4 Decisive King Attacks By Early Leaders
The second leg of the 2022-2023 FIDE Women's Grand Prix kicked off with four decisive games in round one, featuring ferocious king attacks by GMs Tan Zhongyi, Nana Dzagnidze, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Elisabeth Paehtz.
For the next two weeks in the center of Munich, 12 players will compete in the next segment of the Women's Grand Prix and vie for their shot to qualify for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2023-'24.
The first game to finish was the sister matchup between GMs Mariya Muzychuk and Anna Muzychuk, which ended peacefully with a repetition after 30 moves in the Benoni.
No surprise the game between Mariya and Anna Muzychuk was the first one to end in a draw. The sisters are deliberately paired at the beginning of the tournament. #WomenGrandPrixFIDE pic.twitter.com/QCsxE3afTA
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) May 22, 2021
Indian GMs Harika Dronavalli and GM Humpy Koneru also drew after trading down to an equal rook ending from the Petroff Defense.
Newly-titled grandmaster Paehtz defeated WGM Dinara Wagner with a stunning finish to an attacking miniature. Can you find it?
In a Nadjorf Sicilian, Dzagnidze launched her attack with the classic ...Rxc3 exchange sacrifice, ripping open the queenside and chasing GM Zhansaya Abdumalik's king all over the board, eventually checkmating it on g4. After the game, Dzagnidze shared: "After I took on c3 exchange sacrifice, I think after that I have a huge advantage because I have easy play, and with White to play such a position, it's not that simple."
This spirited duel is our Game of the Day, annotated by GM Rafael Leitao.
Kosteniuk defeated IM Alina Kashlinskaya by conjuring an overwhelming kingside attack led by her powerful rook cemented on the e6-outpost. Watch this rook dance across Black's position to finish the game.
In the all-Chinese matchup, Tan caused damage to WGM Zhu Jiner's kingside structure early in the game with Qf5 and Nxf6 and then set up a battery down the open g-file to create devastating checkmate threats in the middlegame.
Crosstable
All Games - Round 1
The FIDE Women's Grand Prix Second Leg (of four) takes place February 1-14, 2023, in Munich, Germany. The format is a round-robin tournament with 12 players. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The prize fund is 80,000 euros.
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Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.
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