Istanbul: Humpy wins, Zhao loses for an exciting finish

İş Bankası - Women Grand Prix Series in Istanbul

The first event of the FIDE 2009/2010 Grand Prix cycle is being held in Istanbul: It is called the Is Bank Atatürk FIDE Women Masters, and is actually the second edition of a women’s super tournament in Turkey. It is taking placed from the 6th to 20th of March in Istanbul, at Cybele Art Gallery in Is Bank Tower.

Report after round ten

Marie Sebag, whom in yesterday's report we called "a dangerous opponent, always good for surprises," proved us right by outplaying the leading Zhao Xue with the black pieces. The Semi-Slav lasted 63 moves and ended with Zhao plonking into a mating net. The Chinese girl's colleague, Hou Yifan, had an equally rough time against Elina Danielian, but escaped when the Armenian IM overlooked a simple trick.

Meanwhile top seed Koneru Humpy, who for a while had been limping along, a point behind the leader, played a crushing game against former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova to draw level with her two Chinese rivals. Martha Fierro stopped her losing streak with a hard-fought win against Shen Yang, and Maia Chiburdanidze convincingly outplayed her inexperienced Turkish opponent, who is now on minus seven (eight losses, one win and a draw) but still playing slight above her expected score.

Current standings

With one round to go three players are tied for first, all with 7.5/10 points. All three have the black pieces in the last round. Humpy must play Marie Sebag, the giant-killer of round ten. We predict that the Indian GM will play for a win and use one of her trademark assets to succeed: grim determination. Zhao Xue has the daunting task of facing Elina Danielian, who has a theoretical chance to win the event and will certainly come out fighting. Hou Yifan faces her compatriot Shen Yang, who is not in the best shape – she is playing two hundred points below her nominal 2448 rating. The two are friends and a dejected Shen may be quick to surrender the point.

So hou do you think will win the İş Bankası Women Grand Prix 2009 Istanbul (we cannot resist repeating Nigel Short's infamour pun)? We are still guessing it will be the one with the determination and the tilaka on her forehead, though the one with the preserved dates in a silver pot may well join her at the top. Here are the complete pairings:

What happens if there is a tie? The tournament regulations say:

• The final ranking order of the players is determined by the number of points scored.

• If two or more players tie for first place, the tie to decide the awarding of the trophies will be broken (in descending order) by:
  • Direct Encounter [Hou beat Humpy, Zhao beat Hou]
  • Sonneborn-Berger (with real points),
  • Score Koya System (the number of points achieved against all opponents who have achieved 50 % or more)
     
• The players in the same point groups will share money prizes and GP points.

You can watch the action on the Playchess server. If you are not a member you can download the program ChessBase Light, which gives you instant free access. If you enjoy the experience you can invest the € 29.90 per year to become a full member of the biggest Internet chess club in the world.

Pictorial impressions from Istanbul

By Özgür Akman

A key game in round ten: Humpy defeats Stefanova to move to the top of the table

Zhao Xue: iPodding during the game? We assume she took them off before the start

Zeinab Mamedyarova, who drew in this round against...

Pia Cramling, who was one of the world's strongest before Zeinab was born

Both vying for first: Hou Yifan vs Elina Danielian in round ten

Hou Yifan (2571) - Danielian,E (2496) [B18]
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Instanbul TUR (10), 18.03.2009
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Nc5 Nd7 6.Nxb7 Qc7 7.Nc5 Nxc5 8.dxc5 e6 9.Nf3 Bxc5 10.Bc4 Nf6 11.0-0 h6 12.b3 0-0 13.Bb2 Rfd8 14.Qe2 Nd5 15.Nh4 Nf4 16.Qf3 Bh7 17.Rad1 e5 18.Qg3 Bxc2 19.Rc1 Bh7 20.Nf3 Bd4 21.Nxd4 exd4 22.Rfd1 c5 23.Bf1 Qe5 24.Re1 Qf5 25.b4 cxb4 26.h4 Bg6 27.Rcd1 Qf6 28.Rd2 Rac8 29.Qb3 a5 30.g3 Ne6 31.Qd1 Rc3 32.Qa4 Rc5 33.a3 bxa3 34.Bxa3

Black is two pawns up and essentially winning, but now she oopses with 34...Re5? This overlooks the simple trick 35.Be7 Qxe7 36.Rxe5 and Black no longer has a chance to win. 36...d3 37.Qxa5 Qf6 38.Rd5 Rxd5 39.Qxd5 Qc3 40.h5 Be4 41.Rxd3 Qxd3 42.Qxd3 Bxd3 43.Bxd3 Kf8 44.Kg2 Ke7 45.Kf3 Kf6 46.Kg4 Nc5 ½-½.

After a lean period a hard-fought win: Martha Fierro vs Shen Yang

Another defeat, but at the hands of a chess legend: Betül Yildiz vs...

Maia Chiburdanidze. After a stellar 2715 performance in Dresden just 50% in Istanbul

Biographies

Remaining schedule

Links Official tournament page Main sponsor: Türkiye Is Bankasi All games in PGN You can use ChessBase Light to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. It also gives you immediate access to play and watch events on Playchess.com server.