Lagno, unable to reduce the gap with Goryachkina

The central game of the tenth round between the leader Aleksandra Goryachkina and the nearest pursuer Kateryna Lagno finished in a draw. The "miracle” didn't happen and Goryachkina keeps a comfortable lead in the Women's Candidates Tournament, with two and a half points over her rival today. In the only decisive game of the round, Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated her teammate Valentina Gunina. Anna Muzychuk played a relatively uneventful draw against Tan Zhongyi, while Mariya Muzychuk got some chances against Nana Dzagnidze but in the end showed the same result as her sister.

After ten rounds, Aleksandra Goryachkina leads with 8 points. Kateryna Lagno is in second place with 5,5 points, Mariya and Anna Muzychuk share third place with 5 points. Nana Dzagnidze and Alexandra Kosteniuk share 5th place with 4,5 points. Tan Zhongyi has 4 points, and Valentina Gunina has 3,5.

Kateryna Lagno was well prepared against the Caro Kann Defence and, with White, got a comfortable position against Aleksandra Goryachkina out of the opening. According to the Katerina, she felt she had some chances in today's encounter, but she didn't go for the principal lines. "I could have chosen more critical moves like Ne5 earlier in the game. At the same time, I always try to play according to a position. There were games where players took too many risks, and we all know what was the end", said Kateryna Lagno. After a few accurate exchanges, Aleksandra Goryachkina made a confident draw in the rook ending.

Anna Muzychuk didn't manage to get an edge in the Italian game against Tan Zhongyi. According to Anna, her opponent surprised her with 9...Kh8 and 10...h6, but she could not find the way to improve her position in the middle game and went for numerous exchanges, hoping to create chances in the ending. The position turned to be completely balanced and after 30 moves the game finished in a draw.


"It looks like we have two different tournaments here. One is for Goryachkina and another one for the rest of the players", said Anna Muzychuk after the game. She is going to play against the leader tomorrow, in the eleventh round of the Candidates.

In the Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian defence, playing White, Mariya Muzychuk went for a pawn sacrifice and got quite a dangerous initiative in return. Nana made the typical decision in positions with opposite colour bishops: she decided to give back the extra material to get some counterplay on the kingside. Mariya opted for a Queens exchange and few moves later the game finished in a draw.

Valentina Gunina was surprised by 4.d4 in Ruy Lopez, prepared by Alexandra Kosteniuk, and had to play out of her book from the early stage in the game. She spent much time choosing the right order of moves and had to made critical choices in the time trouble. The former Women's World Champion developed quite a strong initiative on the kingside. However, her risky decision to castle long could have given good counter chances for Valentina, if she would have played more precisely. Later on, Alexandra consolidated her pieces and converted her advantage with the accurate play.


Alexandra Kosteniuk chose a patriotic dress with the Russian flag today, celebrating the national holiday - the Day of Russia.

Thursday, June 13th, at 15:00 local time, the eleventh round will be played with the following pairings:

Round 10 results:

Kateryna Lagno — Aleksandra Goryachkina | ½ — ½
Alexandra Kosteniuk — Valentina Gunina | 1 — 0
Anna Muzychuk— Tan Zhongyi | ½ — ½
Mariya Muzychuk — Nana Dzagnidze | ½ — ½


Report: Anastasiya Karlovich

Photos: Eteri Kublashvili & Anastasiya Karlovich