WGP Shymkent: Salimova scores her first win in a day full of draws; Goryachkina maintains lead

The penultimate round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix was the quietest one by far, with four draws and one decisive result. Humpy Koneru broke Aleksandra Goryachkina’s remarkable five-game winning streak with a well-fought draw, keeping her steady under Goryachkina’s pressure. In a hard-fought battle, Divya Deshmukh and Stavroula Tsolakidou drew after a complex pawn race, leaving both players visibly exhausted. Tan Zhongyi and Bibisara Assaubayeva also had a peaceful result, with Tan maintaining her second place standing behind Goryachkina. Meanwhile, Nurgyul Salimova achieved her first Grand Prix victory, capitalizing on a late-game blunder by Munguntuul Batkhuyag.

It was a case of déjà vu at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix today, as we saw a few exact repeat openings from the previous rounds, making for interesting games as alternatives were played out. With only one round remaining, the players are in the final stretch, each vying to finish the tournament on a high note. Here’s a look at the key moments from today’s games:

Aleksandra Goryachkina – Humpy Koneru ½-½

The last few rounds have seen absolute domination by Goryachkina, who took down every opponent, going into today with a five-game winning streak. It was difficult to imagine that she would be stopped, particularly so close to the finish line, but Indian chess titan Humpy Koneru halted the former World Championship challenger’s momentum with a draw.

In the Neo Arkhangelsk variation of Ruy Lopez, the game saw an early trade of queens, leaving Black with an isolated d-pawn. However, this was never a concern for Humpy, as even though Goryackina tried to apply pressure, she surprisingly followed with consecutive trades, leading to a completely equal endgame.

A draw was predicted at this point, but Goryachkina, remaining true to her fighting spirit, continued pressing. It was to no avail, however, as Humpy kept good time management and remained extremely solid. After 54 moves, the game was drawn. In a post-game interview, Humpy noted that even though the position was completely equal, she felt her opponent pushing hard for a win, but she found the correct moves and managed to hold her ground.

Even though Goryachkina’s winning streak has been broken, she still maintains a solid one-point lead after Tan Zhongyi’s draw with Bibisara Assaubayeva.

Tan Zhongyi – Bibisara Assaubayeva ½-½

The final two rounds are critical for most players, but Tan had the important task of ensuring that Goryachkina’s one-point lead over her did not increase. Facing the in-form Assaubayeva, this was not an easy task at all.

Stemming from (another) Sicilian Defense in the Moscow variation, the theory was followed by both until Black decided to push her f-pawn forward, resulting in a backward e-pawn – a small positional concession, which White aimed to take advantage of by applying pressure on the e-file.

Although Assaubayeva was not in her tactical element, she defended and held the position well. White was indeed more comfortable throughout the game, and even though it seemed that she had an advantage at some point, it was never enough to make real progress. The game concluded in a draw after move repetition.

Kateryna Lagno – Elisabeth Paehtz ½-½

Lagno and Paehtz have been at the top of women’s elite for a long time and have faced off multiple times in their careers, including at the recent Global Chess League, where Paehtz beat Lagno a couple of times. Today’s clash, however, was a quiet affair.

It seemed as if Lagno was playing for something as she first advanced her pawns on the kingside, and declined Paehtz’s first move repetition offer. But the position was dry, and with no way forward, the opponents called it a day after three-fold repetition.

Divya Deshmukh – Stavroula Tsolakidou ½-½

After a lucky escape with a draw yesterday, Deshmukh came to her eighth round extremely well-prepared, backing up her sentiment in yesterday’s interview about winning in her final two rounds. She blitzed out every until move 21, at getting a whole hour advantage on the clock.

Tsolakidou, unfamiliar with the opening intricacies, thoroughly calculated her way through possible complications and opted to avoid them. With queens traded off and the fireworks neutralized, the game became balanced. The players swapped having the advantage a few times, where White first held the reins, but missed a significant chance, allowing Black to seize the initiative.

After a few missteps, the position remained completely equal until White erred on move 36, at which point Divya no longer had her time advantage:

In this pawn race, White pushed 37.c6? When 37.Rd4 was critical – attacking the h-pawn and covering the e4-square from a knight check, which would become important later. After 37…h3 38.c7 Black had to insert the important zwischenzug 38…Ne4! forcing 39.Kc1 (39.Kd3 pushes the king towards more danger). A possible continuation is 39…Ra8 40.Rd3 (if 40.Rd8, then 40…h2 seals the deal as h1Q comes with a check) 40…h2, and both running pawns would be traded, leaving Black a pawn up. 

But Stavroula immediately pushed 38…h2, and both pawns were promoted. Following trades of the queens and knights, the opponents reached the following position:

Divya implemented the incorrect plan of taking the king to the pawn, allowing Black to push the g-pawn whilst having the king close enough to help out on the queenside, giving Stavroula a significant advantage. But Tsolakidou’s timing was off again, as she had to keep pushing the g-pawn. Instead, she made a final mistake 48…Ke6?? losing crucial tempo instead of advancing her g-pawn immediately (48…g4!) with a winning position.

A few moves later, the game ended in a draw. Both players came out of the playing hall visibly exhausted after fighting on the board for almost 5 hours, and neither was happy with their play. Divya attributed her errors to overthinking, whereas for Stavroula, it was fatigue. Nevertheless, it was an exciting game to watch. Once again, it is important to reiterate that although it is easy to find the winning continuation while watching from the comfort of one’s couch hanging out with Stockfish, it is different under the stressful conditions of a chess tournament!

Batkhuyag Munguntuul  – Nurgyul Salimova 0-1

Salimova, making her debut at the Grand Prix series, scored her first victory!

Munguntuul, playing with the white pieces again, had an exact repeat from her game against Goryachkina yesterday in the Sicilian Sveshnikov, where an identical position was reached all the way up to move 16:

Goryachkina had played 16…f4, starting what would become a lethal kingside attack. Salimova, aware of that they had entered the same position, instead played 16…Rc8.

The game was not as sharp as yesterday’s affair, and by move 42, the opponents reached a completely equal endgame, where Mungutuul made a huge blunder:

Here, White should have moved the king to attack the rook, giving up the b-pawn, which was, in fact, important to do in order for the white rook to be able to come back via b5. Instead, she clung to her pawn with 43.b3??allowing the black king to walk all the way to f3 with a decisive advantage.

After 43…Kh5 44.Rxf5+ Kg4 45.Rxa5 White picked up several pawns, but Black’s threats became lethal: 45…Kf3 46. Kg1 Rg2 47.Kh1 Rc2 48.Ra6 e3 49.Rxh6 e2 50.Re6 Kxg3 and White resigned.

With only one round left in the second leg of the Women’s Grand Prix, Aleksandra Goryachkina still leads by a full point, with Tan Zhongyi following closely. The final round will determine the final standings as players fight to end on a high note, capping off what has been a thrilling tournament.

Standings after Round 8

Round nine pairings and dates

Round 9 of the second leg in the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series starts on Friday, November 8, 13:00 local time in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Round 9

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

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