today was a tough outing for Kiolbasa. According to my database, they had never faced each other before in an official classical game, and Goryachkina is a very strong opponent for the young Polish IM. Kiolbasa came to the game extremely well-prepared. The first 18 moves of the game followed the 2020 Goryachkina vs Dubov game, which ended in a win for Dubov. Kiolbasa improved on Dubov’s play with 18…Rc4, hitting the d4-pawn, the first engine option (Dubov played the slightly inferior 18…Nb6). Surprised but at the same time imperturbable, Goryachkina spent more than 20 minutes remembering her analysis, ultimately coming up with the correct sequence. Surprised herself, Kiolbasa blundered heavily with 21…Rxd1? Instead, 21…e5 would have led to a dynamically balanced position. Goryachkina could have decided the game with 23.Qxa5, snatching a pawn, but instead headed to a superior rook + knight vs rook + bishop ending, in which she ground her opponent down in great fashion. In her postgame interview, Goryachkina herself didn’t quite understand why she hadn’t captured the pawn. Standings after Round 4 Text: IM Michael Rahal (Nicosia, Cyprus) Photos: Mark Livshitz About Freedom Finance Europe Freedom Finance Europe, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., is a leading European stockbroker. The company’s Freedom24 web and mobile app investment platform provides traders with