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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