Round 6: Lagno advances to the top

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
12	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	1 - 0	WGM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	2307	9
10	WGM	Girya Olga	2439	0 - 1	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2514	8
11	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2535	1 - 0	GM	Zhao Xue	2579	7
1	GM	Danielian Elina	2470	½ - ½	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2293	6
2	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	½ - ½	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2475	5
3	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2532	1 - 0	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2496	4

Kateryna Lagno enters the second half of FIDE Grand Prix in a good mood as she outplayed Antoaneta Stefanova to catch up the Indian leaders Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli, who have signed a peace in their principal battle. Another national derby was an upset for Zhao Xue to Ju Wenjun having quite comfortable position after the opening. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Bela Khotenashvili won their games against Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Olga Girya, while Nafisa Muminova drew against Elina Danielian.

After six rounds Koneru, Dronavalli and Lagno are leading with 4.5 points, Knotenashvili is half a point behind, Zhao has 3.5.

Full standings table you can find here.

Pictures of the 6th round and press conferences are in the Photo Gallery.

Full report is available at http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

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Round 5



Round 5: Tough day for Black

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
3	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2532	1 - 0	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	12
4	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2496	½ - ½	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	2
5	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2475	1 - 0	GM	Danielian Elina	2470	1
6	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2293	1 - 0	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2535	11
7	GM	Zhao Xue	2579	1 - 0	WGM	Girya Olga	2439	10
8	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2514	1 - 0	WGM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	2307	9

The fifth round of Women's Grand Prix in Tashkent appeared to be lucky for the white side as five of the six games finished in favor of those who made the first move, and Antoaneta Stefanova managed to make a draw with the leader Humpy Koneru despite the Indian had a slightly better position. Harika Dronavalli outplayed Elina Danielian to catch up her compatriot with 4 points, Kateryna Lagno and Zhao Xue are half-point behind them after beating Alexandra Kosteniuk and Olga Girya. Bela Khotenashvili has "+1" after defeating Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, and we have to point out a triumph of Nafisa Muminova over Ju Wenjun, which moved the leader of Uzbek female team to the middle of the standings table.

Pictures of the 5th round and press-conferences.

Full report is available at http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

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Round 4



The fourth round didn't change anything in the group of leaders: Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli drew with Kateryna Lagno and Ju Wenjun accordingly, another Chinese Zhao Xue was lucky to save the game against Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, and Elina Danielian couldn't get anything from the position with well defending Antoaneta Stefanova and also signed a piece. Russian players Alexandra Kosteniuk and Olga Girya managed to score the first full point each by winning their games against Bela Khotenashvili and Nafisa Muminova.

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
12	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	1 - 0	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2514	8
9	WGM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	2307	½ - ½	GM	Zhao Xue	2579	7
10	WGM	Girya Olga	2439	1 - 0	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2293	6
11	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2535	½ - ½	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2475	5
1	GM	Danielian Elina	2470	½ - ½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2496	4
2	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	½ - ½	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2532	3

Before the first free day Humpy Koneru is the sole leader with 3.5 points out of 4, Harika Dronavalli has 3, Zhao Xue and Kateryna Lagno - 2.5.

The full standings table is avaliable here. 

Pictures of the 4th round and press-conferences.

Full report is available at http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

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Round 3

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
2	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	1 - 0	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	12
3	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2532	1 - 0	GM	Danielian Elina	2470	1
4	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2496	0 - 1	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2535	11
5	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2475	0 - 1	WGM	Girya Olga	2439	10
6	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2293	1 - 0	WGM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	2307	9
7	GM	Zhao Xue	2579	0 - 1	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2514	8

In the third round all the games were resultative. Indian players Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli quite confidently won their games with white pieces against Russians Alexandra Kosteniuk and Olga Girya accordingly. Humpy became the sole leader with 3 points, Harika is half-point behind her. Bela Khotenashvili overplayed Zhao Xue to join her on 3rd place together with Kateryna Lagno, who managed to score a point against Elina Danielian.

Antoaneta Stefanova lost control on the game in a completely winning situation against Ju Wenjun, and the Chinese used this mistake to outplay and join Bulgarian with 50 percent of points.

Finally Nafisa Muminova cheered up the Uzbek supporters by beating her long-time opponent at the Asian tournaments Guliskhan Nakhbayeva from Kazakhstan.

Pictures from the third round and press-conference.

Tournament standings

Full report is available at http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

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Round 2



Round 2: Humpy Koneru and Zhao Xue take the lead

Three of six games in the second round ended up in quick (but not quiet) draws: Ju Wenjun didn't find a winning move against Kateryna Lagno, Olga Girya had a minimum advantage against Antoaneta Stefanova, which was not enough for an active play, and Harika Dronavalli got a comfortable position with Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, and the game logically went to a half-point.

Two rating-leaders of Tashkent Grand Prix managed to take the lead both winning with black pieces: Zhao Xue outplayed Alexandra Kosteniuk and Humpy Koneru again had the longest but successful battle - today against Elina Danielian.

The novice of the Grand Prix Nafisa Muminova overplayed Bela Khotenashvili in the opening but couldn't find a winning move and blundered in a time trouble.

Round 2 results

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
12	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	0 - 1	GM	Zhao Xue	2579	7
8	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2514	1 - 0	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2293	6
9	WGM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	2307	½ - ½	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2475	5
10	WGM	Girya Olga	2439	½ - ½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2496	4
11	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2535	½ - ½	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2532	3
1	GM	Danielian Elina	2470	0 - 1	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	2

Pictures from the second round and press-conference.

Tournament standings

Full report is available at http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

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Round 1

Round 1: Time Trouble

The first game of Women's Grand Prix in Tashkent became quite tough for the players. Three hours after the first move was made by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in the game of Nafisa Muminova and Zhao Xue, most of the battles just reached the middle-games.
Four participants managed to score their first points in the tournament: top-seeded Humpy Koneru won the longest battle against Ju Wenjun, Antoaneta Stefanova and Zhao Xue outplayed the newcomers of the Grand Prix Series Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Nafisa Muminova accordingly, and Harika Dronavalli succeeded against Bela Khotenashvili. The games Elina Danielian against Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno versus Olga Girya ended up in draws.

Round 1 results

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
1	GM	Danielian Elina	2470	½ - ½	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	12
2	GM	Koneru Humpy	2607	1 - 0	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2535	11
3	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2532	½ - ½	WGM	Girya Olga	2439	10
4	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2496	1 - 0	WGM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	2307	9
5	GM	Dronavalli Harika	2475	1 - 0	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2514	8
6	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2293	0 - 1	GM	Zhao Xue	2579	7

Standings

Pictures from the first round and press-conference.

Full report is available at http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

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The opening ceremony of the third leg of FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2013-2014 took place at the beautiful Gallery of Fine Art on the 17th of September. The event was attended by many honored guests such as the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov, the First Deputy Minister of Sports of Uzbekistan Zhasur Akramov, the Head of the Administration of Sports Rashid Talipov, the Head of the Administration of Olympic reserve Kamil Bayazitov, the Head of The State Committee for Communication, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan Hurshid Mirzahidov and many others. The Chairperson of Fund Forum's Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova couldn't be present at the ceremony but passed her warmest welcome for the participants and expressed the hope to the future of the Fund Forum's cooperation with the World Chess Federation.



The ceremony started with the national dance showed by the young charming girls of "Sabo" ensemble.

The classical song of Andrea Bocelli performed by the Honored Artist of Uzbekistan Ramiz Usmanov and laureate of the festival of young artists "Yangi avlod 2006" Shirin Mamatova made the perfect ambience in the hall of the Art Gallery.

The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is happy about the tradition of organizing tournaments in Tashkent, and pointed that FIDE is planning to organize lots of even bigger events in the capital of Uzbekistan.

Honored guests of the opening ceremony.

FIDE Prezident Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov before making the first move of the tournament

The Chief Arbiter and Organizer of the tournament IA Husan Turdialiev conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each participant was proposed to choose one of 12 national hats with the number inside of each.

Pairings of the first round: 

1	Danielian Elina	-	Kosteniuk Alexandra
2	Koneru Humpy	-	Ju Wenjun
3	Lagno Kateryna	-	Girya Olga
4	Stefanova Antoaneta	-	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan
5	Dronavalli Harika	-	Khotenashvili Bela
6	Muminova Nafisa	-	Zhao Xue

The tournament will be held from September 17th to October 1st, with each round scheduled to start at 2 pm local time (10 a.m. European time) at the Gallery of Fine Art. The players will have 2 days off on September 22d and September 27th. Average rating of event is 2479.

Many young Uzbek chess players and rising stars, students, a lot of media representatives, guests from the Ministry, Olympic Committee, universities of Uzbekistan, members of junior national team, diplomats and Ministry of Foreign affairs representatives - all the guests showed how much people in Tashkent love and admire chess and promised a great future to this uniting and inspiring sport in Uzbekistan.

Organizing Committee:

Husan Turdialiev - Chief Arbiter Olga Sabirova - Executive Director of Uzbekistan Chess Federation Abdukahhar Abduhalikov - Tournament Arbiter Gulbahor Musaeva - Accountant of Uzbekistan Chess Federation Rustamzhon Mamatkulov - Governor of the Tournament Tahmina Turdialieva - Tournament Arbiter Irina Gevorgyan - Tournament Arbiter Eldar Gafurov - Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Chess Federation Bahodir Umurzakov - Deputy Chairman  of Uzbekistan Chess Federation

Appeals Committee:

Casto Abundo - Chairman of Appeals Committee   Members of Appeals Committee Antoaneta Stefanova Kateryna Lagno   Reserve of Appeals Committee Alexandra Kosteniuk Humpy Koneru

By WFM Maria Emelianova

Official website http://tashkent2013.fide.com/

Photo Gallery