Lausanne GP R4: Harika maintains her lead along with Goryachkina
Harika maintained her lead by winning her second consecutive game at FIDE Lausanne GP 2020 by defeating Georgia no.1 woman Nana Dzagnidze. The Georgian made a huge blunder which forced her to resign after the 27th move. Goryachkina capitalized on her opponent Stefanova's tactical error in the endgame and grabbed a pawn. The former Women's World Champion from Bulgaria lost one pawn too many and eventually the game. IM Zhansaya Abdumalik made the most of her opportunity and beat Kosteniuk. Anna Muzychuk showed staunch defence against reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to hold a draw. Pia Cramling missed a win against IM Alina Kashlinskaya. Photo: FIDE
Abdumalik beats Kosteniuk in Round 4
Just like the previous round, Round 4 of Lausanne GP also had three decisive games. Harika Dronavalli beat Georgia no.1 woman Nana Dzagnidze, after the latter made a terrible blunder which cost her either getting checkmated or losing a piece, forcing her to resign after the 27th move. Former Women's World Champion Stefanova made a slight tactical mistake which cost her a pawn initially and eventually one pawn too many which led to her loss against Goryachkina. Monaco GP winner and former Women's World Champion Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk is not having the best tournament. She made an incorrect exchange in the middle game arising out of Closed Ruy Lopez which cost her an important pawn, that allowed her opponent Zhansaya Abdumalik to invade and launch an attack which became surmountable.
Harika said, "I was expecting that she wouldn't play something main."
Harika - Dzagnidze
Harika shared, "I am quite happy with my position. If she takes 11.Bxa6 bxa6, it's always pleasant with two bishops. With this position I felt like white didn't have much to do."
Harika continued with 11...Bd7, however she said, "Here I think, the most logical move for black is 11...c4. In this position if you see queenside, she cannot do much."
Last minute replacement for Zhao Xue, 20-year old IM Zhansaya Abdumalik of Kazakhstan made the most of her opportunity again, this time by defeating Monaco GP winner and former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Kosteniuk - Abdumalik
Abdumalik said, "I actually thought when she played 16.Nd2 she wanted to play Nc4. After I played 16...Be6, I was calculating Nc4."
Stefanova opted for the Pirc Defence with the black pieces against Goryachkina and managed to equalize easily out of the opening. However she made an inaccuracy in the endgame.
Goryachkina - Stefanova
Anna Muzychuk held reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to a draw with a show of staunch defence.
Ju Wenjun - Anna Muzychuk
Although black is down by an exchange but the knight at d5 is a stronghold, so it won't be easy for white to make a breathrough.
It is evident that h6 is not the ideal square of the bishop, so where should black place the bishop and how?
White obviously is looking for a way to make progress, what is the best way for black to create an impenetrable fortress?
It seems like black is running out moves, but clearly that's not the case. Why?
White is making a strong threat of 50.f4. How can black prevent that?
Alina Kaslinskaya made an early sacrifice of a knight for two pawns against the legendary Pia Cramling, but she couldn't find enough compensation. Eventually Cramling had a decisive advantage for quite some time.
Kashlinskaya - Cramling
Out of all the opportunities, perhaps the best winning opportunity Cramling had was after 47.Qd5. Can you find the winning continuation for black? She missed and continued with 47...Qxh4+ and the game ended up in a draw in another ten moves.
Mariya Muzychuk made a quiet draw with Marie Sebag in just 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 4 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 12 | 2485 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | ½ - ½ | GM | Cramling Pia | 2475 | 8 |
| 2 | 9 | 2443 | GM | Sebag Marie | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2551 | 7 |
| 3 | 10 | 2583 | GM | Ju Wenjun | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2535 | 6 |
| 4 | 11 | 2509 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 0 - 1 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2517 | 5 |
| 5 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 1 - 0 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2453 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 | 2482 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 0 - 1 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2461 | 3 |
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2485 | 12 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2453 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2482 | 2 | |
| 3 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 | |
| 4 | 6 | 2535 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 | |
| 5 | 7 | 2551 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 10 | |
| 6 | 8 | 2475 | GM | Cramling Pia | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 |
