The 3rd round was again very interesting! Zhu Chen won against Stefanova very quickly and nicely after white moved to a3 with the wrong knight. Here is the game –
Chiburdanidze scored the first win – Black King remained in the middle, got in danger there, tried to hide on the queenside but didnt find any shelter there either. The game ended on move 48. Watch this interesting game yourself –
Fierro played a very nice endgame against Dzagnidze which she eventually won.
And finally the game of the leader of the event – Danielian. Black had a very good position after the opening, then she was much better but allowed the exchange sacrifice (by playing 17…Ne4) and white could have a winning after further complications – 21.Bc4, but instead went for the losing 21.Rxd7.
Pictures of the leaders
Results of 3rd round
IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 1 – 0 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
GM Cramling Pia 2516 ½ – ½ GM Koneru Humpy 2607
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 0 – 1 GM Zhu Chen 2495
GM Sebag Marie 2489 ½ – ½ IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 1 – 0 GM Xu Yuhua 2484
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 0 – 1 GM Danielian Elina 2454
Pairings of round 4
1GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 – GM Danielian Elina 2454
GM Xu Yuhua 2484 – IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 – GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502
GM Zhu Chen 2495 – GM Sebag Marie 2489
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 – GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 – GM Cramling Pia 2516
This was another round of very exciting fight! Sebag was the first to win in a true Sicilian game with lots of sacrifices!
Black played 22…axb3 and won in 6 moves!
Danielian’s game was also full of sacrifices:
White played 30.Nc5 in order to try to open the position up.
And another example from the same game:
White sacrificed a Rook – 39.Rxc7 in order to lure the Black Q away from defending the f5-pawn.
The results of 2nd round
GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 1 – 0 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
GM Danielian Elina 2454 1 – 0 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502
GM Xu Yuhua 2484 0 – 1 GM Sebag Marie 2489
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 0 – 1 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
GM Zhu Chen 2495 ½ – ½ GM Cramling Pia 2516
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 1 – 0 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363
Thus, Dzagnidze and Danielian are on 2 out of 2.
Pairings of the 3rd round
IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 – GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550
GM Cramling Pia 2516 – GM Koneru Humpy 2607
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 – GM Zhu Chen 2495
GM Sebag Marie 2489 – IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 – GM Xu Yuhua 2484
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 – GM Danielian Elina 2454
Live games are at http://qatar2011.fide.com/tournament-games.html and games start in 4 hours 🙂
The last leg of the Grand-Prix has started today in Doha, Qatar. This event is especially important as the winner will be playing against the current World Champion Hu Yifan!
It was a great day for the players playing Black pieces – 4 games were won out of 6.
Here are the results
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 – GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 0-1
IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 – GM Zhu Chen 2495 1-0
GM Cramling Pia 2516 – IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 1/2
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 – GM Xu Yuhua 2484 0-1
GM Sebag Marie 2489 – GM Danielian Elina 2454 0-1
GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 – IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 0-1
Tomorrow’s pairings (2nd round)
1GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 – IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
GM Danielian Elina 2454 – GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502
GM Xu Yuhua 2484 – GM Sebag Marie 2489
IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 – GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546
GM Zhu Chen 2495 – GM Cramling Pia 2516
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 – IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363
A selection of photos from the official website – http://qatar2011.fide.com/tourview/show-5.html
