The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Shymkent reached its halfway mark in dramatic fashion, with four of five games ending decisively in Round 5. Aleksandra Goryachkina emerged as the sole leader after scoring a brilliant victory over Tan Zhongyi, her third consecutive win. In a day full of surprises, Bibisara Assaubayeva outplayed Humpy Koneru, Divya Deshmukh netted her first full point against Munguntuul Batkhuyag, and Stavroula Tsolakidou ground out a hard-fought win over Elisabeth Paehtz. Meanwhile, Nurgyul Salimova and Kateryna Lagno drew their game.

Usually, the round before a rest day is one of the quieter ones, where players tend to finish quickly as they reach the first tournament milestone. But this is far from what happened today, as players gave their all, setting off sparks across the boards. We saw attacking chess, missteps that were capitalized on, and overall a sense of players fighting to win and not settle for draws.

Tan Zhongyi - Aleksandra Goryachkina 0-1

The most anticipated matchup of the round was between former World Champion Tan Zhongyi and former World Champion challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, and it was undoubtedly the most exciting game to watch. What started off as a regular Italian, quickly became extremely dynamic as Goryachkina intentionally allowed a weak pawn structure, with double-isolated pawns on the e-file. But after castling queenside, this risky game plan gave her a lot of space and opportunity to launch a kingside attack, which Tan had castled right into.

As a result, Goryachkina obtained a strong early advantage and control of the game as she mobilized all of her pieces for the kingside assault. Eventually, Tan traded her two knights for a rook, hoping to alleviate pressure, but it was too late - Black’s attack was already deadly and Goryachkina played with precision to finish it off.

What makes Goryachkina so scary to play against is that she takes every player out of their comfort zones, making them enter positions where logical continuations (as Tan played) are not the best, and missteps are easy.

Munguntuul Batkhuyag - Divya Deshmukh 0-1

Determined to avoid the time trouble that cost her spoiling a winning position against Tan in Round 4, Divya came out with impressive speed, establishing a 50-minute lead on the clock by move 16.

And this was a good approach - stemming from the Ruy Lopez, Black achieved a good position out of the opening, holding an advantage that she would keep throughout. The young Indian star said in an interview that she felt that she got lucky as her opponent blundered at a certain point. This happened on move 38 as White made consecutive bad trades when she just had to keep the position as is. But luck was not the only ingredient in Divya’s success, as her tactical eye helped her pounce at the correct moment, spotting a combination that had her win a couple of pawns, and then, the game.

Nurgyul Salimova - Kateryna Lagno 1/2-1/2

The game that started with the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Tartakower Defense, saw early trades and an asymmetrical pawn structure with Black holding a 3-2 queenside majority. Lagno engineered some activity by pushing her pawns, eventually obtaining a passed pawn, and was first to obtain a slight advantage, which she increased after Salimova erred, grabbing a “poisoned” a7-pawn.

It looked like Black would capitalize on this as Kateryna played all the best moves until reaching a critical position where she did not find the correct plan. Nurgyul did not miss her chance and reached a draw with an accurate play.

Bibisara Assaubayeva - Humpy Koneru 1-0

Uncharacteristic of her usual aggressive style, Bibisara opted for the English today, where the game entered the Four Knights, Nimzowitsch Variation. She showed her range by first playing a good positional game - creating a queenside weakness in the form of an isolated pawn, which she kept pressure on.

Black defended well, and the position was equal until Humpy made the grave mistake of unnecessarily opening the kingside. Bibisara immediately punished this decision, playing with surgical accuracy and a natural flair for attack, and ten moves later, Humpy threw in the towel.

Stavroula Tsolakidou - Elisabeth Paehtz 1-0

The longest game of the day spanned five hours, which could have ended earlier as Tsolakidou actually obtained an advantage by move 16 already. But even though White was better, there was no clear-cut way forward, and soon it became equal as Black’s pieces finally came to life and joined the game. Pretty soon, Tsolakidou would regain the advantage and what would ensue was a long grind to convert it. Elisabeth attempted to create some counterplay, but with her queen being the only active piece, it was not enough. White eventually liquidated into a winning endgame and sealed the deal by move 63. After a tough loss to Goryachkina yesterday, Stavroula bounced back admirably and goes into the rest day with her second victory of the tournament.  

As the players head into the rest day, Goryachkina stands alone at the top, riding a three-game winning streak. The tournament remains wide open, however, with many opportunities for others to challenge her position. The rest day will offer players a chance to recharge and step away from the intensity of hotel-based tournament life. With fresh energy, they’ll return to the board on November 5th for Round 6, where new pairings promise continued excitement and shifting dynamics on the leaderboard.

Moment of the Day

Goryachkina’s game was an excellent one that should be seen. There was no specific moment, as she played brilliantly throughout. You can view the full game here.

In terms of moments, a standout one was Bibisara’s swift response to Humpy’s blunder:

Bibisara Assaubayeva - Humpy Koneru

Humpy juist played 23…f5? Unnecessarily opening up the kingside. The game continued: 24.exf5 Bxe5 and suddenly 25.Nd5! Is a huge problem for Black.

Now there are all kinds of threats including Ne7 and d4.

25…Bg6 26.Rb5 Qa3 27.Ne7 Kh8 28.Nxg6 hxg6. Black’s Kingside has crumbled. 29.d4 exd4 30.Qxd4 Ne5 31.c5!

Although not accurate according to the computer, this move was great from a practical standpoint as Black has no good responses. The d-pawn is about to fall, and importantly, the a2-g8 diagonal has opened for the bishop. The game ended shortly: 31…Rc8 32.cxd6 Rc5 33.Qh4 Kg8 34.Bb3 1-0

Standings after Round 5 

Round six pairings and dates

The sixth round of the second leg in the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series starts on Tuesday November 5th, 15:00 local time in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Round 6

Goryachkina, Aleksandra - Paehtz, Elisabeth
Koneru, Humpy - Tsolakidou, Stavroula
Lagno, Kateryna - Assaubayeva, Bibisara
Divya, Deshmukh - Salimova, Nurgyul
Tan, Zhongyi - Munguntuul, Batkhuyag

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.

Written by Charlize van Zyl 

Photos: Konstantin Chalabov and Anastasia Abramova