Khanty Mansiysk Women's Chess GP Top Three Winners - Hou, Girya, Kosteniuk!

Hello Chess Blog friends,

12th Women's World Chess Champion and her successor meet once again for an exciting draw and the third and first place at the Khanty Mansiysk FIDE Grand Prix...

... and, Olga Girya in the background earning the second place with a very strong performance! Photos: Nikolay Bochkarev

Here's some exciting chess news from Khanty Mansiysk where the FIDE Women's GP has just concluded. The top three winners are reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan of China, Olga Girya of Russia (who picks up a GM norm) and 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk! 

Eleven rounds of exciting chess had Hou Yifan win the event with a strong 1.5 points, but the Russian girls were right behind all along. The last round witnessed a fierce struggle between Hou Yifan and Alexandra Kosteniuk, but the game was drawn.

Local Russian player Olga Girya proved to be the hero of the event playing above her rating and picking up an important GM norm. Alexandra Kosteniuk - with her fans cheering on twitter - played her usual killer chess to claim the unshared third place. She was the only one against whom Hou Yifan seemed to be under any pressure during the tournament. 

Two players tied for fourth with six points - Anna Muzychuk and Kateryna Lagno. 

FINAL STANDINGS

The prize distribution photos will be available soon. You can also look forward to a nice post by Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk on her personal blog soon enough. Great round-wise reports by Alina l'Ami, along with nice photos by Nikolay Bochkarev, are available on the official website.

But, don't go away yet from Khanty Mansiysk! Tomorrow begins the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship followed by the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship. 

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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