Women's Chess Grand Prix: Kosintseva narrows lead to one point behind Dzagnidze

Martha Fierro who lost to Antoaneta Stefanova

Hello Everyone,

The ninth round was as exciting as all the previous rounds in the Women's Chess Grand Prix being held in Jermuk, Armenia. There were four decisive games while two ended in a draw.

GM Nana Dzagnidze, who had notched up five straight victories in the previous rounds, was held to a draw by WGM Shen Yang. However, GM Tatiana Kosintseva beat GM Hou Yifan. Till now Dzagnidze had been leading by 1.5 points but these results helped Kosintseva catch up a bit narrowing the lead to 1 point.

You can check key moments in all the games here.

Results of Round 9

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

Standings after Round 9

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1. GM Dzagnidze Nana 2478 GEO 8

2. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2534 RUS 7

3. IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2477 ARM 5½

4. GM Hou Yifan 2589 CHN 5

5. GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2560 BUL 5

6. IM Danielian Elina 2473 ARM 5

7. WGM Shen Yang 2452 CHN 4½

8. GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2514 GEO 4

9. GM Cramling Pia 2536 SWE 3½

10. GM Xu Yuhua 2484 CHN 3

11. WGM Kovanova Baira 2366 RUS 2½

12. IM Fierro B. L 2363 ECU 1

Here is the French Defence game between Kosintseva and Hou Yifan

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com