WGP Shymkent: Goryachkina extends her winning streak

Round 6 of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix showcased players refreshed from their rest day, leading to a round packed with decisive results. Aleksandra Goryachkina claimed her fourth consecutive win, solidifying her lead with a victory over Elisabeth Paehtz after a fateful endgame blunder by the German GM. Kateryna Lagno finally struck and scored her first win, defeating Bibisara Assaubayeva, one of the better performers in the event so far. Stavroula Tsolakidou comfortably beat Humpy Koneru, while Tan Zhongyi outlasted Munguntuul Batkhuyag in a 68-move battle. The day’s only draw was between Divya Deshmukh and Nurgyul Salimova, a tense positional struggle that ended in a threefold repetition.

Players took advantage of their day off in different ways—some rested while others joined a city excursion organized by the hosts, immersing themselves in local culture. Notably, three of the four winners participated in the outing, a reminder of the benefits of stepping away from intense competitive environments. With the tournament entering its final phase, a healthy mindset and a good mood are important. Today was filled with exciting games, let’s take a look:

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Elisabeth Paehtz 1-0

Already leading the standings, Goryachkina continued her winning streak, prevailing over Paehtz in a game that started with a French Defense. Early exchanges led to an endgame by move 20, where Goryachkina’s bishop pair and passed pawn gave her a subtle edge.

She started by taking her king for a long walk to the queenside. Black’s a-pawn was eventually captured, resulting in a position with opposite-colored bishops, which was defendable for Black. Unfortunately, Elisabeth found herself in a situation where she had to demonstrate great accuracy, which she did not manage to do.

The black king should have retreated to b7 to defend against White’s passed pawns (inserting 48…Bf5, most likely, worked as well), relieving the bishop from this job. Instead, 48…e3?? was played, and soon Black could not stop White’s passers: 49.Bxe3 Kc7 50.Kf6 Bf5 51.a6 Be4 52.h4 Kc6 53.Ba7 Kc7 54.c5 Kc8 55.Bb6 Kb8 56.c6 1-0

With this victory, Goryachkina now leads the pack by a full point.

Kateryna Lagno – Bibisara Assaubayeva 1-0

The first result of the day was a surprising one as Kateryna Lagno, who has had a difficult start to the tournament after losing two back-to-back games in the third and fourth rounds, beat Bibisara Assaubayeva, who entered the round in second place.

Coming out of the tournament hall, both were surprisingly in good moods and discussed their game. Bibisara noted that Kateryna did not play what she had prepared, and she struggled to remember the correct theory for the opening that came on the board. In what became an unfamiliar position, Black tried to create an attack on the queenside, but White was always more comfortable. Although Kateryna initially missed an opportunity to obtain a nice advantage by creating a play on the kingside, a few moves later, she found the correct plan and regained the initiative, albeit playing too carefully at some points.

Eventually, this advantage transformed into a devastating attack, as Bibisara, focusing too heavily on queenside play, left her king vulnerable. Kateryna executed the final onslaught flawlessly and brought the point home.  In an interview, she said she spent her rest day walking around the city, taking her mind off the tournament games. Perhaps this „reset“ will help her in the final rounds of the tournament. It undoubtedly worked in Round 6!

Humpy Koneru – Stavroula Tsolakidou 0-1

Tsolakidou’s decision to take a break from chess during the rest day paid off, as she delivered a strong performance against Koneru.

In another King’s Indian Defense (a popular opening choice in this event), Humpy opted for a lesser-played line, and by move 12, the opponents reached a fresh position.  Black got a slight advantage after Humpy’s erroneous capturing en passant on move 13, but just several moves down the road it increased substantially as Stavroula timely sacrificed an exchange. In an interview after the game, Stavroula said she knew she was somewhat better and feeling more comfortable, but she didn’t know how much better.

Black dominated the game from there – with active pieces, a solid pawn structure, and the bishop pair. Humpy eventually gave the exchange back, but it was too late. Stavroula started picking off the white pawns one by one, and with passive pieces and a material disadvantage, Humpy capitulated right after reaching time control.

Divya Deshmukh – Nurgyul Salimova ½ -½

The game between two of the younger participants of the event was a long positional battle where neither side ever had a real advantage. Things did become interesting when Nurgyul entered a position in which she had double-isolated pawns:

The position might seem better, or at least more comfortable for White, but there was never any way to obtain something substantial. Although Divya kept pushing, Nurgyul remained solid, and a three-fold repetition eventually secured the draw.

Tan Zhongyi – Munguntuul Batkhuyag 1-0

After a tough loss to Aleksandra Goryachkina in the fifth round, Tan Zhongyi came back to claim her third overall victory of the event, this time against Munguntuul Batkhuyag. But it wasn’t an easy win, as Black, who also lost in the previous round, played aggressively, clearly also fighting for the point. Arising from the Slav Defense in what is called the „Quiet Variation, Schallopp Defence“ the game became a not-so-quiet one after opposite-side-castling. Tan launched her h-pawn forward toward the black king while Munguntuul pushed her queenside pawns on the opposite wing.

After queens were traded, optically, it looked scary for White as Black’s two rooks had doubled up on the a-file, staring down at the white king. But Tan remained composed, and after trading off one of the rooks, Black’s attack lost the punch it once had, and it was eventually White who had the better-placed pieces and an advantage.

The evaluation bar would sway between equality and an advantage for White, until Black made a fateful error on move 55 that allowed Tan to exchange and simplify, picking up pawns along the way. By move 68, she broke Black’s resistance.

Moment of the Day

It is Kateryna Lagno’s excellent win against Bibisara that stands out today.

Here, Black has just played 30…Bxa5 grabbing a free pawn on the queenside but at the cost of a dangerous kingside assault. White reacted with 31.g4! opening up the g-file to start the attack on the black king.

The game continued: 31…Bd8 32.Rg1 Nb6 33.gxf5 exf5 34.Nd6! The knight obtains a beautiful outpost and controls the black king’s f7-escape square. Yes, the knight is also attacking the b5-rook, but this is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things.

After 34..Ne6 Kateryna wrapped it up with 35.Bxh6! Kh7 36.Qd3 and Black resigned 1-0

After Round 6, Goryachkina holds a clear lead, and the competition tightens with only a few rounds remaining. Players are bracing for the final stretch, and every game will be important in shaping the tournament’s outcome.

Standings after Round 6

Round seven pairings and dates

The seventh round of the second leg in the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series starts on Wednesday, November 6, at 15:00 local time in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Round 7

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

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 Viktoriya Abramova