Goryachkina Climbs To 2nd As Tan Zhongyi Scores 1st Win

GM Tan Zhongyi beat IM Sara Khadem in round six to score her first win of the 2025 Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The day's other winner was GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, who exploited a time-trouble mistake by GM Koneru Humpy to move into second place, half a point behind GM Kateryna Lagno. She's joined there by the still unbeaten IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul, who lived dangerously but wasn't punished by IM Bibisara Assaubayeva for an opening mistake.  

Round seven starts on Tuesday, February 25, at 3 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 1:30 p.m. IST.

Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix Round 6 Results

Lagno continues to lead, but Munguntuul has now been joined by Goryachkina in second place.

Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix Standings After Round 6

Going into the round with a half-point lead, Lagno played the Four Knights against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. While mass exchanges left her with an extra pawn, it was only a nominal advantage. The 28-move draw kept Lagno in the sole lead with three rounds to go.

The other relatively uneventful draw saw GM Harika Dronavalli get into some time trouble but never into serious danger on the board against GM Elisabeth Paehtz. When move 40 was reached and the players gained an extra 30 minutes on their clocks, a draw was immediately agreed in a position with opposite-colored bishops.

The final draw of the round could very easily have seen blood spilled. Assaubayeva revealed she'd been in her preparation all the way until 13.b3, but was surprised by the extremely risky move 13...0-0?. (She expected 13...Bb7, as played before by GM Sam Sevian in the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss.) 

White was, in fact, simply winning, but Assaubayeva said she was "very upset" to miss 14.Qh5! f5 15.Rg1!, with g4 to follow, which she said "wasn't very hard to find."

Instead she played 14.h4? and later attributed the decision to her health, noting she'd been awake at 3 a.m. with a fever: "Unfortunately I feel very bad in this tournament. I got sick, that’s maybe why I missed this opportunity."

I got sick, that's maybe why I missed this opportunity.

—Bibisara Assaubayeva

Assaubayeva still had some chances in the play that followed, but nothing clear-cut, and, given her potentially vulnerable king, she was happy to make a draw.

"I will try to win even one game because it’s unpleasant to have minus one, but we will see how it happens!" said Assaubayeva about her plans for the remaining three rounds.

That brings us to the day's decisive games.

Goryachkina 1-0 Humpy

Goryachkina has been playing comeback since she lost to Lagno in round one (she credited her opponent with playing a great game), often playing the longest game of the day. She dug out a 94-move win over Assaubayeva to return to 50 percent and has now moved to +1 with a win that came down to one time-trouble moment. Humpy had matched her opponent all the way until move 39 but had under a minute on the clock when she made the losing mistake.

Goryachkina didn't see it was losing instantly, commenting:

"I wasn’t actually in time to calculate it. I saw that I had a grip because I have the idea to invade with my rooks on the h-file and give her some problems, but it’s the 39th move. She has a minute, and I simply tried to move faster so that she had less time to think. It seems that she went astray."

I simply tried to move faster so that she had less time to think.

—Aleksandra Goryachkina

39...Ra8? cost the game. 

Goryachkina was asked about her tournament-winning chances and responded, "I simply play and try to exploit as many chances as I can—after that, what will be will be!"

Khadem 0-1 Tan Zhongyi 

This was Khadem's first loss and the first win for Tan in the 2025 Monaco Women's Grand Prix. When the former women's world champion and upcoming challenger broke through in the run-up to the time control and found 35...e3!, it looked as though it was going to be a smooth win.

Tan continues to look not quite on form, however, and gave Khadem a real chance to escape before finally picking up a win.

Tan is now on 50 percent, a point behind the leader, but she can catch Lagno in round seven if she wins their clash with the white pieces. Goryachkina has Black vs. Paehtz, while Munguntuul is White against Harika.

Round 7 Pairings

How to watch?

The 2025 Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the third of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin runs February 18-27 in Monaco. Players have 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes from move 40, with a 30-second increment per move. The top prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with players also earning Grand Prix points. Each of the 20+ players competes in three events; the top two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament that decides the World Championship challenger.

Previous Coverage:

• Round 5: Humpy Lets Tan Zhongyi Escape; Lagno Leads Monaco Grand Prix
• Round 4: Spectacular Win Gives Lagno Sole Lead
• Round 3: Kosteniuk Beats Top Seed Tan Zhongyi
• Round 2: Khadem Pounces On Blunder To Beat Harika
• Round 1: Humpy, Lagno Beat Compatriots As Monaco Grand Prix Begins
• Goryachkina Wins Shymkent FIDE Women's Grand Prix
• Kashlinskaya Wins Tbilisi Grand Prix, Earns 2nd GM Norm
• FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-2025: All The Info