Fighting chess at Jermuk Women's Grand Prix

Hi Everyone!

The ladies at the Women's Grand Prix are playing some tough chess with no draws. In the second round on June 25 there was a decisive result on all the six boards!

The results were as follows:

• Xu Yuhua - Hou Yifan: 1-0
• Nana Dzagnidze – Elina Danielian: 1-0
• Maia Chiburdanidze – Pia Cramling: 1-0
• Tatiana Kosintseva – Baira Kovanova: 1-0
• Lilit Mkrtchian – Martha Fierro: 1-0
• Shen Yang – Antoaneta Stefanova: 0-1

You can check out key moments in all the matches here and the official tournament website here.

Meanwhile, here is a Sicilian-Paulsen game played between Xu Yuhua and Hou Yifan that saw a long positional battle between the two Chinese players. You can run it in our pgnplayer or watch it in the flash below.

PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 Qc7 8. Qd2 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. f3 Nc6 11. g4 Ne5 12. g5 Nfd7 13. f4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Nb3 a5 16. Qd3 Be7 17. a4 Qxd3 18. cxd3 bxa4 19. Rxa4 Bd8 20. Ke2 h6 21. g6 fxg6 22. Rha1 Bc6 23. R4a2 g5 24. Nd4 gxf4 25. Bxf4 e5 26. Nxc6 exf4 27. Nd5 O-O 28. b4 f3+ 29. Kf1 Ne5 30. Nxd8 Raxd8 31. bxa5 Ra8 32. a6 Ra7 33. d4 Nc6 34. Ra4 Re8 35. Nc3 Rb8 36. Kf2 Rb2+ 37. Kxf3 Rb3 38. Rc1 Nb4 39. Kg4 Rxa6 40. Rxa6 Nxa6 41. Nd5 Rd3 42. Rc4 Kh7 43. Kf5 Rh3 44. Rc6 Nb8 45. Rc7 Rh5+ 46. Ke6 Rxh2 47. Kxd6 Rd2 48. Rc4 Ra2 49. e5 h5 50. Nb4 Rg2 51. e6 Rg6 52. d5 Rh6 53. Kc7 1-0

The standings after two rounds are as follows:

1. GM Dzagnidze Nana 2478 GEO 2

2. IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2477 ARM 2

3. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2534 RUS 1½

4. GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2560 BUL 1

5. IM Danielian Elina 2473 ARM 1

6. GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2514 GEO 1

7. GM Xu Yuhua 2484 CHN 1

8. WGM Kovanova Baira 2366 RUS 1

9. WGM Shen Yang 2452 CHN 1

10. GM Cramling Pia 2536 SWE ½

11. GM Hou Yifan 2589 CHN 0

12. IM Fierro B. Martha L 2363 ECU 0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see my personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com