2009 Isbanc Ataturk Women's Masters Tournament

This article is about yesterday's game: From the Press Trust of India Humpy held by Zhao, title hopes diminish By Our Chess Correspondent Istanbul, Mar 18 (PTI) Top seeded Grandmaster Koneru tried her best but could not breach Zhao Xue's defence and drew a tense game to remain joint third after the ninth round of the IS Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess event here. Humpy raised visions of a victory against leader Zhao that would have brightened his title prospects but the Chinese kept herself in the game with some fine defence and in the end it was a drawn endgame that surfaced on the board. Consequentially, Zhao remained in sole lead inching up to 7.5 points out of a possible nine in the 12-players round robin tournament which is a part of the next world championship cycle.Compatriot Yifan Hao (7) remained in the second spot after she failed to capitalise on the extra pawn against Marie Sebag of France and settled for a draw.Humpy shares the third spot along with Elina Danielian of Armenia with 6.5 points apiece. In other games of the day Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria won against Zeinab Mamedyarova of Azerbaijan as did Elina Danielian against Martha Baquero Fierro of Ecuador. Local hopeful Betul Cemre Yildiz scored her first win against Shen Yang of China, while Pia Cramling of Sweden won her second game in a row against Maia Chiburdanidze in the clash of the two most experienced names in the field. PTI

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That was yesterday - today Koneru is in a three-way tie for first place with 7.5! She won her game today against Stefanova, Zhao lost her game to recently minted GM Marie Sebag, and Hou Yifan drew her game with IM Elina Danielian. Very interesting! Here are the current standings: 1 GM ZHAO Xue 2508 CHN 7½ 1½ 30,75 2½ 2 GM HOU Yifan 2571 CHN 7½ 1 34,00 3½ 3 GM KONERU Humpy 2621 IND 7½ ½ 33,50 3½ 4 IM DANIELIAN Elina 2496 ARM 7 0 30,00 3½ 5 GM SEBAG Marie 2529 FRA 6 0 25,00 2 6 GM STEFANOVA Antoaneta 2557 BUL 5 ½ 19,00 2 7 GM CHIBURDANIDZE Maia 2516 GEO 5 ½ 18,50 2 8 IM FIERRO Baquero Martha L. 2403 ECU 4½ 1 12,50 ½ 9 GM CRAMLING Pia 2548 SWE 4½ 0 16,00 2 10 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Zeinab 2362 AZE 2 1 7,75 ½ 11 WGM SHEN Yang 2448 CHN 2 0 12,75 2 12 WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2214 TUR 1½ 0 5,75 ½ Here is some belated coverage of this great event at Chessbase. Tomorrow is the final game - the heat is on, Bad Girls! Official website.