Anna Muzychuk Beats Dzagnidze Twice To Climb To 2nd
GM Anna Muzychuk scored the only win of round three of the 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix, though a huge miss approaching move 40 meant she had to do it all over again before checkmating GM Nana Dzagnidze on move 86. GM Zhu Jiner continues to lead after her first draw, with IM Stavroula Tsolakidou unable to catch her since GM Mariya Muzychuk reacted brilliantly to some deep opening prep. GM Elisabeth Paehtz scored her first half-point in a lively clash with IM Olga Badelka.
Round four starts on Tuesday, March 18, at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.
Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix Round 3 Results
That meant Anna Muzychuk climbed to joint second place.
Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix Standings After Round 3
We almost had five draws, but only the Anti-Berlin in IM Divya Deshmukh vs. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina was largely without incident. The draw may have suited both players, since Divya is coming off two difficult tournaments, while Goryachkina has won two Grand Prix events and knows a solid result in Cyprus will likely seal her a place in the 2026 Women's Candidates Tournament.
Leader GM Zhu Jiner was pushing for 3/3 when she got the chance to play 10.h6 in the notoriously sharp Winawer Variation of the French Defense.
As sometimes happens, however, the position liquidated fast to a draw when Zhu didn't find the most forceful continuations in the play that followed.
That draw gave Tsolakidou the chance to catch the leader, and she looked to have everything going her way when she sprung an early surprise on Mariya Muzychuk with 9.Rg1!?.
Tsolakidou said she was basing her play on the same move played by GM Amin Tabatabaei against GM Volodar Murzin in the 2024 Sharjah Masters. Back then Murzin thought for 21 minutes, while Muzychuk thought for 15.
"Of course, it’s sort of a bluff," said Tsolakidou, who added, "It’s objectively equal, but it’s an interesting position." Tsolakidou's coach had added the advice, "Be psychologically prepared that she might find all the moves!"—and that proved necessary, since despite Mariya getting down to just over 10 minutes, she found everything she required to escape.
Mariya Muzychuk is low on time and under pressure but finds 2 brilliancies in a row based on the idea of Bf5! https://t.co/v0DVLllUMV pic.twitter.com/vhR7KGo3BD
— chess24 (@chess24com) March 17, 2025
In fact, it was only here that Tsolakidou needed to think at all, since she recalled only the equally good alternative 20...Nd3+!. The position was equal either way, and the players brought a sparkling game to its logical conclusion.
Tsolakidou summed up: "She’s very strong and she found all the moves—today I only had prep, basically!"
The last draw came in a battle between two strugglers, Badelka and Paehtz, and though Badelka had some chances, she wasn't too upset to have missed them. She commented, on a couple of occasions, "Engine plays like engine!" adding, "All the engine suggestions are so crazy during all the game!" The final stages typified a complex game where there were alternatives on almost every move.
It was a first half-point on the table for Paehtz, while Badelka was also satisfied: "It’s my first tournament in more than four months, so I’m still finding my focus.... This game I played well, I would say, finally!"
That brings us to the emotional rollercoaster of the final game of the day to finish.
Anna Muzychuk 1-0 Nana Dzagnidze
This game got off to an unusual start, with Dzagnidze playing 2...a6 against the Sicilian and Muzychuk steering toward the notoriously solid Maroczy bind structure with pawns on c4 and e4. That's often a drawing weapon, but in this case Anna kept a nagging edge all the way into a "heavy-piece endgame." Then, when Dzagnidze captured with the wrong piece on c5, White was suddenly winning.
If Anna had exchanged off rooks and queens, the pawn endgame was winning, but that was of course easier to be sure of with a computer eval climbing above +5. The Ukrainian star instead gave several checks before grabbing the pawn on c5.
With 39...Qa1+! 40.Kh2 Qxa2 that soon left a queen endgame where White had two pawns vs. one on the kingside. It was a draw with best play, but Anna managed to refocus and apply pressure until Dzagnidze finally cracked only on move 83. Three moves later, Muzychuk was suddenly able to deliver checkmate.
That drama left Anna Muzychuk level with Tsolakidou in second place. She takes on Divya in round four, while her sister Mariya Muzychuk has the white pieces against leader Zhu Jiner. Goryachkina-Tsolakidou will be another crucial clash for the standings.
Round 4 Pairings
How to watch?
You can watch the broadcast on FIDE's YouTube channel. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich and GM Alik Gershon.
The 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the fourth of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin runs March 15-24 in Nicosia, Cyprus. 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 2: Zhu Jiner Takes Sole Lead On 2/2
- Round 1: Tsolakidou, Zhu Jiner Grab Wins As Nicosia Women's Grand Prix Begins
- Goryachkina Wins In Monaco, Takes FIDE Women's Grand Prix Lead
- 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
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
