News Flash: Koneru Humpy wins Doha Women's Chess Grand Prix

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

Congratulations to Koneru Humpy and Elina Danielian for jointly winning the sixth Women's Chess Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar today. Another congratulations to Humpy for scoring overall high enough in the Grand Prix scores to earn a chance to challenge Hou Yifan of China for the Women's World Chess title later this year.

It was imperative that Danielian should either draw or lose to Stefanova and Munguntuul not lose to Sebag while Humpy must beat Chen for Humpy to make it to the top of the Grand Prix list behind Hou Yifan. Everything fell in place for the talented Indian Grandmaster. Meanwhile, Maia-Dzagnidze, Danielian-Stefanova and Lilit-Fierro matches were drawn. Munguntuul beat Marie, Yuhua beat Cramling and of course Chen lost to Humpy.

Final standings after Round 11

Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pts	Res.	SB
1	1	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	IND	*	1	½	½	1	0	½	1	1	1	½	1	8	1	41.75
2	8	GM	Danielian Elina	2454	ARM	0	*	1	0	1	1	1	1	½	1	½	1	8	0	40.25
3	5	GM	Sebag Marie	2489	FRA	½	0	*	1	½	1	1	0	½	1	½	1	7	0	35.00
4	3	GM	Cramling Pia	2516	SWE	½	1	0	*	½	1	0	0	½	½	1	½	5½	1½	30.50
5	6	GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	2502	GEO	0	0	½	½	*	½	1	0	1	1	½	½	5½	1	26.75
6	12	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	GEO	1	0	0	0	½	*	1	1	1	0	1	0	5½	½	29.25
7	9	GM	Xu Yuhua	2484	CHN	½	0	0	1	0	0	*	1	0	1	1	½	5	1	24.75
8	7	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2410	MGL	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	*	½	0	½	1	5	0	25.75
9	10	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2475	ARM	0	½	½	½	0	0	1	½	*	½	0	1	4½	½	23.50
10	2	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha L	2363	ECU	0	0	0	½	0	1	0	1	½	*	½	1	4½	½	21.00
11	4	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2546	BUL	½	½	½	0	½	0	0	½	1	½	*	0	4	0	23.50
12	11	GM	Zhu Chen	2495	QAT	0	0	0	½	½	1	½	0	0	0	1	*	3½	0	17.50

Stay tuned for more.

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Can Humpy do it today at Doha Women's Chess Grand Prix?

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hello everyone,


Saturday is going to be crucial at the sixth Women's Chess Grand Prix final round in Doha today. Danielian may opt to take a short draw against Antoaneta Stefanova to secure at least equal first. Humpy needs to beat Zhu Chen with black in the last round in order to challenge the reigning world champion Hou Yifan in this year's championship match.


Just when we thought Humpy had slipped back with a draw in the previous round, she is back. All this was made possible because of the results of Round 10 which were as follows:

Ti.	Name	Rtg	Result	Ti.	Name	Rtg
GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	0-1	GM	Zhu Chen	2495
GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	1-0	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2475
IM	Fierro Baquero Martha L	2363	0-1	GM	Xu Yuhua	2484
GM	Cramling Pia	2516	1-0	GM	Danielian Elina	2454
GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2546	½-½	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2410
GM	Sebag Marie	2489	½-½	GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	2502

Humpy was in a must-win situation against 

Lilit to keep her chances alive.

Saturday's crucial last round pairings:

Ti.	Name	Rtg	Result	Ti.	Name	Rtg
GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	2502	-	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550
IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2410	-	GM	Sebag Marie	2489
GM	Danielian Elina	2454	-	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2546
GM	Xu Yuhua	2484	-	GM	Cramling Pia	2516
IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2475	-	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha L	2363
GM	Zhu Chen	2495	-	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607

Standings so far after Round 10

Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts 1 8 GM Danielian Elina 2454 ARM 7½ 2 1 GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND 7 3 5 GM Sebag Marie 2489 FRA 7 4 3 GM Cramling Pia 2516 SWE 5½ 5 12 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 GEO 5 6 6 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 GEO 5 7 9 GM Xu Yuhua 2484 CHN 4 8 10 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 ARM 4 9 2 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 ECU 4 10 7 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 MGL 4 11 11 GM Zhu Chen 2495 QAT 3½ 12 4 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 BUL 3½ Stay tuned for all the latest updates. The official website can be accessed here.

For an understanding of the overall Grand Prix positions read our www.chessblog.com from yesterday here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com

One point lead for Danielian at Doha Women's Chess Grand Prix with two rounds to go

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Great performance: Elina Danielian

Hi everyone,

After having beaten Elina Danielian in the eighth round to narrow the lead, Koneru Humpy ended up settling for a draw in the ninth round to fall back again at the FIDE Women Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar. Elina Danielian leads by a point after nine of eleven rounds. Humpy Koneru missed a win against Xu Yuhua and that is sad for her qualification for the world title match.

The 6th and final tournament of the 2009-2011 FIDE Women Grand Prix Series takes place February 22nd-March 5th in Doha, Qatar.

It’s a 12-player round-robin.

Here are the standings after Round 9 which saw Chiburdanidze drawing with Stefanova, Danielian beating Fierro, Mkrtchian beating Zhu Chen, Munguntuul beating Cramling, Sebag beating Dzagnidze and Yuhua drawing with Humpy.

1	GM	Danielian Elina	7½
2	GM	Sebag Marie	6½
3	GM	Koneru Humpy	6
4	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	5
5	GM	Cramling Pia	4½
6	GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	4½
7	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	4
8	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha L	4
9	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	3½
10	GM	Xu Yuhua	3
11	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	3
12	GM	Zhu Chen	2½

You can find more information at the official website.

Here some nice games from Rounds 8 and 9. Enjoy.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com