Cairns Cup R4: Dzagnidze Maintains Lead, Yip Keeps Struggling
GM Nana Dzagnidze maintained her lead at the Cairns Cup in St. Louis with a draw against Mariya Muzychuk. Meanwhile, Carissa Yip suffered her fourth straight loss, and Valentina Gunina hasn't drawn a game yet either.
You can follow the tournament here as part of our live portal. Chess.com is offering a daily, live-commentary broadcast with GM Robert Hess, IM Hans Niemann, GM Roeland Pruijssers and WFM Anna Cramling on Chess.com/tv. The rounds start at 1 p.m. local time which is 11 a.m. Pacific and 20:00 Central European Time, with rounds on Feb. 7-11 and 13-16.
The official broadcast has WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Yasser Seirawan, and GM Alejandro Ramirez, and there's a Russian-language broadcast with IM Almira Skripchenko and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, on www.uschesschamps.com.
It's been a tough week so far for 16-year-old Yip, who lost her fourth game in St. Louis. Many talents make their rise to the top with bumps along the way, and her current bad form could well be a prelude to a new jump upwards soon.
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A game like the one against Alexandra Kosteniuk shows how close she is to making draws (and even wins) against these players. Yip was holding on for 45 moves, but after missing one detail, she was helpless against an array of tactical shots:
Like Yip, Gunina hasn't drawn a game yet in St. Louis. Where she had chances to score a second win, the Russian GM suffered a third loss instead as she mysteriously refrained from grabbing a central pawn and then missed some double attacks later on while suffering from early time trouble.
Gunina has barely avoided flagging, but it's not going help much in the current position.#CairnsCup pic.twitter.com/8Q2Iwv3LBQ
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) February 10, 2020
World Champion Ju Wenjun had no trouble converting in the technical phase, and by scoring her first win, she joined the group of players trailing Dzagnidze by half a point.
The fifth round will be played on Tuesday, starting at 1 p.m. local time, which is 11 a.m. Pacific and 20:00 Central European Time. The tournament is a 10-player round-robin with a prize fund of $180,000.
Round 4 games
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