Women's Candidates 2024 R4: Vaishali splits the point with Goryachkina
GM R Vaishali made a solid draw against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina in the fourth round of FIDE Women's Candidates 2024. IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) scored her first win of the event against GM Koneru Humpy. The latter decided to open up the position in the middlegame. It only worked in Nurgyul's favor. GM Kateryna Lagno missed a win against GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN). GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) once again arrived at a winning endgame for her second consecutive game. Unfortunately for her, she could not manage to convert it into a win against GM Tingjie Lei (CHN). Zhongyi maintains her sole lead 3/4, followed by Goryachkina at 2.5/4. Kateryna, Nurgyul and Vaishali are at 50% score 2/4. Today is a rest day. Round 5 starts tomorrow Tuesday 9th April at 2:30 p.m. local time, 12 a.m. IST. Photos: FIDE/Michal Walusza
A day of misses
GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) maintained her sole lead. However, it was not a smooth day for her. She was on the verge of a loss against GM Kateryna Lagno, but she could not find the correct continuation. Zhongyi will face Nurgyul in the next round. The brave youngster might want to exploit the vulnerability she has shown if an opportunity arises.
Lagno - Zhongyi: 0.5-0.5
GM Kateryna Lagno (2542) gained a decisive advantage for the better part of the middlegame. However, she could not capitalize on it and her opponent, GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN, 2521) escaped with a draw.
42.Rc8 was the way to win the game. White could not find it and opted for 42.Rxb6 Rd8 43.Bf4 Qa2 44.d6 a5 and the game ended in a draw after a dozen more moves.
Nurgyul - Humpy: 1-0
IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL, 2432) is the youngest player in the field. She was on the verge of winning the FIDE Women's World Cup 2023 last year. Most of the time she opted for sharp play. GM Koneru Humpy (2546) made a questionable choice to open up the position and sharpen things up, something where her opponent thrives in.
22...g4? does no good for Black 23.Qc3 fxe4 only worsens things. Black's king is slightly more vulnerable as it is not surrounded by a lot of pieces. 24.Ke1 Kg7 25.Bxe4 Qg5 26.Bc1 Qa5 27.Qxa5 Nxa5 and things just spiraled out of control.
Anna - Tingjie
GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 2520) was winning for the better part of the endgame against GM Tingjie Lei (CHN, 2550). Find out the finish in the above diagram.
Time control
The time control for each game is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
Prizes
The total prize fund is €250000. The top three prizes are €24000, €18000 and €12000. All prize money shall be divided equally among the players with the equal score after 14 rounds regardless tie-break results. In addition, each player gets €1750 euros for every half point scored.
Replay Round 4 live stream
Replay Round 4 games
Round 4 results
Standings after Round 4
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2521 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | 2432 | 7 | ||||
| 2 | 3 | 2550 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 2542 | 8 | ||||
| 3 | 4 | 2475 | IM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2520 | 2 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 2546 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2553 | 1 |
