When we last visited the FIDE Women’s Grand-Prix, after the first rest day, Russia’s Natalia Pogonina, was leading the event with 3½/4. Now, as the players enjoy their second (and final) rest day, things have changed a bit.
Natalia Pogonina has scored 2-points from the 4-games since that stage, which has not been enough to keep her in the lead. In hindsight, she may well wish that she had tried for more in round 5 against Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, when she seemed to play a rather tame draw as White. The reason for this is that her 2 draws and round-seven victory over Humpy Koneru have been muted somewhat by a loss in round-eight to Anoaneta Stefanova.
This has allowed Wenjun Ju, Xue Zhao, and Nana Dzagnidze to catch up. The two Chinese players have had a very good second stage of the tournament, scoring 3/4 to take their overall score so far to 5½/8. Dzadnidze has gone even better by dropping only a half point to snatch the lead from Pogonina with 6½/8.
Contributing to that score, was the following win over Dronavalli Harika, which occurred in round 8.
[pgn height=300 layout=horizontal showmoves=figurine initialgame=first initialHalfmove=]
[Event “Tehran WGP 2016”]
[Site “Tehran IRI”]
[Date “2016.02.19”]
[Round “8.6”]
[White “Dzagnidze, Nana”]
[Black “Harika, Dronavalli”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2511”]
[BlackFideId “5015197”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “E67”]
[EventDate “2016.02.11”]
[Opening “King’s Indian”]
[Variation “fianchetto, classical variation”]
[WhiteElo “2529”]
[WhiteFideId “13601903”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.c4 Nf6 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.O-O e5 8.b3 Re8 9.e4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Nc5 11.f3 a5 12.Be3 Bd7 13.Qd2 { following Meinberger-Wimmer 1977, 1-0. } 13…Qc8 14.Ndb5 h5 { Harika goes her own way, which is a good thing as the previously tried …Be6?! is rather blunderous and results in a stonking advantage to White after 15.e5! } 15.Rad1 { Sensible development — e5 here would just drop a pawn to the Re8. } 15…Bc6 { Black is concentrating pressure against the e4-square. It appears, here, that her idea is to try to bring disharmony in the Kingside pawns (with h4-h5, for example) when any on White squares would be vulnerable, as well as the White King. Sounds good in theory … } 16.Rfe1 { White continues to develop wisely, and Dzagnidze will be very pleased with her setup, here. } 16…Nfd7 { I am not sure what the idea is behind this move to be honest. Is it backing the Nc5 up? Is it eyeing e5? I can’t imagine that Hakrika was considering exchanging on c3. Whatever the idea is, it doesn’t really come off and the knight shortly returns to f6, so it’s also possible that Black was trying to distract White a little — but in this case it fails and just ends up being wasteful. } 17.Bd4 h4 18.f4 { Taking on h4 was also perfectly playable, but Nana focuses her attention towards positional aspects, taking space and controling e5. This move in itself makes Black’s …Nfd7 look a little silly. } 18…hxg3 19.hxg3 Nf6 { Accepting that 16…Nfd7 was a little misguided. This shuffling about is rather wasteful and to me it indictates that Black is unsure on how to proceed. Meanwhile, White’s position is taking on a certain charm about it. } 20.e5 { White, with the initiative, loooks to use it. The perfect response to quiet Black’s ineffective last few moves. } 20…Nh5 21.Bxc5 { This is one good way to go, exd6 being another. } ( 21.exd6 Bxd4+ { Black is well advised to try to liquidate. } 22.Nxd4 Rxe1+ 23.Qxe1 Bxg2 24.Kxg2 cxd6 { with a large edge to White. } ) 21…dxc5 22.Qf2 g5 { Black seems very focussed on the Kingside, in particular in trying to bust open White’s structure there. No faulting this in itself, but one always has to take the current position and situation in to account and in this case, it just is not where it’s all happening. } 23.Nd5 Bxd5 { It seems rather strange to make this capture and help White to establish a nice pawn centre. The bishop wasn’t a great piece, of course, so it makes sense to exchange it. But why not for the other knight? Truth is, it doesn’t seem to make a big difference in the long term. } ( 23…Bxb5 { This is perhaps a more sensible trade off than what Black actually played, but it doesn’t seem to stop her position deteriorating. } 24.cxb5 a4 25.Bf3 g4 26.Bh1 axb3 27.axb3 Ra3 28.Qh2 { winning. } ) 24.cxd5 { A very nice situation for White, now. } 24…Ra6 { Black knows that nothing can be done about the march of White’s pawn centre and prepares to sacrifice the exchange in an attempt to defend. } 25.d6 { To the point. } 25…cxd6 { There is nothing else to do than make this exchange, really. Blockading is not possible, so Black’s options are severely limited. } 26.Nxd6 Rxd6 { An admission of desperation really, this move is made without any real compensation. It is purely defensive, and when you are making this kind of move something is badly wrong. } 27.Rxd6 gxf4 { Not only simpifying, but giving herself some kind of target. } 28.gxf4 Qf5 { Black tries to block and stall White where possible, but once again, she has concentrated everything on the Kingside which is leaving the Queenside fairly bare. } 29.Re4 { This is a very flexible move, ok it it defending the f4-pawn, but there is also the option of swinging the rook to c4. Rb6 is also very valid at some stage, so Black has all kinds of worries here. } 29…Bf8 30.Rd3 { I don’t like this move much. It’s not bad, exactly, but Rb6 was far more in context and adventurous. I’m nit-picking though, White is still very much dominating. } 30…Re6 31.Rh3 Rg6 32.Qf3 Rg4 33.e6 $1 { Freeing up the e4-square for the rook. } 33…fxe6 34.Re5 Qb1+ 35.Kh2 Nf6 { Saving the knight, but White’s position has become even more secure in the last couple of moves. There is no hope for Black from here. } 36.Rxe6 Rg6 37.Rg3 { Good, but better by far was Rxf6. } ( 37.Rxf6 { May have resulted in resignation on the spot. Things get painful if Black plays on. } 37…Rxf6 38.Qg4+ Qg6 39.Bd5+ Kg7 40.Qd7+ Rf7 41.Bxf7 ) 37…Kf7 38.Rxg6 Qxg6 39.f5 Qh6+ 40.Kg1 Qc1+ 41.Bf1 Bg7 { A strange decision to allow Black to capture the b7-pawn with check. …Be7 was a slightly better choice if Black wanted to play on. Obviously Harika was not seeing things with her usual clarity in this game. } 42.Qxb7+ Kg8 43.Qb8+ Kh7 44.Qg3 Qa1 45.Rd6 { And here, Black resigned. There are far too many threats to answer, Qh4+ and Qg6+ for instance. Harika chose to avoid further pain and Dzagnidze had a well deserved point. } 1-0
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Play resumes on Sunday the 21st of February, at 15:00 local time. Three rounds remain.
Standings after Round Eight: Dzagnidze — 6.5, Ju, Zhao, Pogonina — 5.5, Khademalsharieh — 5, Koneru, Gunina — 3.5, Harika, Stefanova, Zhukova — 3, Cramling — 2.5, Batsiashvili — 1.5.
