WGP Cyprus: Anna Muzychuk and Zhu Jiner to battle for the title in the final round
It couldn’t get more exciting! With this afternoon’s victory over Elisabeth Paehtz, Anna Muzychuk bounced back from her seventh-round loss to tie with Zhu Jiner at 5.5/8, setting up a thrilling final round at the Cyprus Women’s Grand Prix. Muzychuk will play Black against Harika Dronavalli, while Zhu Jiner will enjoy the white pieces against Nana Dzagnidze. Another happy contender was Divya Deshmukh, who scored her first win of the tournament by defeating Olga Badelka. Interestingly, this was the game chosen for the ceremonial first move, performed by five-time World Champion and FIDE Deputy President Vishy Anand. Anand played 1.Nf3, and as fate would have it, this very piece delivered the final blow with the maneuver 63.Ne5-d7! Let’s take a closer look at the five games. Aleksandra Goryachkina – Harika Dronavalli 0.5-0.5 Goryachkina’s quick draw against Paehtz yesterday gave her plenty of time to prepare for today’s game against Harika. Also, their head-to-head record favoured Goryachkina heavily – three wins and six draws, with no victories for Harika. However, Aleksandra’s Grand Prix situation is very special. Having won an event and tied for first in another, a decent result here more or less guarantees her a Candidates. With this in mind, it makes sense for her to avoid major risks. Her preparation for the game was top-notch. First, she sacrificed a pawn for piece compensation in a well-known position of the French Tarrasch. Then she followed it up with the “engine” novelty 15.Ng5, a very dangerous attacking idea. But Harika was on her game today and quickly found the way to neutralize her opponent’s initiative. After the exchange of queens, Harika still retained her extra pawn, but a draw was quickly agreed upon due to the opposite-coloured bishops. Anna Muzychuk – Elisabeth Paehtz 1-0 Anna and Elisabeth are good friends and colleagues. But when it comes to chess, it’s no-holds-barred. “It’s not so easy because Elisabeth is my best friend in the chess community, and we have spent a lot of time together,” said Anna after the game. In twenty official classical games, Anna has pulled ahead with four wins and only one loss, while the rest of the games were draws. “Anna is playing with White and after yesterday’s loss she will try very hard to score the full point today,” dared GM Gershon on the live stream. “Exactly, as you can imagine she didn’t look happy this morning, as she was struggling to get herself together for today’s game,” confirmed WGM co-commentator Karlovich. However, Karlovich also mentioned that she had lunched with Paehtz, “I spoke to Elisabeth during lunch and I think she is ready for a fight today and try to surprise her opponent in the opening.” And indeed, she did! Elisabeth opted for the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, a defence that she has used very sparingly in her career (although one of the games was against Anna’s younger sister!). “In fact, I played 1.d4 as the first move, which I do very rarely. I thought I was going to surprise her!” said Anna, reflecting on her opening choice. Anna did her best to find a way to make progress to no avail. To make things even worse, she quickly fell behind on the clock: at one point she was down to six minutes for seventeen moves. However, fortune favours the brave and, with Anna under severe time pressure, Elisabeth blundered 24…Qc5? instead of 24…Rxd4 with equal play, and then more importantly, 28…Qd8? instead of the superior 28…Qd7, which seems to be holding. After that, Anna had no trouble picking up a couple of pawns and bringing the point home, ensuring an exciting finale to the tournament. In her postgame interview, she instructively explained how Elisabeth’s position started to go downhill after 23…e5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2nVPmBBKTs Stavroula Tsolakidou – Zhu Jiner 0.5-0.5 Leading the event with 5/7, Zhu Jiner decided to go all-in with an aggressive approach in this important game against Stavroula. Instead of the solid Ruy Lopez or Italian game, she went for her favourite Sicilian, the Najdorf variation. Tsolakidou’s response was unsurprising – the aggressive 6.Bg5 followed by 7.Qf3 and 8.0-0-0, echoing her 2017 victory over Zhu Jiner at the World Junior Girls Championship. Her opening strategy was successful: her opponent was caught off-guard with 9.g4 and spent quite a lot of time figuring out the best response. Zhu Jiner took up the gauntlet, captured the “poisoned pawn”, and the game was on! The position remained balanced, according to the engines, but it was very double-edged, and anything could happen. But the exchange of queens on move twenty-two cooled things down. In the queenless middlegame, Zhu Jiner had the two bishops but a slightly worse pawn structure: the game was heading for a draw and indeed a draw was agreed on move forty-nine, both players clocking a 98% accuracy score with no mistakes whatsoever. Nana Dzagnidze – Mariya Muzychuk 0.5-0.5 The head-to-head between Nana and Mariya is quite extensive. In eighteen classical games, twelve games have ended in a draw, with two wins for Nana and four wins for Mariya. In addition, as GM Gershon most astutely pointed out, both Nana and Mariya have only played one leg of the cycle and this is their second event: if one of them were able to score two consecutive game wins, they might have a chance to fight for one of the two candidate spots. Indeed, a very important game for both of them. The opening was the Three Knights variation in the Grunfeld, with a well-deserved reputation of being very solid. Neither of the two players wanted to risk today, and each time a piece could be traded they would go for it. Around move twenty-five, Mariya enjoyed a slight initiative on the board and also quite a bit of extra time con the clock (twenty minutes for Nana’s six minutes, with fifteen moves to the time control). However, Nana kept her cool, played solidly and without much trouble was able to liquidate into an equal ending.
Chess for Freedom Continental Chess Championship and Workshop for Africa announced
The International Chess Federation FIDE, in collaboration with The Gift of Chess, Dadaz Chess Academy, and the Malawi Prison Service (Lilongwe, Malawi) are pleased to announce the 2025 Chess for Freedom Continental Chess Championship for Africa and Workshop, scheduled to take place from May 12 – May 14, 2025, in Lilongwe, Malawi. This will be the first in-person Chess for Freedom Conference for Africa. We are very grateful for our partners, Malawi Prison Department and all the participating correctional facilities around Africa. Invitations are extended to all previous online intercontinental event participants from Africa and those who aspire to start the chess in prison program. The event is open only for representatives of Africa. Chess for Freedom – Workshop Goals To debrief on the outcomes from past online intercontinental chess events, hosted by FIDE and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, including highlighting notable event accomplishments from Africa, and identifying improvement areas. To introduce the Chess for Freedom program to new African countries and support them with information to be part of the program and share its impact in other countries. To discuss engagement strategies for potential partners associated with the Chess for Freedom program. To have an Africa Continental Championship. The Workshop event schedule is as follows: May 11: Guests arrival. Welcome dinner May 12: Workshop featuring various breakout topics. May 13: Maula Prison tour – men and Juveniles (includes meeting with Prison administration and staff). Continental Championship for Africa on-line tournament May 14: Trip to Malawi Lake. Guests departure. “The prison officials see that in the places where the chess program is implemented, the behavior of the individuals in-custody changes, depression and stress levels decrease, they are better with socialization skills when they leave the facility. It’s not only about the skills and another way of spending free time, but also the sense of belonging to a community, to the chess family. We’ve been working a lot to advocate for a program itself, but the examples of the other countries work even better,” says Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board Dana Reizniece-Ozola about the rapid growth of the program all over the world. Chess for Freedom Workshop – Lodging Details The official hotel for the Chess for Freedom Workshop is the Lifestyle Boutique Hotel by Umodzi Park, Lilongwe in Malawi. All attendees are required to register for the workshop by signing up HERE. The Workshop program will include: Welcome from the Ministry of Homeland Security of Malawi Presentation by the FIDE – Dana Ozola Reizniece or Andre Vogtlin Chess for Freedom program overview – Mikhail Korenmann Chess for Freedom program in Malawi with the Gift of Chess support in Africa – Susan Namangale Chess Impact for young offenders in Ghana – David Amcheapong Nation-wide Chess for Freedom program in Kenya – PS Salome Beacco/Phyllis Ngingi Round-table discussion include prison authorities and participants of the Chess for Freedom project. Chess for Freedom Workshop – Contact Information Susan Namangale Dadaz Chess Founder / Gift of Chess Ambassador FIDE Schools Instructor and Member of FIDE PDC Commission.E-mail dadazchess22@gmail.com WhatsApp: +265999951477 Rafiq Namangale Chief Operations OfficerFIDE Developmental Instructor /Dadaz Chess CoachE-mail rafiqjames03@gmail.com WhatsApp: +265993701492