A contrasting first half
The first half of the FIDE Women's Candidates 2024 is over. The current top three in the points table - GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN), GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Kateryna Lagno have remained undefeated so far. GM Tingjie Lei (CHN) reduced the gap and moved to 4/7. While, both Zhongyi and Kateryna have shown vulnerabilities in their games, Goryachkina is yet to expose her weak spot.
Tingjie - Vaishali
How should Black respond to 28.Nb5 fork? 28...Qb8? is not the best way to respond. 29.Nxa7 Qxa7 and Black's queen gets completely misplaced. 29.Qxd5! was an excellent continuation. Something worth a thought. 30.Rxd5 Be6 31.Rxd8 the game reached the following position
The obvious move is 31...Rxd8? which is not the best. 31...Bxb3 32.Rxe8+ Kh7 is better than what ensued. 32.Qc3 b6 33.b3 Bf5 34.Nf6+ Kh8 35.Bxh6 bxc5 36.Nh5 and White won.
Photo Gallery
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 7 live stream
Replay Round 7 games
Round 7 results
Standings after Round 7
Round 8 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2521 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | GM | Lei, Tingjie | 2550 | 3 | ||||
| 2 | 5 | 2546 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | IM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2475 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | 2542 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2553 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | 7 | 2432 | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | 2520 | 2 |
