| FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Ankara, Round 11: Koneru takes Gold |
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| Friday, 28 September 2012 06:05 |
 Humpy Koneru became a winner of the 6th stage of the FWGP in Ankara, Turkey Humpy Koneru became a winner of 6th stage of the FWGP in Ankara and placed second in the overall Grand Prix series after Hou Yifan. The Chinese has already clinched the first place in the overall Grand Prix cycle and is a current World Champion among women. Round eleven was as thrilling as it was expected. All the attention turned to the games which would identify the winner of Grand Prix in Ankara. Humpy Koneru confidently won against Monika Socko and had to wait for the final outcome of the game between Ruan Lufei and Anna Muzychuk. The victory could have given Slovenian player the second place in the Series but she missed a good chance for advantage and game was drawn. Another important game for the final standings was played between Zhao Xue and Tatiana Kosintseva. A draw guaranteed Zhao Xue the bronze medal in GP in Ankara. Both Turkish players Kubra Ozturk and Betul Yildiz lost in the 11th round to the higher rated Viktorija Cmilyte and Antoaneta Stefanova respectively. Munguntuul Batkhuyag won against Ju Wenjun and finished the tournament with +1. 
 Official website Photo Gallery of the 11th Round Final Standings Round 10 In the round tenth of FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Ankara Anna Muzychuk lost a good chance to get an advantage playing against Viktorija Cmilyte and game finished in a draw. Humpy Koneru confidently won against Kubra Ozturk to catch up Slovenian player. Thus both of them lead in the tournament with 7,5 points half a point above Zhao Xue, who won against Betul Yildiz and placed third one round to go. Tatiana Kosintseva showed good preparation today and catch her opponent Ju Wenjun in the opening. Chinese player failed to find the exact moves which would lead the game to the force draw and as a result was outplayed by Russian player. The games Stefanova-Socko and Batkhuyag-Lufei ended peacefully. The last round is going to decide the overall second place in Grand Prix. Humpy Koneru plays white against Monika Socko, who seems to be not in her best shape, while Anna Muzychuk is going to face Ruan Lufei, who plays with white and placed fourth in the tournament. Zhao Xue, who also got good chances to fight for medals, plays with white against Tatiana Kosintseva. 
 Official website Photo Gallery of Round 10 Cross-tables Round 9 The key game of the tournament between Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzyhcuk, who have the best chances for the second place in the Grand Prix Series, happened in the ninth round. The leader of the tournament Humpy Koneru chose a bit passive strategy and was defeated by Anna Muzychuk. Thus Slovenian player became the sole leader half a point above two rounds to go. Former world champion scored first full point in the tournament by winning against Kubra Ozturk who sacrificed a pawn in the middle game but didn't get enough compensation later on. Tatiana Kosinsteva committed three times the same mistake until Betul Yildiz found the winning move and converted the score in her favor. Zhao Xue was persistent in finding winning chances against Monika Socko and eventually succeeded to take the full point. Two more games could be decisive today if Viktorija Cmilyte and Ju Wenjun would manage to convert their advantage into more.   Official website Photo Gallery Cross-tables Round 8 The round eighth of FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Ankara was unusually peaceful – all the games finished with draw result even all them were full of struggle. The leader of the tournament Humpy Koneru, who had had 100% result with black pieces, gave away first half a point playing with black against Munguntuul Batkhuyag. The current leader of the tournament got quite a remarkable advantage in the middle game but didn't manage to convert it into more. Anna Muzychuk didn't use an opportunity to play for victory in the game against Antoaneta Stefanova and remains on the second place half a point behind of Humpy Koneru. Kubra Ozturk came very close to get the first full point in the game against Zhao Xue. Turkish player refused to repeat the position in the middle game, put the pressure on her opponent but missed some good chances. 
 Official website Photo Gallery of the 8th Round Cross-tables Round 7 After seventh rounds of tough struggle Humpy Koneru managed to become the sole leader in FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Ankara. In a complicated game against Ju Wenjun Humpy Koneru managed to outplay her opponent in the deep endgame. Anna Muzychuk made a draw against Zhao Xue and placed second half a point behind of Indian player. After unpleasant start the current Olympic Champion Tatiana Kosintseva won the second game in a row against Monika Socko and climbed in the middle of the table. The derby between Turkish players Betul Yildiz and Kubra Ozturk finished peacefully as well as two other games Stefanova-Batkhuyag and Cmilyte-Lufei. Zhao Xue and Ruan Lufei share the third place with 4.5 points.   Official website Photo Gallery Live Games Round 6 All the games were scored in the round sixth of FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Ankara. Humpy Koneru won against another leader Ruan Lufei in the variation which happened already in the game Kosintseva-Koneru. Anna Muzyhcuk showed fighting spirit and managed to win against Betul Yildiz after 130 moves of tough fight. Both Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk have 5 out of 6 and keep on leading in the Grand Prix at the moment. Monika Socko celebrated her first victory over Turkish player Kubra Ozturk. Tatiana Kosintseva defeated Viktorija Cmilyte in the rook endgame. Chinese players Ju Wenjun and Zhao Xue outplayed Antoaneta Stefanova and Munguntuul Batkhuyag respectively and share the third place in the tournament. 
 Round 5 In the fifth round of the sixth stage of the FIDE Women Grand Prix 2011-2012 in Ankara the record number of games finished peacefully. The leaders Humpy Koneru and Ruan Lufei drew their games and allowed the rating favorite of the tournament Anna Muzychuk to catch up on the shared first place. Slovenian player managed to outplay Monika Socko in an equal endgame. Another decisive game was played between Chinese Zhao Xue and Ruan Lufei. Turkish player Kubra Ozturk saved lost position playing with white against Tatiana Kosinsteva and her teammate Betul Yildiz managed to hold the position playing against Munguntuul Batkhuyag.   Official website Photo Gallery Live Games
Round 4 Only one game finished in a draw in the fourth round of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Ankara. The leader of the tournament Ruan Lufey gave first half a point to her compatriot Zhao Xue after the long battle. Humpy Koneru defeated Tatiana Kosintseva and climbed on the top to share the first place with Ruan Lufei. Indian player was the only one who won her game with black pieces - all the other decisive games finished on favor of white. Both Turkish players Betul Yildiz and Kubra Ozturk were overplayed by rating favorites of the matches Ju Wenjun and Anna Muzychuk respectively. Monika Socko unexpectedly lost an equal endgame after she blundered the knight, playing against Munguntuul Batkhuyag. Cmilyte Viktorija received comfortable position after the opening and outplayed Antoaneta Stefanova. 20th of September will be a free day. The fifth round of the sixth stage of FIDE Women's Grand Prix will start on 3 p.m. on 21st of September.   Official website Photo Gallery Live Games Round 3 The third round of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix started at 3.00 pm according to the schedule and brought more decisive games compare to the previous round. The Vice President of the Turkish Chess Federation, the candidate for the TCF President Gulkiz Tulay made the first symbolic move in the game Kubra Ozturk-Batkhuyag Munguntuul and later on Turkish player succeeded to get good position and made the first draw in the tournament.   Official website Photo Gallery of the 3rd Round Round 2 In the second round of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix TCF board member Askin Keles made the first symbolic move in the game between Tatiana Kosinsteva and Antoaneta Stefanova. He chose move 1.d4 which impressed both players very much as Tatiana normally doesn't play it. After small discussion Mr. Keles made the move 1.e4 and game continued.
  Official website Photo Gallery of the 2nd Round Round 1 The first round of the 6th stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix tournament got under way in the building of TCF on the 16th of September 2012. The President of TCF, FIDE Vice-President Ali Nihat Yazici made symbolic move 1.e4 in the game between Betul Yildiz and Humpy Koneru. In spite of the fact that the current Women's World Champion Hou Yifan has already won the Grand Prix 2011-2012 and cannot be caught by any of the other player, the one who placed second in the Series still have the chance to become the challenger in the match in 2013.
Opening ceremony
Only five days passed since the World Chess Olympiad had finished in Istanbul and Turkey once again welcomes participants of another international chess event! The opening ceremony and technical meeting of the 6th stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2011-2012 took place in Goksu Lokantasi Restaurant in Ankara on the 15th of September.
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