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:

Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pts	Res.	vict
1	8	GM	Kateryna Lagno	2548	UKR	*			½						½	1	1	3	0	2
2	11	GM	Yifan Hou	2617	CHN		*	½		1				0	1			2½	0	2
3	2	GM	Tatiana Kosintseva	2517	RUS		½	*		1	½					½		2½	0	1
4	6	GM	Anna Muzychuk	2585	SLO	½			*			½	½				1	2½	0	1
5	3	IM	Bela Khotenashvili	2505	GEO		0	0		*	1	1						2	0	2
6	1	GM	Nana Dzagnidze	2545	GEO			½		0	*			1		½		2	0	1
	10	WGM	Wenjun Ju	2544	CHN				½	0		*		1	½			2	0	1
8	9	GM	Anna Ushenina	2491	UKR				½				*	½	½		½	2	0	0
9	4	WGM	Tuvshintugs Batchimeg	2298	MGL		1				0	0	½	*				1½	0	1
10	5	GM	Viktorija Cmilyte	2522	LTU	½	0					½	½		*			1½	0	0
11	12	GM	Alexandra Kosteniuk	2491	RUS	0		½			½					*	½	1½	0	0
12	7	WGM	Olga Girya	2463	RUS	0			0				½			½	*	1	0	0

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.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
3	IM	Bela Khotenashvili	2505	-	GM	Alexandra Kosteniuk	2491	12
4	WGM	Tuvshintugs Batchimeg	2298	-	GM	Tatiana Kosintseva	2517	2
5	GM	Viktorija Cmilyte	2522	-	GM	Nana Dzagnidze	2545	1
6	GM	Anna Muzychuk	2585	-	GM	Yifan Hou	2617	11
7	WGM	Olga Girya	2463	-	WGM	Wenjun Ju	2544	10
8	GM	Kateryna Lagno	2548	-	GM	Anna Ushenina	2491	9

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