FIDE Vice-President and a great supporter of chess Mahir Mammedov paid a visit at the Skolkovo Women’s Grand Prix and made the first move in the game between World Champion Ju Wenjun and Indian top-seeded player Harika Dronavalli. Mr Mahir brought equal luck to the opponents and the game ended up in a drawish rook-endgame.
Valentina Gunina managed to beat her countryman Alexandra Kosteniuk with black pieces. After Alexandra refused to go for the principal continuation and then missed the winning move g5 twice, she ended up blundering an exchange. Rapid activation of the black pieces brought the whole point and sole lead to Gunina. Later, at the press conference, Valentina admitted that she disliked her position at the beginning, but later on she declined a three-time repetition. She added that having Women Grand Prix next to her home brings her great benefits. Valentina also shared her secret of alleviating stress – she does it with a little help from her lovely pets (a cat and a dog).
A spectacular game was played in another Russian derby, in which Alina Kashlinskaya’s king was under heavy fire from Katerina Lagno, who obtained a significant advantage after her aggressive advances on the kingside. However, at the key moment of the game, Katerina did not demonstrate the necessary accuracy. Alina sacrificed one of her rooks and forced a perpetual check.
Aleksandra Goryachkina went to the Slav Defense Exchange Variation in her game with Elisabeth Paethz. Black managed to mobilize her pieces and equalized position, but on the move 21 Paethz captured automatically on c6 with a queen and found herself in a quandary. To her credit, Elizabeth put up a stubborn resistance and held her unpleasant position.
Pia Cramling and Antoaneta Stefanova also played a very entertaining game. The Swedish GM obtained a decisive advantage but missed the precise way 27.c4 Rb3 28. Bc5 +- to win some material.
The game between French GM Marie Sebag and Indian number one female player Koneru Humpy was the most peaceful encounter of the second round. The players shook hands on the move 26.
The third-round games will be played on September 13, at 3 pm local time (GMT +3).
Spectators can follow the games with English and Russian commentaries: https://www.youtube.com/fidechannel
Official website: https://wgp2019.fide.com