With her game ending in a draw, Anna Muzychuk remains at the top of the Cyprus WGP cross table after six rounds, with a total of 4.5 points. Anna’s opponent today, Zhu Jiner, trails her by half a point (4/6), maintaining the same gap with three other players just behind on 3.5/6—Aleksandra Goryachkina, Mariya Muzychuk, and Harika Dronavalli.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich performed the ceremonial first move at the game between Divya Deshmukh and Stavroula Tsolakidou while Clea Hadjistephanou Papaellina, from the Department of Education of the University of Cyprus in Physical Education played the first move for Anna Muzychuk in her game against Zhu Jiner.
After the round begun, Dvorkovich joined the commentator’s booth, expressing his satisfaction on how the WGP cycle is developing. “The Grand Prix cycle has expanded: there are six events now instead of four, prizes are higher, more players participate. It shows are focus on the development of women chess and are dedication to the whole World Championship cycle for women players,” he said.
Dvorkovich is in Cyprus attending the FIDE Council, which meets in person once or twice a year to discuss many strategic subjects – for example the structure of the World Championship cycle. Among many other issues, this afternoon they attended the presentation of the virtual FIDE Online Museum, which will be officially inaugurated next week.
Let’s take a closer look at the five games of Round 6.
Anna Muzychuk – Zhu Jiner (0.5-0.5)
The most important game of the day paired together the leader of the tournament, Anna Muzychuk (4/5), with Zhu Jiner, trailing Anna by half a point. They had faced each other previously in classical chess a couple of times in the past – both of those games ended in a draw.
The commentators were slightly taken aback by Muzychuk’s choice in the opening, the 3.Bb5+ Moscow variation in the Sicilian. “An interesting choice, although not without its own dangers. I think that Anna wants to play for a win today but without risking too much,” explained GM Alik Gershon in the booth.
The Chinese GM opted for the solid 3…Bd7 and, facing Muzychyk’s Maroczy bind, chose the interesting side-line 7…Qg4 instead of the much more common 7…cxd4, which basically forces the trade of queens. Interestingly, the elite Chinese GM Li Chao has played this line a few times in the past.
It soon became clear that Zhu Jiner had analysed the endgame extensively and, in fact, Muzychuk soon realised that she had no advantage and proposed a draw by means of a three-fold repetition. Slightly ahead on the clock, Zhu decided to play on, exerted some pressure but after accurate play by the leader a draw was eventually agreed on move forty-two.
Mariya Muzychuk – Elisabeth Paehtz 1-0
Apart from being good friends, Mariya and Elisabeth have faced each on nine occasions, with a good record for the younger of the two Muzychuk sisters: two wins and seven draws.
Playing today with White, and considering Elisabeth’s shaky start, Mariya pushed from the get-go for an open and aggressive game, choosing the Open Sicilian.
“The 6.h3 line against the Najdorf is one of the more fashionable lines, preventing …Ng4 in certain situations. In some lines it’s more useful whereas in others it’s less useful,” explained GM Alik Gershon on the live stream. “In other lines White can play the concrete g4, asking some questions to the f6-knight”.
Soon the fight for the d5-square became the game’s focal point: by exchanging her dark-squared bishop for the knight on b6, Mariya managed to transfer her knight from b3 to d5 and secured a huge positional advantage along with excellent attacking chances on her opponent’s kingside.
It’s not totally clear where Paehtz made her fatal mistake – it just seemed that she was positionally outplayed.
Mariya was very happy with her first win in the event. In her postgame interview, she considered a couple of ideas that didn’t appear on the board.
Divya Deshmukh – Stavroula Tsolakidou 0.5 – 0.5
Belonging to the younger generation, Divya and Stavroula haven’t had enough time yet to string many classical games against each other. In fact, they have only played twice before, with two draws.
For today’s game, Stavroula had prepared the 6…Be7 secondary line in the Open Ruy Lopez, a variation that Magnus Carlsen has used quite often in the past.
Maybe she was hoping to surprise Divya but the Indian came very well-prepared to the game, even finding the 11.b3 / 12.Ba3 manoeuvre quite fast.
The game quickly transitioned into a queen+rook+minor piece equal middlegame. In the commentary booth, WGM Anastasiya Kharlovich provided some insights: “Anand suggested that as Divya is an aggressive player, everyone wants to take her to the ending.”
Although Stavroula’s pawn structure was slightly damaged, she had a good compensation in the form of piece activity. Divya decided to call it a day and force a perpetual draw on move forty-one, just after the time control.
Nana Dzagnidze – Harika Dronavalli 0-1
Nana and Harika have a lot of history together, having played a total of twenty-one classical games in the past, with a totally equal score of thirteen draws and four wins each.
With regard to Dzagnidze’s unpretentious opening choice – the rare Agincourt defence – GM Gershon put forward his theory: “Nana just wants to get a game, with as little theory as possible and then let the better player win.”
In any case, she definitely caught her opponent of balance: the move 7…c5 cost Harika twenty minutes while on move 8…d4 – which is actually an inaccuracy – she spent another twenty-eight minutes. It has to be said though, that Dzagnidze was also in unfamiliar territory, spending a lot of time as well.
Ultimately, faced with an unfamiliar position, Harika decided to sacrifice a pawn, hoping to get some form of compensation. Both players entered time trouble, leading to mistakes. Dzagnidze’s 19.Nf5? (instead of the much better 19.Nxf7!) allowed the counter 19…e4! which Harika noticed as a candidate-move but rejected.
Just when the game was heading for a draw in a rook vs. two minor pieces endgame, Dzagnidze momentarily lowered her guard, and it cost her dearly.
Moment of the day
Nana should have played 57.Rb8 (57.Rd8) and get the rook out of there. Instead, she opted for 57.Kg1?? and after 57…Be8! the rook is trapped in a box. White can’t prevent Kg6-g7 winning.
In her postgame interview, Harika explained how these things happen and how to avoid them.
Aleksandra Goryachkina – Olga Badelka 0.5-0.5
In their previous games, Goryachkina had scored on win and two draws against Badelka. Playing with White, she was the clear favourite in today’s encounter.
Having recently relocated to Austria, Badelka is participating in this year’s Grand Prix as a home contender for the sixth leg of the cycle, set to be played in Grosslobming (near Graz). She is obviously very happy to play regularly at the highest level. However, she is playing in Cyprus as a replacement for Regina Theissl-Pokorna.
For this game, Badelka had prepared a secondary line in the 4.d3 Berlin Defence, with the interesting novelty 9…Nh7, intending the counterattack 10…f5! The idea didn’t seem to worry Goryachkina at all – she responded fast and confidently, keeping the balance all the way into the endgame.
Most likely, Goryachkina missed an opportunity to achieve a clear advantage when she played 41.Nc8. The engine suggests 41.b5 to be much better. From then onwards Badelka played very accurately, comfortably holding a draw a pawn down in a rook endgame.
Round 7 dates and pairings:
The seventh round of the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series will be played on Saturday, March 22nd at 15:00 CET local time in Nicosia, Cyprus. These are the pairings of the round:
Stavroula Tsolakidou – Nana Dzagnidze
Zhu Jiner – Divya Deshmukh
Olga Badelka – Anna Muzychuk
Elisabeth Paehtz – Aleksandra Goryachkina
Harika Dronavalli – Mariya Muzychuk
More information about the event, including the regulations and details of the pairings, as well as live games can be found on the official website: womengrandprix.fide.com
You can follow the games live and watch the action with our wonderful commentators GM Alik Gershon and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich on YouTube.
Written by Michael Rahal
Photos: Mark Livshitz
