Pia Cramling
Veteran Pia Cramling, the oldest participant in the event and member of the Cercle d’Echecs de Montecarlo since 2007, climbs to the second position with three others in the Fide Women’s Grand Prix in Monaco.
India’s Humpy Koneru continues to lead the standings with a draw against Nana Dzagnidze.
Cramling, the lowest-rated participant in Monaco, is giving a hard time to her younger competitors. After three initial draws, where she actually missed chances of victories, the Swedish legend overcame the resistance of Elisabeth Paehtz. The German is visibly out of shape, as she inexplicably forgot to exchange queens with 27.Qc8. Cramling managed to put pressure after that and win a pawn. The fight ended abruptly with a terrible blunder by Paehtz, although she would probably have lost anyway in the long run.
The match between former World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Mariya Muzychuk finished in a draw. The only other encounter where the point was split witnessed a tense battle. Dzagnidze tried hard to beat Humpywith the white pieces, as this would enable her to overtake her opponent, who has been leading the tournament since day one. The Georgian got a definite edge from the opening and pushed until the very end. To no avail, Koneru’s defensive skills and resilience proved sufficient.
The remaining four games had a decisive result, but only one saw white emerge as the winner. Valentina Gunina misplayed her Bogo-Indian opening and soon ended up in a critical position against Zhao Xue. The Chinese produced a good game and did not let this chance slip away.
Aleksandra Goryachkina fully recovered from her loss in round two and scored a second consecutive win against Harika Dronavalli. This game seemed to head to a quiet draw, but the World Championship challenger found a way to obtain an edge in the endgame. The Indian did not defend too well, which allow Goryachkina to display excellent technique.
Kateryna Lagno and Anna Muzychuk played the longest game of the day. Black refrained from castling, which possibly provoked her opponent into trying an attack with 14.Ng5. But this Knight turned out to be cut off from its own camp. In order to avoid losing it, Lagno had to take drastic measures, which gave Black wonderful play. The Ukrainian won a pawn and converted it convincingly.
Humpy Koneru keeps the lead with three points but is now trailed by four players.
Results of round 4:
Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) – Humpy Koneru (Ind): ½ – ½
Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) – Anna Muzychuk (Ukr): ½ – ½
Kateryna Lagno (Rus) – Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr): 0-1
Zhao Xue (China) – Valentina Gunina (Rus): 1-0
Harika Dronavalli (Ind) – Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus): 0-1
Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger) – Pia Cramling (Swe): 0-1
Round 5, 7 December:
Pia Cramling (Swe) vs Nana Dzagnidze (Geo)
Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) vs Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus)
Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr) vs Zhao Xue (China)
Valentina Gunina (Rus) vs Harika Dronavalli (Ind)
Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) vs Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger)
Humpy Koneru (Ind) vs Kateryna Lagno (Rus)
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