Wednesday, May 8, 2013

2013 FIDE Women's Grand Prix: Geneva

Going on right now, May 3 - 15, 2013.  Website


Let me tell you, if half the male chessplayers in the world were as attractive as this group of ladies, chess would turn instantly into a spectator sport with a majority of female fans :)  I am not so sure of the identities of some of the ladies just from visual, but I'll take a crack at naming this line-up, from L to R: Anna Muzychuk, Viktorija Cmilyte, Hou Yifan sans glasses (looks cute without them), not sure, Anna Ushenina, Fearless Leader Who Speaketh With Aliens, not sure but she resembles Kim Cattrall(!), the always lovely Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nana Dzagnidze(?), Kateryna Lahno, Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Ju Wenjun, not sure, and Tatiana Kosintseva. 

Standings after R4:

RankSNo.NameRtgFED123456789101112PtsRes.vict
18GMKateryna Lagno2548UKR*½½11302
211GMYifan Hou2617CHN*½10102
32GMTatiana Kosintseva2517RUS½*1½½01
46GMAnna Muzychuk2585SLO½*½½101
53IMBela Khotenashvili2505GEO00*11202
61GMNana Dzagnidze2545GEO½0*1½201
10WGMWenjun Ju2544CHN½0*1½201
89GMAnna Ushenina2491UKR½*½½½200
94WGMTuvshintugs Batchimeg2298MGL100½*01
105GMViktorija Cmilyte2522LTU½0½½*00
1112GMAlexandra Kosteniuk2491RUS0½½*½00
127WGMOlga Girya2463RUS00½½*100

This is a stellar line-up and includes a few "surprise" players (Batchimeg and Girya) who can be dangerous in their own right. 

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (W) lost her R4 game yesterday to GM Kateryna Lahno (B) and that win put Lahno into clear first place.

In R3, Hou Yifan proved she's not a robot after all and got "spanked" by Mama Hou for dropping a game to the much lower rated Tuvshintugs Batchimeg.  Their game was the featured "Game of the Day" for R3, with extensive analysis.

In R4, Hou Yifan rebounded to defeat Viktorija Cmilyte, but not without some difficulty.  I found this comment by the GM providing analysis for the tournament,  Adrian Mikhalchishin, interesting:  Viktoria used the same approach, playing the former World Champion, as I taught my pupil Betul Yildiz in the last few years. It is simple -Hou Yifan is fantastic, a fine technical player, and the only way to play successfully against her is to challenge her from the start. It means to attack as soon as possible, hmm, but it is tremendousely difficult. You have to show her ,that you are not afraid of her.
 
I can't imagine Cmilyte being afraid of any player, but it's good advice nonetheless. 

Here are the match-ups for today's round:

Round 5 on 2013/05/08 at 14:00
SNo.NameRtgRes.NameRtgSNo.
3IMBela Khotenashvili2505-GMAlexandra Kosteniuk249112
4WGMTuvshintugs Batchimeg2298-GMTatiana Kosintseva25172
5GMViktorija Cmilyte2522-GMNana Dzagnidze25451
6GMAnna Muzychuk2585-GMYifan Hou261711
7WGMOlga Girya2463-WGMWenjun Ju254410
8GMKateryna Lagno2548-GMAnna Ushenina24919

Some strong pairings, well-matched pairings for this round.  Should be interesting! 

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