Lausanne GP R5: Harika and Goryachkina are still in the lead
Tournament leaders Harika and Goryachkina faced each other in Round 5 of Lausanne GP. They made a short draw in just 31 moves. Harika decided to go for a solid line again, but neither side made any mistake. Nana Dzagnidze scored the only win of the round against Anna Muzychuk. Mariya Muzychuk had quite a few opportunities to beat the reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun, however she missed them all and the game ended up in a draw. Kashlinskaya got a small opportunity to stir up trouble for Abdumalik, the former missed it and the game ended up in a draw. Kosteniuk ended her losing streak by making a draw against Stefanova. Photo: FIDE
Dzagnidze scores the only win in Round 5
Harika Dronavalli made a short draw with Goryachkina in just 31 moves where neither side was in trouble throughout the game. In a battle between the IMs, Zhansaya Abdumalik drew with Alina Kashlinskaya. However, the latter had an advantage at some point in the middle game which she couldn't capitalize. Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk ended her losing streak by making a draw with Stefanova. Nana Dzagnidze scored the only win of the round when she managed to stop Anna Muzychuk's attack after the latter made a few inaccuracies and lost one pawn too many. Reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun was worse for the majority of the game against Mariya Muzychuk. Somehow Mariya missed all opportunities and Ju escaped with a draw. Pia Cramling had an uneventful draw with Marie Sebag.
Harika decided to go solid again. She faced Queen's Gambit Accepted against former Women's World Championship Challenger Goryachkina.
Harika - Goryachkina
"In general I thought these positions like for white is generally pleasant." - Harika shared during post-match analysis.
The only win of the round was scored by Georgia no.1 woman Nana Dzagnidze against Anna Muzychuk.
Anna Muzychuk - Dzagnidze
Dzagnidze did not like her position after 15.Qg3
White got one last opportunity to salvage the position after 30...Bxf5. Can you find it?
Mariya Muzychuk got a pleasant position out of the Sicilian Sveshnikov opening against reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun. She was better for the majority of the game.
Mariya Muzychuk - Ju Wenjun
Ju felt that white had decisive advantage here as Bc4 and Nf7 is the threat.
Mariya missed the win here and played 63.Bxe4 after which draw became the only possible result. What did she miss?
Abdumalik managed to escape trouble against Kashlinskaya and she later sacrificed an exchanged. The game eventually ended in a draw after both sides were about to promote a queen and make a draw anyway.
Abdumalik - Kashlinskaya
In a battle between former Women's World Champions, Kosteniuk ended her losing streak by making a draw with Stefanova.
Pia Cramling had an uneventful draw with Marie Sebag in just 39 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 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | ½ - ½ | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2485 | 12 |
| 2 | 4 | 2453 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | ½ - ½ | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2482 | 2 |
| 3 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | ½ - ½ | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 |
| 4 | 6 | 2535 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 0 - 1 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 |
| 5 | 7 | 2551 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | ½ - ½ | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 10 |
| 6 | 8 | 2475 | GM | Cramling Pia | ½ - ½ | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 12 | 2485 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 | |
| 2 | 10 | 2583 | GM | Ju Wenjun | GM | Cramling Pia | 2475 | 8 | |
| 3 | 11 | 2509 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2551 | 7 | |
| 4 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2535 | 6 | |
| 5 | 2 | 2482 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2517 | 5 | |
| 6 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2453 | 4 |
