FIDE WGP Shymkent: Koneru and Goryachkina сlose in

Another roller coaster of a day took place at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix as, once again, the majority of games ended decisively, with Humpy Koneru and Aleksandra Goryachkina joining Tan Zhongyi as leaders of the event.

Both Koneru and Goryachkina, after slow starts, are now making their presence felt with back-to-back wins, defeating Nurgyul Salimova and Stavroula Tsolakidou, respectively.

Munguntuul Batkhuyag outplayed Kateryna Lagno in a surprising upset, while Elisabeth Paehtz and Bibisara Assaubayeva concluded their game with a quiet draw. Tan Zhongyi faced Divya Deshmukh in an intense battle, where Divya missed a crucial moment to take down the tournament leader.

The leaderboard has now seen another shift, with new front-runners and promising matchups ahead. Tomorrow’s round will be crucial as Tan Zhongyi takes on Goryachkina, possibly reshuffling the standings once again.

 Let’s take a look at what happened in today’s games:

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Stavroula Tsolakidou 1-0

Goryachkina has demonstrated deep preparation for the tournament, often taking her opponents into less popular sidelines. In today’s game, she played an improved version of a line we recently saw at the FIDE Olympiad in the game Cheparinov – Caruana, and by move 16, Aleksandra had a sizeable advantage. However, a few moves later, she offered a queen trade at the wrong time instead of securing a strong outpost for her knight.

But she quickly corrected this error by repositioning the same knight to a3, forcing Black to make a few uncomfortable exchanges. With her back against the wall, Tsolakidou had to parry Goryachkina’s threats instead of creating her own. Eventually, Black crumbled, spending almost 20 minutes on a bad move in what was already a tough position. In the end, the black king found itself in the middle of the board, surrounded by danger, and Goryachkina sealed the game with a nice tactical finish:

44.Bxd5! 1-0 (44…Rxd4 45.cxd4+ followed by 46.Bxc6)

Elisabeth Paehtz – Bibisara Assaubayeva ½-½  

This quiet game featured a Sicilian Alapin, transitioning into an endgame where Paehtz’s isolated queen’s pawn became a slight liability. However, she held her ground with accurate defense, preventing Assaubayeva from gaining a substantial advantage. Black was only slightly better due to the more active rook, but White remained solid, playing accurately and not allowing her opponent to make inroads.

The players eventually repeated moves, and the game concluded in a draw.

Humpy Koneru – Nurgyul Salimova 1-0

In the day’s longest game, Koneru and Salimova fought in a battle spanning almost five hours. Relatively early, Humpy gained an advantage, but quickly let it slip, resulting in an imbalanced yet equal position. White had a queen, two rooks, and four pawns, versus Black’s queen, rook, two bishops, and two pawns. Typically, the bishop pair can be extremely dangerous in open positions, but unfortunately, but it was not the case as White had ample piece activity. Even though Salimova really pushed for an attack, it was to no avail, as Whit’s king was always safe and secure.

White had two passed pawns that ran down the queenside, which at some point were overpushed, giving Black a chance to get back in the game, but with very little time on the clock, the best continuation (which involved rerouting pieces), was not an easy one to find. Salimova kept trying until the very end, but her attack was never enough, and eventually Humpy prevailed. This is Humpy’s second victory in a row. After drawing a completely winning position vs. Tan Zhongyi in the second round, she came back strong and now has some momentum.

Lagno, Kateryna – Munguntuul, Batkhuyag

Munguntuul and her Caro-Kann struck once again! White sidestepped theory early on, and neither player demonstrated accuracy in navigating the unchartered waters in the opening.

In hopes of preparing some kind of attack on the kingside, Lagno swung her queen over but failed to gain ground, retreating instead, inadvertently giving Munguntuul time to build up an attack of her own. By move 22, Black was already much better, and suddenly Lagno found herself on the receiving end of a kingside attack, with Black’s two rooks and queen looming down on her king. Eventually, Lagno was forced to give up material, but her rook and knight were no match for Munguntuul’s dangerous queen. Kateryna resigned on move 41 as her position collapsed.

Divya, Deshmukh – Tan, Zhongyi

Tan opted for a less popular variation of the King’s Indian Defense, and by move 12, Divya sacrificed a pawn for piece activity, a move tested in two games in 2016. After a few exchanges, including of the queens, Divya had two powerful bishops which Tan neutralized by first returning the pawn, followed by trading dark-squared bishops.

The position became very imbalanced, with White having bad double-isolated pawns on the kingside, and a passed pawn on the queenside, along with two rooks and a bishop, against Black’s secure three kingside pawns, two rooks, and knights. Although the computer evaluated this as marginally better for Black, it was challenging for both sides. On move 34, Tan erred massively weakening her seventh rank, and Divya had her chance to take control by shielding her passed pawn from one of Black’s rooks, essentially locking it out of the defense. Playing quickly under time pressure, she missed this opportunity and blitzed out the incorrect move in seconds. Tan did not give her young opponent any more winning chances, and soon after reaching time control, they agreed on a draw.

Moment of the Day

Although there were a few decisive outcomes in Round 4, the moment of the day is the position in which the young Divya Deshmukh had the opportunity to take down tournament leader Tan Zhongyi.

Divya Deshmukh – Tan Zhongyi

In the game, White played 35. Rb5? instead of the much stronger 35.Bb5! blocking the black rook out, preparing the crushing Ra7. If Black tries something like 35…Rf7, then the other rook can join the party on the 7th rank via 36. Rc6. White would still have to be accurate, which might have been difficult under the immense time pressure Divya was in, but it was the winning continuation.

Standings after Round 4

Round 5 pairings and dates

The fifth round of the second leg in the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series starts on Sunday, November 3rd, 15:00 local time in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Round 5

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

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