Lausanne GP R10: Goryachkina beats Ju Wenjun
Goryachkina faced Ju Wenjun in the penultimate round of Lausanne GP 2020 for the first time since their Women's World Championship Match in January. This time Goryachkina got the better of Ju as the latter blundered in an equal position. Dzagnidze made a comfortable draw with Kashlinskaya. She will face Goryachkina in the final round for the championship. IM Zhansaya Abdumalik continued her impressive run at the event by beating Pia Cramling. She is almost guaranteed a podium finish, a win in the last round means she will finish at second, while in that scenario a draw between Goryachkina and Dzagnidze will mean Abdumalik finishing shared first. Harika made a short draw with Anna Muzychuk. Photo: FIDE
Goryachkina-Dzagnidze sets up championship clash
Goryachkina gets back in the lead, sets up championship clash with Dzagnidze in the Lausanne GP final round. Goryachkina faced Ju Wenjun for the first time since their Women's World Championship Match in January. Ju was already in a difficult position when she made a blunder, Goryachkina wrapped up the game in the next five moves. Meanwhile, overnight leader Dzagnidze made a comfortable draw against Kashlinskaya. She will face Goryachkina in the final round to determine the champion. Marie Sebag went for all-out attack in an advantageous position, leaving her king fend for himself.Alexandra Kosteniuk grabbed the opportunity to save the game by opting for a perpetual check. Stefanova capitalized on Mariya Muzychuk's tactical mistake and had no difficulty converting her material advantage into a full point. Harika Dronavalli made a short draw with Anna Muzychuk in just 31 moves.
In a seemingly equal position, Ju Wenjun made a blunder which cost her the game in the next five moves.
Goryachkina - Ju Wenjun
The position might look like black is in trouble but in reality black isn't. Ju blundered here with 34...Qc5, however she could have easily equalized here by forcing an exchange of pieces. What did she miss?
Nana Dzagnidze made a comfortable draw with Alina Kashlinskaya. At one point it looked like Dzagnidze might get something, but a careful observation reveals that there is nothing substantial.
Dzagnidze - Kashlinskaya
It almost looks like white is gaining something on the b-file, but it's nothing beyond a pawn at g7 and that also by trading an opposite color bishop. The resultant position can have draw as the obvious result out of it.
Sebag had a clear advantage against Kosteniuk. However, the French no.1 woman's overstretch allowed the former Women's World Champion invade her opponent's unprotected king and force a perpetual check to draw.
Kosteniuk - Sebag
Sebag continued with 41...Qa3 inviting Kosteniuk's queen to invade on the kingside with 42.Qh4. Now black is at a point of no-return, so black is forced to take the rook 42...Qxc1 and allow the perpetual to make a draw.
Abdumalik continued her impressive run by defeating Cramling. However Cramling had a firm control of the game, 'til she missed an opportunity to maintain it.
Abdumalik - Cramling
Cramling made the mistake of playing 24...Rxe4 which cost her the d6-pawn.
Black played 33...Qc7 and white went ahead with 34.b4 Ne4 34.axb6 Qxb6 35.c5 and got in the driver's seat.
Cramling made a huge mistake by taking the b4-pawn with 38...axb4 and ignoring the f7-pawn which allowed white to play 39.Nxf7 and the game was lost after 39...Qxc5 40.Nh6#
Mariya Muzychuk made a couple of mistakes in the endgame which cost her the entire game against Stefanova.
Stefanova - Mariya
Generally we prefer to remove the back-rank weakness by moving the pawn in front of the king which is not of the same color as our opponent's bishop. However Mariya made the mistake of playing 29...h6 when she should have played 29...g6 instead.
Well it is evident that the position is in favor of white after 31.Bb7. However 31...Nd7 only enables white to gain further advantage by doing tactics. Can you find out how?
Harika made a quiet draw with Anna Muzychuk in just 31 moves.
The eleven round, Round-Robin event will go on till 13th March 2020. The final round will start at 11:30 a.m. local time, 4 p.m. IST
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Round 10 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 12 | 2485 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | ½ - ½ | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 |
| 2 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 1 - 0 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 10 |
| 3 | 2 | 2482 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | ½ - ½ | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 |
| 4 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 1 - 0 | GM | Cramling Pia | 2475 | 8 |
| 5 | 4 | 2453 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 1 - 0 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2551 | 7 |
| 6 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2535 | 6 |
Round 11 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 6 | 2535 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2485 | 12 | |
| 2 | 7 | 2551 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2517 | 5 | |
| 3 | 8 | 2475 | GM | Cramling Pia | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2453 | 4 | |
| 4 | 9 | 2443 | GM | Sebag Marie | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2461 | 3 | |
| 5 | 10 | 2583 | GM | Ju Wenjun | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2482 | 2 | |
| 6 | 11 | 2509 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 |
