Chess World Record: Judit Polgar No. 1 Woman for 25 Years on Jan 1, 2014!

Screen grab from special video on Judit Polgar.

World Record in Chess: Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar completed 25 years as world No. 1 among women on January 1, 2014 with FIDE releasing the latest chess ratings list. 

Polgar's current rating on the FIDE list is 2693. She is followed by Hou Yifan of China at 2629 and India's Koneru Humpy at 2613.

-- Judit Polgar official website

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Indian Chess Supergirl Humpy wins Tashkent Grand Prix Easily, Harika 5th

Indian chess' supergirl Koneru Humpy has just won the Tashkent leg of the Women's Chess Grand Prix series. She picked up her second tournament victory, in as many events of the Grand Prix, with eight points out of 11. Bela Khotenashvili and Kateryna Lagno shared 2-3.

 

The winner's mother Koneru Latha and 

Harika Dronavalli with her grandmother Koganti Sudeshna behind.

India's Harika Dronavalli had a great run with strong chess leading the tournament right behind Humpy all along, but she self-destructed towards the end finishing the event at fifth place. 

Humpy started the tournament with three straight wins against Ju Wenjun, Elina Danielian and Alexandra Kosteniuk. She then drew her next games with Kateryna Lagno, Antoaneta Stefanova and Harika Dronavalli before beating Nafisa Muminova. She drew Xue Zhao before a shock loss to Bela Khotenashvili. However, Humpy was way ahead of the field already and convincingly beat Nakhbayeva Guliskhan in the next round. Koneru finished the tournament with a draw with Olga Girya.

 

Humpy is a strong contender to win the Series and, once again, take a crack at the Women's World Chess Championship. Her main rival Hou Yifan has played only one stage and gathered only 45 points to Humpy's 320 points. If Hou has to play the next World Championship, she will either have to win this Grand Prix series or the knockout Women's World Chess Championship next year. 

 

The official closing ceremony of tournament took place in the Gallery of Fine Art of Tashkent on 30th of September. One of the stages of Men's Grand Prix Series 2014-15 will be held in Tashkent again. (Photos: WFM Maria Emelianova)

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Tashkent Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Leads with All Wins

Indian women's chess stars Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli are leading the table at the Tashkent Women's Chess Grand Prix after three rounds. While top seed Humpy is in first place with three wins for a perfect score, Harika is right behind in second place with 2.5 points.

Koneru Humpy

The Tashkent Women's Grand Prix is currently being held in Uzbekistan from September 17th - October 1st. The tournament is part of the Women's World Championship cycle 2013-14 that will determine the next challenger for the world title. The 12-player round robin is based on the time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes being added at that point and an additional 30 seconds per move through the entire game.

All the girls in Tashkent

Koneru Humpy, a former World Championship Challenger, beat Ju Wenjun, Elina Danielian and Alexandra Kosteniuk in the first three rounds for a perfect score. Harika, on her part, Bela Khotenashvili, drew with Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and beat Olga Girya. 

On Saturday, the Indian chess girls' pairing are:
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 vs GM Lagno Kateryna 2532
WGM Ju Wenjun 2535 vs GM Dronavalli Harika 2475

Harika and Girya

You can watch the games live at the official website every day including boards with analysis and live video feed.

Rank after round 3
1 GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND 3 

2 GM Dronavalli Harika 2475 IND 2.5 

3 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2514 GEO 2 

4 GM Zhao Xue 2579 CHN 2 

5 GM Lagno Kateryna 2532 UKR 2 

6 WGM Ju Wenjun 2535 CHN 1.5 

7 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2496 BUL 1.5 

8 WGM Muminova Nafisa 2293 UZB 1 

9 WGM Girya Olga 2439 RUS 1 

10 WGM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan 2307 KAZ 0.5 

11 GM Danielian Elina 2470 ARM 0.5 

12 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2495 RUS 0.5 

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 special guests including 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 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.

GM Viktorija Cmilyte was replaced for the current Grand Prix with WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeba of Kazakhstan. Two stages of the Women's Chess Grand Prix 2013-2014 Series, out of six, have been played so far. 

GM Anna Muzichuk is currently leading the Chess Grand Prix score with 250 points, GM Nana Dzagnidze is in second place with 220, and third is GM Tatiana Kosintseva, who has replaced her sister Nadezhda for the entire Grand Prix Series, with 190. All could change after the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix!

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Humpy Wins Dilijan Chess Grand Prix

India's chess pride Grandmaster Koneru Humpy has won the FIDE Women’s Chess Grand Prix in Dilijan, Armenia, this Friday. She finished the tournament with a fantastic performance even piccking up a win in the final round against Mongolia’s Tuvshintugs Batchimeg. 

The top seed from Vijayawada scored eight points from 11 rounds which was a full point ahead of Slovenia’s Anna Muzychuk, the second seed, and Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. Humpy was the only unbeaten player in the field that contained 12 of the top women chess players in the world.

The other Indian chess player who attended the tournament, D. Harika, played well and finished with five points and tied for the sixth place, after drawing with former World Chess Champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.

The FIDE Grand Prix is a six-part series that will determine the challenger for the 2015 Women’s World Chess Championship.

Koneru Humpy's victory at the Dilijan Chess Grand Prix included draw with D Harika, win over Elina Danielian, draw with Anna Ushenina, win over Tatiana Kosintseva, draw with Bela Khotenashvili, win over Anna Muzychuk, win over Anna Stefanova, draw with Viktorija Cmilyte, draw with Nana Dzagnidze,  draw with Olga Girya and a win over Batchimeg Tuvshintugs.


The standings: 1. Humpy 8; 2-3. Muzychuk and Dzagnidze 7; 4. Kosintseva 6; 5. Ushenina 5.5; 6-8. Stefanova, Batchimeg & Harika 5; 9-11.Girya, Cmylite & Danielian 4.5; 12. Khotenashvili 4.

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Bangkok Chess Open Begins April 14

The 13th Bangkok Chess Club Open Tournament will be played from April 14th to 21st in Pattaya, Thailand. The tournament is organized by the Bangkok Chess Club and the playing venue is 5-star Dusit Thani Pattaya Resort. (Left: Koneru Humpy leads India challenge). Top rated Grandmasters are Nigel Short ENG 2690 (last year winner), Levente Vajda ROM 2632, Jan Gustafsson GER 2621 (winner in 2011), Humpy Koneru IND 2597, Sune Berg Hansen DEN 2566, Jozsef Horvath HUN 2538, Zong-Yuan Zhao AUS 2537, Adam Horvath HUN 2509, M.R. Venkatesh IND 2501 and Attila Czebe HUN 2488. There are two groups of play: Open category for all players, and Challenger category for players rated below 2100 or unrated (ratings based on FIDE or Thai ELO ratings – other national ratings will be validated by the organizer). When registering, players must indicate in which group they wish to play. Both groups will be played using the Swiss System, with 9 rounds for Open, and 7 rounds for Challenger. For the pairings, a Swiss Manager program will be used.

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Anna Ushenina is New Women's World Chess Champion

After a 2-2 deadlock in the normal games, the stage was set for an exciting finale in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia and Ushenina came up triumph winning the second game under rapid time control after the first game had ended in a draw. The Ukrainian won 60000 USD for her efforts in the championship and gets to play the next World Championship against Yifan Hou of China next year as part of the new cycle in the women’s World Championship.

The 64-players championship ended in a tie-break much like the men’s World Championship earlier this year where Vishwanathan Anand won defeating Boris Gelfand of Israel in the rapid tie-break. The Indian challenge in the championship had lasted till the semi-finals where D Harika went down to Stefanova after an intense struggle.

Speaking about the match, Ushenina did not mince words while calling it a gruelling schedule. “The match was very interesting, but we were clearly tired and made many mistakes. In the third and fourth games we exchanged blows -- first I took the lead, then Antoaneta equalised the score. In the first tie-break game white stood better, but I held a draw. In the second game black was slightly worse, but Antoaneta was very short on time, defended inaccurately and gave me a chance to win,” said the new women’s world champion.

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Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy vs Zhukova, Harika vs Danielian in Round 2 Today

RUSSIA: India's GM Koneru Humpy will take on Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine in the second round of the Women's World chess championship now in progress.

After winning the first round with an easy 2-0 whitewash against lower ranked Denise Frick of South Africa, Zhukova will be a much tougher challenge for Humpy with better practice as she beat World junior girls' champion Guo Qi of China in the first round.

 

GM D Harika will also face a tough opponent in Elena Danielian of Armenia after beating compatriot Soumya Swaminathan in the first round. Danielian showed excellent nerves in her come-from-behind victory against Sopiko Khukhashvili of Georgia.

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Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy, Harika Sail into Round 2

KHANTY MANSIYSK (RUSSIA): Koneru Humpy effortlessly defeated Denise Frick of South Africa while D Harika outplayed compatriot Soumya Swaminathan to move to the second round of the World Women's Chess Championship 2012 on Monday. Humpy scored an easy win, though Harika had to struggle a bit against Soumya. The other higher-ranked players also cruised to the second round and topping the list was reigning world champion Yifan Hou of China who scored easily over Sachini Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka, former Women's World Chess Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Antoaneta Stefanova. 

Amongst the fancied, Ju Wenjun of China was the only exception as she suffered a reversal against Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and the two will now battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.

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Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy off to Winning Start; Harika, Soumya Draw

KHANTY MANSIYSK (Russia): Top rated Grandmaster Koneru Humpy has begun her campaign for the World Chess title with a win with Black over Denise Frick of South Africa in the first round on Sunday. Frick went for a crazy all-out attack on the Kingside down the h-file, but Humpy knew to handle it all with a forced Queen exchange and was never really in any serious trouble. The all-India match between Soumya Swaminathan and D Harika ended in a draw. 

 

While there were no great surprises in the first game of the first round, the second game to be played on Monday is likely to bring many of the higher ranked under pressure as they drew. The list includes Harika who either has to win or force herself in to the tiebreaker the following day.

The championship is back to the knock out format wherein 64 top woman players across the globe take part fighting for a total prize pool of $450000. Humpy and Harika were ousted in the semis in the previous edition of the event. In the return game now, Humpy just needs a draw to advance to the next round. 

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Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy, Harika, Soumya Lead Indian Challenge; Games Begin Sunday

Reigning women's world chess champion, Hou Yifan of China, draws a white pawn at the colourful opening ceremony that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk earlier today.

RUSSIA: Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will take on Denise Frick of South Africa in the first round of the World Women's chess championship on Sunday.

Looking for an elusive world title, Humpy starts as the highest rated player in the 64-player knockout event that will have almost all the top rated woman players of the world.

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Women's Chess Grand Prix in Ankara: Humpy Begins With Win

India's talented chess player Koneru Humpy, second seed at the 6th Women's Chess Grand Prix, began with a win in Ankara, Turkey on Sunday. Humpy played a flawless game with Black to beat Turkey's Betul Yildiz. This edition is the final stage of the Fide Women's Grand Prix Series 2011-12. It is being held from September 16-28 in the Turkish Chess Federation building. The winner receives 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros for the event. 

 

Humpy (right) showing her game against Betul at the press conference after the first round.

Somehow, women's chess always turns out to be more fighting than men's chess. Even the draws were fought till the last on each chess board! Only two games were drawn: Chinese players Ruan Lufei and Zhao Xue won their games Kubra Ozturk and Antoaneta Stefanova respectively. 

 

Top seed Anna Muzychuk

Their Chinese colleague, Ju Wenjun, drew with top seed Anna Muzychuk. Viktorija Cmilyte won over Monika Socko and Betul Yildiz. The longest game of the first round between Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Tatiana Kosintseva finished in a draw after 76 moves.

You can watch the games live at the official website from 5.30 pm India time. Rest day: September 20th (after round 4) and September 25th (after round 8).  (Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich)

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Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Begins Quest Sept 15

GM Koneru Humpy

India's highest-ever rated woman chess player and only World Chess title challenger Koneru Humpy will begin a new quest at the sixth Women's Chess Grand Prix 2011-12 cycle on September 15. The sixth in the series is a round-robin event and runs from September 15-29 in Ankara, Turkey. Reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan won the first two women's chess grand prix events in the series in Rostov and Shenzen. Zhao Xue of China won the third in Nalchik. Konery Humpy and Anna Muzychuk were joint winners in Kazan, while Hou Yifan won again in Jermuk.

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Women's Chess Grand Prix Round 9: Hou Yifan in Sole Lead

China's Ju Wenjun, who had been leading since the beginning, gave way for the lead to Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan in the ninth round at the Women's Chess Grand Prix currently on in Jermuk. Wenjun has earned a men’s GM norm, while Ruan Lufei, with a nice tactical win, secured a men’s IM norm. Ruan beat Zhao Xue with a nice tactical win. The game between Kosintseva – Danielian was very tense, and though it went into a drawish position, Danielian ended up losing. Ekaterina Kovalevskaya lost to Hou Yifan. The clash between Lahno – Khurtsidze was a captivating game. After a balanced opening, the Ukrainian star sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, and looked to be in full control after some inaccurate responses from the Georgian. However, just when it appeared that the end would be near, it was white’s turn to stumble. The game ended in a draw. 

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Women's Chess Grand Prix Jermuk R6: Ju Wenjun in Sole Lead

Ju Wenjun in Lead

The Fide Women's Chess Grand Prix is currently on in Jermuk. After six rounds, China's Ju Wenjun continues to lead with a well-earned 4.5 points. In Round six, only two games were decisive. Koneru Humpy beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya and Nino Khurtsidze lost to Ruan Lufei. The other games - Zhao Xue-Munguntuul Batkhuyag, Mkrtchian Lilit-Lahno Kateryna, Ju Wenjun-Kosintseva Nadezhda, Danielian Elina-Hou Yifan were draws.

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Jermuk Chess Grand Prix Round 2: Humpy, Wenjun in Joint Lead

Humpy

Women's chess is always quite exciting with the players not willing for draws easily. The Jermuk Women's Chess Grand Prix - fifth edition of the series 2011/12 - has begun. India's Koneru Humpy has won both the rounds to lead with China's Ju Wenjun. The latter has won both the rounds as well.

Watch live India time Round 3 today from 4.30 pm at the official website. Round 3 will see following pairings: Khurtsidze-Zhao, Danielian-Humpy, Yifan-Wenjun, Lufei-Mkrtchian, Kovalevskaya-Munguntuul and Kosintseva-Lahno. 

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Women's Chess Grand Prix Begins in Jermuk; Watch Live India Time 4.30 pm

The fifth leg of the Women's Chess Grand Prix begins in Jermuk, Armenia begins today with the first games being played on July 17. The list of participants includes:

1 Hou Yifan GM CHN 2617
2 Humpy Koneru GM IND 2598
3 Zhao Xue GM CHN 2556
4 Kateryna Lahno GM UKR 2537
5 Ju Wenjun WGM CHN 2518
6 Nadezhda Kosintseva GM RUS 2516
7 Ruan Lufei WGM CHN 2483
8 Elina Danielian GM ARM 2480
9 Nino Khurtsidze WGM GEO 2456
10 Lilit Mkrtchian WGM ARM 2450
11 Munguntuul Batkhuyag WGM MGL 2447
12 Ekaterina Kovalevskaya WGM RUS 2417

The word Jermuk comes from the Armenian word for warmth, a reference to its plentiful hot natural springs and mineral waters. A resort town located about 170 km south-east from Armenia's capital Yerevan, this picturesque and pristine resort is nestled in mountains rising over 2two kms in altitude. Today Jermuk is a revitalized growth of tourism as health spas, medical treatment and tourism, and more traditional touristic destinations offer their services to both local and international guests. 

Watch the Women's Chess Grand Prix - Jermuk live at this link from India time 4.30 pm

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July Chess Ratings: Magnus Carlsen at Record 2837; Anand Slips to 5th Place for Winning World Chess Championship!

World's Highest Rated Chess Player
Norway's Magnus Carlsen

Fide has released the July chess ratings which have World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen on a runaway lead with a record rating of 2837. The highest ever rating record is held by legendary 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov of an 'Everest elo' worth 2851!

The list of top players is published at dedicated page of FIDE ratings website. All players can check new ratings at the main page of FIDE ratings website or download TXT version from downloads page.

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Kazan Chess Final Report: Humpy, Muzychuk Joint Winners; Hou-Cmilyte 0-1 Best Game

India's Koneru Humpy and Slovenia's Anna Muzychuk were declared joint winners of the fourth stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix on June 22, 2012. After 11 rounds, both Humpy and Muzychuk had 7.5 points. Grand Prix regulations require sharing of prize money, title and Grand Prix points in case of a tie. 

The winners: Anna Muzychuk (left) and Koneru Humpy with Fide president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

India's most talented woman chess 

player Koneru Humpy with dad and trainer Koneru Ashok.

(Photos: Rashit Shiriyazdanov and Anastasiya Karlovich/Fide official website)

Three players were sharing the lead before the last round - Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Muzychuk and Humoy Koneru. In the final round Humpy Koneru sacrificed a piece and beat Alisa Galliamova with black pieces. Anna Muzychuk capitalised on a mistake by Nadezhda Kosintseva to win. Viktorija Cmilyte settled for a draw with Antoaneta Stefanova. Reigning Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan (China) and Lithuanian Viktorija Cmilyte concluded the tournament with 7 points each. In her last game in Kazan, Hou Yifan beat Elina Danielian who had been leading for most of the tournament, but ended up losing her last three games. Elina Danelian from Armenia and Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk collected 6 points each to share 5th – 6th positions. Kosteniuk beat Betul Yildiz in the last round. Russian Tatiana Kosintseva beat Ukrainian Kateryna Lahno and finished seventh with 5.5 points. Lahno consequently ranked one spot lower half a point behind.

Nadezhda Kosintseva and Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova finished at the joint 9th – 10th places with 4.5 points, Russian Alisa Galliamova was next with 3 points, followed by Betul Yildiz from Turkey with 2.5 points.

The closing ceremony took place in the Korston Hotel and was attended by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Minister on Affairs of Youth, Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan Rafis Burganov, players, officials and spectators. The winners Anna Muzychuk and Humpy Koneru were awarded wooden chess pieces and all the participants of FIDE Grand Prix in Kazan were felicitated with flowers and presents. 

Viktorija Cmilyte received a special prize devoted to 100 years anniversary since the birthday of Rashit Nezmetdinov. Her victory against World Champion Hou Yifan was chosen by the organizing committee as the best game.

At the closing ceremony FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made a surprise gift for the Chess Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan - the entire set of electronic boards that the participants had played on!

Best chess game award at the Kazan Chess Grand Prix went to Viktorija Cmilyte. It was a special prize on the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of Rashit Nezmetdinov. The organising committee chose her game against Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan as the best game of the event. You can read:
Tal Chess Round 4: Viktorija Cmilyte Explains Win Over Hou Yifan

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Kazan Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy, Anna Muzychuk Declared Joint Winners (Updated)

Kazan Chess Grand
Prix Winner - India's Koneru Humpy

India's Koneru Humpy has just won the Kazan Chess Grand Prix for women on Friday with a steady and strong performance in the Republic of Tatarstan. Though, she had a better tiebreak, Humpy was declared joint winner along with Anna Muzychuk as tiebreaks are not to be counted in the Grand Prix series. Humpy went into the last round tied for the lead with Viktorija Cmilyte and Anna Muzychuk. Humpy played Black and beat Alisa Galliamova of Russia. While Cmilyte drew with Antoaneta Stefanova, Muzychuk beat Nadezhda Kosintseva with Black. Both Humpy and Muzychuk ended Round 11 with 7.5 points, but Humpy had the better tiebreak score.

Cmilyte had to settle for the third place. Meanwhile, the reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan scored a total of 7 points for the fourth place and her predecessor, the 12th women's world chess champion Alexandra Kosteniuk scored 6 points to be fifth. Armenia's Elina Danielian, who had played a thoroughly powerful tournament up to the eighth round, lost both Rounds 9 and 10 to finish the tournament with 6 points as well. 

Humpy's 7.5 points came from draw with Hou Yifan, draw with Elina Danielian, draw with Anna Muzychuk, win over Betul Cemre Yildiz, draw with Tatiana Kosintseva, draw with Viktorija Cmilyte, draw with Nadezhda Kosintseva, win over Antoaneta Stefanova, win over Kateryna Lahno, draw with Alexandra Kosteniuk and win over Alisa Galliamova. She did not lose a single game in this powerful tournament that saw some of the best women chess players of the planet taking part. 

Kazan hosted the Women's Grand Prix from June 9 to 23 as part of a series of elite events organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be six tournaments over two years in various countries around the world. The winner of each tournament takes home 6,500 euros from a total prize fund of 40,000 euros. The overall winner will get a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series. (More updates and photos to follow from Kazan Chess Grand Prix.)

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Kazan Chess Last Round Today: Humpy in Joint Lead; Poised to Win Title

The Kazan Chess Women's Grand Prix title could go to India's Koneru Humpy today. The last round is to be played today in the republic of Tatarstan and Humpy is in joint lead with Viktorija Cmilyte and Anna Muzychuk with 6.5 points each. Humpy plays Alisa Gallimaova as Black today. The other two leaders have Black as well in the final round. You can watch the last round live today India time 2.30 pm via the official website. Humpy did well to draw with former women's world chess champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in the last round. 

Anna Muzychuk and Hou Yifan play for a draw in Round 10

Koneru Humpy and Alexandra Kosteniuk
play for a draw in Round 10 

Kazan is hosting the Women's Grand Prix from June 9 to 23 as part of a series of elite events organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be six tournaments over two years in various countries around the world. The winner of each tournament takes home 6,500 euros from a total prize fund of 40,000 euros. The overall winner will get a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series. 

Round ten results

GM Anna Muzychuk 2598 ½-½ GM Hou Yifan 2623
GM Elina Danielian 2484 0-1 IM Alisa Galliamova 2484
GM Humpy Koneru 2589 ½-½ GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2457
WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz 2333 ½-½ GM Keteryna Lahno 2546
GM Tatiana Kosintseva 2532 ½-½ GM Antoaneta Stefanova 2518
GM Viktorija Cmilyte 2508 1-0 GM Nadezhda Kosintseva 2528

Armenia's Elina Danielian, who had been leading the tournament right up to the last rounds with a power-packed performance ended up losing two games in a row to Alexandra Kosteniuk and Alisa Galliamova. She is in second place now.

Standings after Round 10
1. GM Humpy Koneru 2589 IND 6.5
2. GM Viktorija Cmilyte 2508 LTU 6.5
3. GM Anna Muzychuk 2598 SLO 6.5
4. GM Elina Danielian 2484 ARM 6 0
5. GM Hou Yifan 2623 CHN 6
6. GM Keteryana Lahno 2546 UKR 5
7. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2457 RUS 5
8. GM Tatiana Kosintseva 2532 RUS 4.5
9. GM Nadezhda Kosintseva 2528 RUS 4.5
10. GM Antoaneta Stefanova 2518 BUL 4
11. IM Alisa Galliamova 2484 RUS 3
12. WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz 2333 TUR 2.5

Photos and reports by Anastasiya Karlovich and Rashit Shiriyazdanov from official Kazan Chess Website.

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