Danielian is leading the event with 5.5 points while Cramling and Sebag share 2nd-3rd with 4.
Koneru-Chiburdanidze was a very interesting and complicated game until Black erred and played 19…e5 and gave white the strong passed d-pawn. Possibly Black thought that she gets a good counterplay by 20…e4 and then 21…Rbe8 but missed or evaluated wrongly the strong 22.dxc6.
Cramling-Stefanova. Black has a good position and should have continued 18…0-0. Instead, she went for the natural 18…c3 and white started to undermine the pawn with 20.a3. After that white kept a small advantage.
Dzagnidze-Xu Yuhua. For a long time white played with a King in the middle but Black didn’t have an opportunity to attack it. White exchanged some pieces and won the d-file, then spoiled the pawn structure on the kingside and threatened to create an attack on the King. Black had to exchange the Queens and let white on the 7th rank. Very good endgame play by White, playing on weaknesses.
Zhu Chen-Munguntuul. Very interesting King’s Indian. Black exchanged on d4, maneuvered the knights in a typical way and played 14…g5 which was a strong move. Black got control over the dark squares, later on playing 16…Be5 and 17…Qf6. 32.Bxf7 was a mistake as everything started hanging in white’s camp. Instead 32.Kg2 was better, keeping the position. After this error white was lost.
Mkrtchian-Danielian. Lots of exchanges in this game and although white tried to exploit the weakness on e6, eventually most pieces were exchanged and players agreed to a draw.
Fierro-Sebag. White sacrificed a pawn very early but didnt seem to have compensation as Black kept on exchanging whatever she could. After Black won the d-file it became very difficult for white to find what to play on.
Pairings of the 7th round
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 – GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
GM Sebag Marie 2489 – GM Cramling Pia 2516
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 – IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 – GM Koneru Humpy 2607
GM Danielian Elina 2454 – GM Zhu Chen 2495
GM Xu Yuhua 2484 – IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475