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Kosintseva has made a weighty claim to win the third stage of FIDE Grand Prix |
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Saturday, 01 May 2010 |
 The leader of the Nalchik stage of FIDE Grand Prix, Tatyana Kosintseva gained the upper hand in the game against Nana Dzagnidze from Georgia in the 5th round and consolidated the gap between herself and her competitors. The Russian chess player has scored 4.5 points out of five and is now ahead of her immediate pursuers by 1.5 points.
For this crucial game that lasted more than five hours Dzagnidze, playing black, opted for a solid defence arrangement of Caro-Kann. The opening did not cause the Georgian player any particular problems. However, she strongly intensified the game on the 12th move by sacrificing a pawn but that sacrifice was never compensated for. Long-drawn forced variants followed and eventually led the match into the endgame. Kosinsteva had two rooks at her disposal to play against a queen and three spare pawns to boot. Despite the stubborn resistance from Dzagnidze, the Russian player finally gained a victory.
 Vice-world champion, Hou Yifan played a fine game against her
compatriot, the Grand Prix series leader, Zhao Xue, who obviously seems
to be having problems with playing at this tournament so far. Yifan used
a new scheme in the well-known Spanish game and created difficult
riddles for her opponent to solve. Xue failed to produce an adequate
response, and gradually her position grew less and less comfortable.
Approaching the endgame, she overlooked a simple combination, lost by an
exchange and had to admit defeat on the 39th move.
The rating favorite of the tournament, Humpy Koneru from India, is not
up to scratch yet either. She played white against Zhu Chen from Quatar.
The white got into trouble right in the opening: they did not get a
compensation for a pawn in the Catalan opening. Gaining a queen in
return for a rook and a bishop failed to bring them any advantage due to
the weakness of the king and a poorly constructed piece development.
Moreover, Koneru made a serious mistake on the 25th move and was
compelled to stop resisting in view of unavoidable material losses.
Baira Kovanova, playing black against Betul Yildiz, chose a rather
passive continuation in the Scotch game. At one spot, the Turkish player
gained perceptible advantage over her opponent. However, she not only
failed to make good use of it but also gave up the entire initiative.
Betul made a gross mistake on the 22nd move, which made it virtually
impossible to save the game. Covanova secured her win on the 26th move.
 The game played by Pia Cramling and Batkhuyag Munguntuul lasted longer
that all the others. The Mongolian played strictly to ensure an
equalizer and by the 34th move approached the rook endgame without a
pawn which theoretically might end with a draw. Cramling continued
looking for a chance to win until the 119th move but Munguntuul kept
defending with a good deal of discretion and secured a draw for herself.
The duel of the two Armenian players was the shortest in this round.
They rapidly exchanged nearly all their pieces and, having arrived at
the endgame with black and white bishops, found that their chances were
completely equal. A peaceful agreement to draw followed on the 36th
move.
There will be a day off before the sixth round, so the players will be
able to muster their strength before starting into the second half of
the tournament.
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