Lausanne Women's Grand Prix Day 3: The World Champion Stumbles
GM Harika Dronavalli joined the leaders at the Lausanne Women's Grand Prix as she outplayed Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun in an endgame. There's now a tie for first place among five players after three rounds.
Results round 3
Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) 0-1
Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) – Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) ½-½
Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG) – Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) ½-½
Harika Dronavalli (IND) – Ju Wenjun (CHN) 1-0
Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Marie Sebag (FRA) 1-0
Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) – Pia Cramling (SWE) ½-½
Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Muzychuk, Anna | 2535 | 2610 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 2.5 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Harika, Dronavalli | 2517 | 2620 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 2.25 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Kashlinskaya, Alina | 2485 | 2657 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 2.25 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 2579 | 2596 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Dzagnidze, Nana | 2509 | 2585 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2.0/3 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2551 | 2499 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5/3 | 2.75 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Cramling, Pia | 2475 | 2534 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5/3 | 2.75 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2453 | 2511 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5/3 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Sebag, Marie | 2443 | 2382 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.0/3 | 1.75 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Abdumalik, Zhansaya | 2461 | 2437 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1.0/3 | 1.5 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 2357 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.0/3 | 1.25 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2482 | 2245 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0.5/3 |
Harika's win was a slow but excellent technical achievement in a bishop endgame that seemed drawish. However, White definitely had something to play for as she had fixed her opponent's pawns on dark squares and was able to create a passed pawn, unlike Ju.
In an all-Russian encounter, GM Alina Kashlinskaya with the black pieces defeated GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. In a theoretical line of the Petroff, Kosteniuk erred with 19.Bd2 (moving the bishop via c1 to a3 would have avoided Nc6-e7 in some lines), and soon she was worse.
Muzychuk's win was spectacular and possibly relevant for theory as well. GM Yannick Pelletier criticized GM Marie Sebag's 14th move, but this author thinks Black should look at alternatives as early as move seven!
Round 3 games
After Skolkovo and Monaco, Lausanne is the third Women's Grand Prix in the 2019-2020 series. The fourth and final leg will be held in May in Sardinia, Italy.
Each tournament is a 12-player round-robin. The prize fund in each Grand Prix is 80,000 euros, with 15,000 euros and 160 Grand Prix points awarded to the winner.
Pairings round 4
Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – Pia Cramling (SWE)
Marie Sebag (FRA) – Mariya Muzychuk (UKR)
Ju Wenjun (CHN) – Anna Muzychuk (UKR)
Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) – Harika Dronavalli (IND)
Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) – Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG)
Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ)
Previous reports:
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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