Local star Ju Wenjun defeated Anna Muzychuk in round five of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Chengdu, China. After the second consecutive win Wenjun caught up with Harika Dronavalli on the shared second place.
Olga Girya scored her first victory to get back to 50% score.
The tournament leader Humpy Koneru was held to a draw by Lela Javakishvili. The remaining games were also drawn.
Photo gallery and round 5 standings are updated. Games are available for replay.
Ju Wenjun – Muzychuk Anna 1-0
Anna played rather passively and ended up in defensive position with bad pawn structure. Wenjun opened the queenside files and gave up the central pawns in order to advance the distant passer.
36…d4 proved to be decisive mistake which allowed white knight to enter the play with great effect. Black was late with counterplay and after the queens exchange white had no trouble in converting the rook ending.
Girya Olga – Khotenashvili Bela 1-0
In the Queen’s Gambit Declined the queens were traded very early and the main struggle was evolving around the two open files.
White claimed a minimal advantage but black was holding the ground. All this until black made a big mistake in the time trouble and allowed her opponent to reach a rook ending with an extra pawn.
Perhaps black could have defended better, but nevertheless Girya played with great energy and eventually clinched the much needed victory.
Harika Dronavalli – Cramling Pia ½-½
Today Cramling played the Hedgehog opening from the black side of the board. Harika succeeded in taking off the black Bb7, but Cramling got enough time to take out her pieces.
Harika was unhappy about several “slow moves” she made, like h3, Kh2, and believes she should have been more concrete with Kh1, f4, h4 and then f5 or h5.
After black got the b5-advance her position was perfectly fine. After massive exchanges the game was drawn on move 31.
Javakhishvili Lela – Koneru Humpy ½-½
Javakhishvili stunned the tournament leader with enterprising 8.g4 but after the initial shock black’s reaction was cool and she repelled the attack. The Nf8 was excellent defender.
White castled long and black countered in the center. However, after the exchange of the queens the ending was quiet. Seeing that no progress can be made, white offered a draw on move 31.
Tan Zhongyi – Stefanova Antoaneta ½-½
Zhao Xue – Muzychuk Mariya ½-½
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