Lausanne GP R2: Goryachkina and Dzagnidze take early lead
Georgia no.1 woman Nana Dzagnidze defeated GP debutant IM Zhansaya Abdumalik of Kazakhstan in an emphatic manner to take the lead with Aleksandra Goryachkina who defeated the former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Kosteniuk misplayed in the endgame and landed herself in difficult situation. Anna Muzychuk had the longest game of the day against Pia Cramling which lasted for almost five hours but Anna's advantage was not enough to score a full point. The remaining three games ended in draws in exactly 30 moves. Harika got herself out of difficult situation and managed to salvage a draw. Photo: FIDE
Dzagnidze and Goryachkina score a win each
Round 2 of Lausanne GP witnessed two decisive games. While Georgia no.1 woman Nana Dzagnidze scored an emphatic victory over IM Zhansaya Abdumalik, former Women's World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina capitalized on Monaco GP's winner Alexandra Kosteniuk's mistake in the endgame. All the remaining four games ended up in draws. However, Anna Muzychuk fought for almost five hours against legendary Pia Cramling where the veteran did not budge till the very end, resulting in the game being drawn.
After a fantastic start by drawing against the World Champion Ju Wenjun, Zhansaya Abdumalik was unable to get out of the gate against Nana Dzagnidze. She landed herself in deep trouble by making inaccurate moves right out of the opening.
Dzagnidze - Abdumalik
The move 12...g5 looks unnatural and does not help black to get back into the game. As black is already behind in development, 12...g5 only worsen things for black.
If you have to play f6 and block your own bishop at g7, while the queenside rook and bishop both remain undeveloped, one can easily tell that something has gone terribly wrong and it will be incredibly difficult to salvage after that. Of course, Dzagnidze had no trouble converting this decisive advantage into a win in the next fourteen moves.
The only other win of the round was scored by former Women's World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina against compatriot and former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Goryachkina - Kosteniuk
Something about 13...f6 looks odd as it was unprovoked and unnecessary. Maybe 13...a5 or Rc8 was a better continuation.
Kosteniuk played the erroneous 23...Rc4, allowing her opponent to get rid of her strong knight at e4 with 24.Nd2
To make matters worse, the former World Champion put her rook at b4 with 24...Rb4. Since the exchange is inevitable, 24...Nxd2 was a better choice.
The final nail in the coffin was driven by black when she played 26...Qe7 and trapped her own rook as after that it became just a matter of technique for Goryachkina to score the full point.
Anna Muzychuk fought for almost five hours against the legendary Pia Cramling but unfortunately her advantage was not enough to get more than a draw.
Pia Cramling - Anna Muzychuk
It is evident that black has an advantage in this position but it is not enough to convert.
It's a huge coincidence that the remaining three games ended up in draws in exactly 30 moves each. Harika survived a huge scare after landing herself in trouble out of the opening against Marie Sebag.
Sebag - Harika
White has almost completed development, there is a passed pawn on b-file and it is quite evident that it is white who is in the driver's seat after 13.Bxc4
It is quite surprising why Sebag chose to play 26.d5 instead of defending her b4-pawn with 26.Bd2. After 26...exd5 27.Bxd5, b4-pawn remained hanging and Harika had no trouble getting it after 27...Nf4
Former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova had no trouble holding reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to a draw.
IM Alina Kashlinskaya also held GM Mariya Muzychuk to a comfortable draw in 30 moves.
The eleven round, Round-Robin event will go on till 13th March 2020 with 8th March being the rest day. All round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Only the last round will start at 11:30 a.m. local time, 4 p.m. IST
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Round 2 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 12 | 2485 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2551 | 7 |
| 2 | 8 | 2475 | GM | Cramling Pia | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2535 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 | 2443 | GM | Sebag Marie | ½ - ½ | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2517 | 5 |
| 4 | 10 | 2583 | GM | Ju Wenjun | ½ - ½ | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2453 | 4 |
| 5 | 11 | 2509 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 1 - 0 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2461 | 3 |
| 6 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 1 - 0 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2482 | 2 |
Round 3 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 2 | 2482 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2485 | 12 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 | |
| 3 | 4 | 2453 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 | |
| 4 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 10 | |
| 5 | 6 | 2535 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 | |
| 6 | 7 | 2551 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | GM | Cramling Pia | 2475 | 8 |
