Lausanne GP R6: Harika loses, Kashlinskaya joins the lead
Harika suffered her first loss of the tournament against Alexandra Kosteniuk who scored her first win of the event. Harika steered herself out of trouble in the endgame by making the correct exchange sacrifice, however she missed the correct continuation and landed herself in an unstoppable checkmate threat. Kashlinskaya scored a fine win over Sebag to join the lead with Goryachkina. The former Women's World Championship Challenger was held to a draw by Anna Muzychuk. The only other win was scored by Zhansaya Abdumalik who defeated another former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Goryachkina and Kashlinskaya lead with 4.0/6 heading into the only rest day of the tournament. Photo: FIDE
Kashlinskaya catches up with Goryachkina in Round 6
Harika made a few inaccuracies in the endgame which cost her the entire game. Even at the end she made the correct exchange sacrifice but missed the correct continuation to equalize the position allowing Kosteniuk to pick up her first win of the tournament. Kashlinskaya beat Sebag in just 30 moves after the French no.1 again misplaced her queen, forcing her to give it up without enough compensation. With this win Kashlinskaya is in the joint lead along with Goryachkina after Round 6. The only other victor of the round is Zhansaya Abdumalik. She defeated former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova after she lost one pawn too many in the endgame. Legendary Pia Cramling held reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to a grueling draw. The majority of the game was endgame and the veteran Cramling played it correctly. Aleksandra Goryachkina had a quiet draw with Anna Muzychuk; Nana Dzagnidze had an uneventful draw with Mariya Muzychuk. Today is the only rest day of the tournament. Round 7 will resume tomorrow 9th March at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST
Harika played the trendy line in Ruy Lopez Berlin.
Kosteniuk - Harika
Harika opted for 18...c6 which is the most popular continuation, however black has not won a single game at the top level with that continuation, maybe it was time to carve a new path with 18...Bd4+ ?
Kosteniuk was not sure about 22...Ne4. She thought black should go 22...Bc6 first before playing Ne4.
Find out the best continuation for black after 30.Re7
Black continued here with 51...Qc2+ but there was a better continuation. What did black miss?
Alina Kashlinskaya scored an emphatic victory over Marie Sebag to take a joint lead with Goryachkina.
Kashlinskaya - Sebag
Find out the best continuation for white after 16...Qh4
Zhansaya Abdumalik scored another victory, this time over former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova.
Abdumalik - Stefanova
Find out the best continuation for white after 30...Rad8
Legendary Pia Cramling held reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to a draw after a five-hour long battle.
Anna Muzychuk made a quiet draw with tournament leader Goryachkina.
Mariya Muzychuk had an uneventful draw with Nana Dzagnidze in just 32 moves.
The eleven round, Round-Robin event will go on till 13th March 2020. Since today 8th March is a rest day, Round 7 will take place tomorrow 9th March. 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 6 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 12 | 2485 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 1 - 0 | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 |
| 2 | 10 | 2583 | GM | Ju Wenjun | ½ - ½ | GM | Cramling Pia | 2475 | 8 |
| 3 | 11 | 2509 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2551 | 7 |
| 4 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | ½ - ½ | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2535 | 6 |
| 5 | 2 | 2482 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 1 - 0 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2517 | 5 |
| 6 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 1 - 0 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2453 | 4 |
Round 7 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 4 | 2453 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2485 | 12 | |
| 2 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2461 | 3 | |
| 3 | 6 | 2535 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2482 | 2 | |
| 4 | 7 | 2551 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 | |
| 5 | 8 | 2475 | GM | Cramling Pia | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 | |
| 6 | 9 | 2443 | GM | Sebag Marie | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 10 |
