Women's Chess Grand Prix: Day of upsets, three-way tie for lead

IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag and

GM Koneru Humpy before their seventh round game.

Hello Everyone,

Top seed GM Koneru Humpy lost her rhythm during the seventh round at the Women's Chess Grand Prix being held in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. GM Zhu Chen also went down fighting to a much lower-rated player. While Humpy lost to IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag, Chen lost to WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre.

The other games were equally exciting with WGM Shen Yang holding GM Hou Yifan to a draw while GM Maia Chiburdanidze beating GM Marie Sebag. Also, GM Tatiana Kosintseva beat overnight leader GM Zhao Xue.

Now, there is a tie at the top slot with GMs Zhao Xue, Antoaneta Stefanova and Hou Yifan all at 5 points each. Kosintseva and Humpy have four points each.

Results of Round 7

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1. GM Hou Yifan- WGM Shen Yang ½ - ½

2. GM Zhu Chen- WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre 0 - 1

3. GM Chiburdanidze Maia-GM Sebag Marie 1-0

4. IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag-GM Koneru Humpy 1-0

5. GM Stefanova Antoaneta-GM Xu Yuhua 1-0

6. GM Kosintseva Tatiana-GM Zhao Xue 1-0

Standings after Round 7

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1. GM Zhao Xue 5

2. GM Stefanova Antoaneta 5

3. GM Hou Yifan 5

4. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 4½

5. GM Koneru Humpy 4½

6. GM Chiburdanidze Maia 4

7. GM Xu Yuhua 3

8. IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2½

9. GM Zhu Chen 2½

10. WGM Shen Yang 2½

11. WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre 2

12. GM Sebag Marie 1½

Here is the nice Batkhuyag-Humpy game that had Humpy in time trouble as well. You can run the moves through the pgnplayer or watch in the flashplayer below. Don't miss the sacrifices on the fifteenth and thirty-sixth moves. You can also check the official website here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com