Women's Chess Grand Prix: Zhao Xue leads after four rounds

GM Zhao Xue leading in Mongolia

Hello Everyone!

The Women's Chess Grand Prix in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, has taken an interesting turn after four rounds with GM Zhao Xue in sole lead with 3.5 points. Xue beat Maia Chiburdanidze while overnight joint leader Koneru Humpy had to satisfy herself with a draw with Hou Yifan.

Meanwhile, both Antoaneta Stefanova and Tatiana Kosintseva won their games - against Shen Yang and Munguntuul Batkhuyag respectively - to tie for the second place with Humpy. All of them now have three points each.

Results of Round 4

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1. WGM Shen Yang 2435 - GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2560 0 - 1

2. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2562 - IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2421 1 - 0

3. GM Zhao Xue 2462 - GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2514 1 - 0

4. GM Xu Yuhua 2488 - GM Zhu Chen 2476 ½ - ½

5. GM Koneru Humpy 2600 - GM Hou Yifan 2577 ½ - ½

6. GM Sebag Marie 2519 - WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre 2235 ½ - ½

Standings after Round 4

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1. GM Zhao Xue 3½

2. GM Kosintseva Tatiana 3

3. GM Koneru Humpy 3

4. GM Stefanova Antoaneta 3

5. GM Hou Yifan 2½

6. GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2

7. GM Xu Yuhua 2

8. GM Sebag Marie 1½

9. GM Zhu Chen 1

10. WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre 1

11. IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 1

12. WGM Shen Yang ½

Here is the nice game between Zhao Xue and Chiburdanidze Maia. You can check it out in pgnplayer or watch in the flash player below.

PGN: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. b3 d5 4. Bb2 Nbd7 5. g3 b6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. O-O Bd6 9. d4 Qe7 10. Nc3 a6 11. Rc1 O-O 12. Nd2 Rad8 13. Nc4 Bb4 14. Qc2 Rfe8 15. Ne3 c6 16. Rfd1 g6 17. Bf3 Bd6 18. Rb1 h5 19. Ng2 Ne4 20. Bc1 Ndf6 21. Bf4 Bc8 6} 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Bg5 Bf5 24. Ne3 Rb8 25. f3 Bb4 26. Bxf6 Qxf6 27. Nxe4 Bxe4 28. fxe4 Qe6 29. Ng2 Qxe4 30. Qxe4 Rxe4 31. e3 Rd8 32. Kf2 c5 33. Kf3 f5 34. a3 Bxa3 35. Ra1 Bb4 36. Rxa6 Rd6 37. Nf4 Kf7 38. Nd3 Rde6 39. Ne5+ Kf6 40. Ra7 h4 41. gxh4 cxd4 42. exd4 Rxh4 43. Rf7+ Kg5 44. Rg1+ Kh6 45. Rd7 Rxh2 46. Kg3 Rb2 47. Nf7+ Kg7 48. Ne5+ Kf8 49. Kf3 Rxb3+ 50. Ke2 Ke8 51. Rb7 Bd6 52. Rc1 Kd8 53. Rd7+ 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

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