WGP Austria R09: Anna Muzychuk wins in Austria but misses Candidates spot
Anna Muzychuk claimed a bittersweet victory in the final leg of the Women’s Grand Prix. Despite sharing first place, it wasn’t enough to secure a slot in the Candidates Tournament. With the overall Grand Prix points tallied, Zhu Jiner emerged as the winner of the 2024/2025 series, with Aleksandra Goryachkina taking the second qualifying spot for the Candidates. Spanning six tournaments from Europe to India and back, with 23 players, the 2024/2025 Women’s Grand Prix concluded with Zhu Jiner atop the standings and Aleksandra Goryachkina securing the second spot for the 2026 Candidates. Anna Muzychuk is third. Drama in Grosslobming All five games saw sharp positions and tough struggles – a deserving end to a cycle of six spectacular tournaments in women’s chess. It was a make-or-break day for Anna Muzychuk. A win as White against Vaishali Rameshbabu in the final round in Austria would seal a hat-trick of triumphs: sole victory in the tournament, the overall win in the 2024/2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series, and a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament (edging out Aleksandra Goryachkina who was in the lead). But all of it hinged on this one game. The game saw the French Defence – one of the oldest and most solid openings in chess. Anna managed to win a pawn and create a passer on the a-file, which offered her some chances. On the other hand, Vaishali had compensation in the activity of her pieces. The position was even until the first move after the time control, when Vaishali gave a chance to White. Muzychuk just played h5. Her king and queen pinned to h2, she had to look for an opportunity to press on. The best choice for Black was to take on h5, but she played …41.Kf6? 42.hxg6 hxg6 Now White should have moved her king, either to h3 or – a computer move – h1, opening the attack on g6. Instead, Anna went for Qe1 and a few more moves down the road the game ended in a draw. By this point, Zhu had already drawn her game with Alexandra Kosteniuk (being completely lost at one point, in the endgame), and Tan spoiled a winning position against Muzychuk to end up in a tie. This meant that Anna Muzychuk would share first place with Zhu, but emerge first because she played more games with the black pieces. When a victory in the tournament isn’t enough After her final game, Anna – the winner of the Women’s Grand Prix in Austria – stood silently in front of the playing hall, gazing in the distance. The scene told the story. She was sad and disappointed, on the brink of crying. Had she won, she would have been in sole first. Had Kosteniuk played the right move in the endgame against Zhu, she would have won, and then a draw would have sufficed for Anna to take sole first place. Despite winning two out of three Grand Prix she played in (in Cyprus and in Austria), Anna didn’t qualify for the Candidates. When asked how she feels, Anna Muzychuk responded: “It has never been so sad to win an event”. Despite emerging in first place, Anna Muzychuk failed toclaim sole victory, which meant she did not get all of the 130 points needed to clinch the spot in the Candidates. Despite being very emotional, as a true professional, Anna Muzychuk patiently waited after the game and gave an interview which will be remembered for one line: “I won the last two Grand Prix tournaments, but still it wasn’t enough to qualify [for the Candidates] and that’s the sad thing about it.” China’s Zhu Jiner wins the Women’s Grand Prix The day ultimately belonged to China’s Zhu Jiner. She came to Austria with 235 points. Zhu had the best chance to overtake Goryachkina for first place in the WGP and in the end, tying for first place in Austria, she succeeded. “I’m very happy with my performance and how I played. I have also learnt a lot and I enjoyed it,” said Zhu. Zhu played the final round game with Alexandra Kosteniuk. This match was important for Zhu – she had to win to stand a fair chance of taking first place in the event. But doing that against a former Women’s World Champion and seasoned player like Kosteniuk is not an easy task. Zhu opted for the Nimzo-Indian Defence and got a very comfortable position. By move 16, the queens and a pair of minor pieces were off the board and Black reached equality. White had a worse pawn structure, but the active knight on f5 outweighed this shortcoming. After a couple of Zhu’s mistakes, Alexandra got an overwhelming position, but let her advantage slip away with one careless move. After 46.Nxg4 hxg4 47.h6 (the evaluation is +6 in White’s favor as Black’s king can’t reach the a8-square after giving up the knight for White’s h-pawn) Zhu most likely would have lost, opening a clear path to Anna Muzychuk to first place in the tournament and a spot in the Candidates! However, Alexandra played 46.Bb2? and after 46…Nxe3 47.Kxe4 Nd5+ the game was eventually drawn. Tan Zhongyi in third place after dropping a victory Tan Zhongyi completely misplayed a winning position against former women’s world champion Mariya Muzychuk, throwing away a chance to tie for the first place. In the Slav, Black (Muzychuk) had two doubled pawns on the b-file, but the position was roughly even. However, time-trouble kicked in for Mariya who ended up a piece down. White is completely winning. But the conversion did not go well at all. On the contrary. 34.Rb1 34.Bxe5 with the idea of 34…Rxa3 35.d6 was even stronger. 34…Ng5 35.Bc4 Rh3 36.d6+! Ke8 37.Bb5 Kf7 38.dxe7 White is still winning. To top it all, Mariya was in significant time trouble, while Tan had more than an hour on the clock. However, as the game progressed, Tan completely lost her way and Black got counterplay, with her rook and pawns
Polish Championship 2025: Paweł Teclaf and Klaudia Kulon claim titles
GM Paweł Teclaf and IM Klaudia Kulon are the new chess champions of Poland. Hailing from Kartuzy, the 21-year-old Teclaf claimed his maiden national title, while Kulon captured her second crown, repeating her 2021 success. Held at Kraków’s historic Wawel Castle from May 6-14, the 2025 PGE Polish Chess Championship featured both Open and Women’s sections. . Unlike several previous knockout editions, the 2025 competition followed a 10-player round-robin format. The total prize fund was 157,000 PLN, with top prizes of 30,000 PLN (approximately $8,000) awarded to the champions of both sections. The Open tournament proved to be a tightly contested event, culminating in a thrilling duel between Paweł Teclaf (pictured below, left) and Jakub Kosakowski (pictured below, right). Entering the final ninth round as joint leaders with 5.5/9, both players drew their games, to finish tied at 6/9. A rapid tiebreak match was played to determine the champion. After drawing the first game with the black pieces, Teclaf clinched the title by winning the second. Notably, he emerged the only undefeated player in the competition. The 2024 champion Radosław Wojtaszek completed the podium edging out Szymon Gumularz on better tiebreaks. Final Standings – Open In the Women’s event, Klaudia Kulon started strong with three straight wins and took an early lead, which she never relinquished. Although she stumbled in Round 4 with a loss to Oliwia Kiolbasa, Kulon bounced back with another three victories, securing the title with a round to spare. IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, the only undefeated player in the women’s section, delivered a consistent performance but managed only three wins, finishing in second place with 6/9. IM Alina Kashlinskaya and GM Monika Socko both scored 5.5/9, tying for third place. Kashlinskaya claimed the bronze medal on tiebreaks. Final Standings – Women Photos: Julia Michniak and Jakub Pietraszewski Official website: mp2025.pzszach.pl/