Jermuk Women's Chess Grand Prix: Fifth win in a row for Dzagnidze

Lilit Mkrtchian taking on Nana Dzagnidze in Round 8

Hello Everyone,

Grandmaster Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia is set to win the Jermuk Women's Grand Prix 2010 outright. She is ahead of the rest of the field with a clear 1.5-point lead after eight rounds. There is no doubt that she would win this tournament unless for some serious self-destructing games by her.

Tatiana Kosintseva has climbed back to the second spot after beating Yuhua while Lilit Mkrtchian has dropped down to the fourth spot after losing to Dzagnidze.

GM Hou Yifan who started the tournament with two losses has made a comeback climbing to the third spot after a win over Fierro. IM Fierro remains at the bottom of the table with just one win in eight rounds.

Results of 8th round

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• Mkrtchian - Dzagnidze 0-1
• Yifan - Fierro 1-0
• Yuhua - Kosintseva 0-1
• Yang - Chiburdanidze 1-0
• Stefanova - Kovanova 1/2-1/2
• Danielian - Cramling 1/2-1/2

Standings after 8 rounds

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1. GM Dzagnidze Nana 2478 GEO 7½

2. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2534 RUS 6

3. GM Hou Yifan 2589 CHN 5

4. IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2477 ARM 5

5. GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2560 BUL 4

6. IM Danielian Elina 2473 ARM 4

7. WGM Shen Yang 2452 CHN 4

8. GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2514 GEO 3

9. GM Cramling Pia 2536 SWE 3

10. GM Xu Yuhua 2484 CHN 3

11. WGM Kovanova Baira 2366 RUS 2½

12. IM Fierro B. Martha L 2363 ECU 1

You can see key positions in all the games here.

Here is the interesting game between Dzagnidze and Mkrtchian. You can run it in our pgnplayer or watch it in the flashplayer below.

PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Rd1 Ba6 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. e4 Qc8 12. Bxa6 Qxa6 13. Ne2 c5 14. O-O Rac8 15. Nc3 Rfe8 16. Rd2 b5 17. dxc5 Rxc5 18. Bxf6 Nxf6 19. Rfd1 Qb7 20. Rd4 Qc7 21. Qe2 Qe5 22. Rd8 Kf8 23. Rxe8+ Nxe8 24. Rd8 Qc7 25. Qd3 Ke7 26. Rd4 g5 27. Qe3 a6 28. g3 h6 29. Rd3 Nd6 30. b3 g4 31. Qd4 h5 32. Re3 a5 33. b4 axb4 34. axb4 Rc4 35. Qg7 Rxb4 36. e5 Nf5 37. Qf6+ Ke8 38. Rd3 Rd4 39. Qh8+ Kd7 40. Rxd4+ Nxd4 41. Ne4 Qc1+ 42. Kg2 Nf3 43. Nf6+ Kc7 0-1

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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