Lausanne GP R9: Nana Dzagnidze takes sole lead
Nana Dzagnidze pulled out all the stops, rejected a threefold repetition draw offer and defeated the reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to claim sole lead in Lausanne GP with a score of 6.0/9. Goryachkina surprised everyone by making a quick draw by repeating her exact same moves which she did in Round 3 against Abdumalik. Thus Goryachkina lost her lead. Kosteniuk showed her grit by squeezing water out of stone against Pia Cramling and forcing her to make a mistake in another 5.5 hour long grueling battle. Mariya Muzychuk was unable to maintain her advantage against Abdumalik and drew her game. Harika-Kashlinskaya and Anna-Stefanova ended up in draws in exactly 31 moves. Photo: FIDE
Dzagnidze beats reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun
Nana Dzagnidze beats Ju Wenjun and takes sole lead at Lausanne GP 2020 After thwarting all attempts of the reigning Women's World Champion, Nana Dzagnidze made her intentions absolutely clear by declining a threefold repetition offer and launched an attack of her own which Ju managed to defend somehow but at the cost of an inferior Knight endgame which the Georgia no.1 woman had no trouble converting into a win. With this win Dzagnidze became the sole leader of the tournament with 6.0/9 The only other winner of the round was Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk who persevered a seemingly equal Rook and Double Bishop endgame, eventually forcing her opponent Pia Cramling to blunder which allowed Kosteniuk to hand Cramling her first defeat of the event. Goryachkina made a quick draw in 15 moves against Marie Sebag by repeating the exact same moves which she did against Zhansaya Abdumalik in Round 3. Harika-Kashlinskaya and Anna-Stefanova had short draws in just 31 moves each respectively. Mariya Muzychuk had an advantage against Zhansaya Abdumalik for a while but she was unable to maintain it and the game ended up in a draw.
Dzagnidze was not sure about exchanging queens, but she did it anyway because she didn't want to allow h6 threats to come and cause trouble.
Ju Wenjun - Dzagnidze
The Georgian felt her position was already better after 32.Qd4 Qxd4 33.exd4 Rc4
If you are leading the tournament and you face the reigning Women's World Champion, you are confident about your position, then you must play for a win. Especially when the other leader has already made a quick draw and you are meeting her in the final round for the virtual final anyway. Dzagnidze showed courage and confidence, played her move bravely causing her opponent to make an irrevocable error.
Can you find out what black should play after 41.Re2 ?
White has some tricky ideas on the kingside, hence 43.Ng6. What should black do here?
It is evident that Black is winning here. Find out the winning continuation after 62.Kd3
Kosteniuk won the longest game of the round against the legendary Pia Cramling who was undefeated till Round 8 as she drew all her games, most of them were hard fought long draws.
Cramling - Kosteniuk
After 30 moves the game reached to a seemingly equal Rook and Double Bishop endgame. A draw might seem to be an obvious result among top players right? Well that was not the case. Kosteniuk has been a Women's World Champion for a reason, because she has the ability to grind her opponent and snatch a full point.
As you can see, black has made a lot of progress and seems to be in firm control of the position.
How should white continue after 74...Rc6 ? White made the mistake of not taking the bishop which was the easiest way to draw.
Cramling forgot one of the most important golden rules of endgame - passed pawns must be pushed. Well she was most certainly under time pressure which caused her to err.
Despite a lot of inaccuracies, the game was still not over after 90...Kb3. Cramling made one last blunder with 91.Kg4 and then Kosteniuk got the victory with 91...Rc2. How could have white still saved the game?
Harika had an uneventful draw against Kashlinskaya in just 31 moves.
Anna Muzychuk drew with Antoaneta Stefanova after the game reached to an equal Queen-Knight vs Queen-Bishop endgame.
Mariya got a fantastic position against Zhansaya Abdumalik out of the opening.
Mariya Muzychuk - Zhansaya Abdumalik
How should white continue here?
Goryachkina surprised everyone by making a quick draw with Marie Sebag by making the exact same moves she did against IM Zhansaya Abdumalik in Round 3 of the event. Maybe she is banking on facing Dzagnidze in the final round but Dzagnidze has already a half point lead over her.
The eleven round, Round-Robin event will go on till 13th March 2020. 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 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | ½ - ½ | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2485 | 12 |
| 2 | 6 | 2535 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | ½ - ½ | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2453 | 4 |
| 3 | 7 | 2551 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | ½ - ½ | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2461 | 3 |
| 4 | 8 | 2475 | GM | Cramling Pia | 0 - 1 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2482 | 2 |
| 5 | 9 | 2443 | GM | Sebag Marie | ½ - ½ | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | 2579 | 1 |
| 6 | 10 | 2583 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 0 - 1 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 |
Round 10 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 12 | 2485 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2509 | 11 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2579 | GM | Goryachkina Aleksandra | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 10 | |
| 3 | 2 | 2482 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | GM | Sebag Marie | 2443 | 9 | |
| 4 | 3 | 2461 | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | GM | Cramling Pia | 2475 | 8 | |
| 5 | 4 | 2453 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2551 | 7 | |
| 6 | 5 | 2517 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2535 | 6 |
