Gunina Wins Inaugural Cairns Cup

In the all-decisive and all-Russian clash, Valentina Gunina held Alexandra Kosteniuk to a draw and won the $40,000 first prize of the inaugural Cairns Cup in St. Louis. Irina Krush came third thanks to beating Harika Dronavalli.

"I’m so happy but I didn’t realize it yet, so I need time!" said Gunina after her last game. She seemed to be suppressing a smile when she shook hands with Kosteniuk, confirming the draw, but her victory at the first Cairns Cup simply hadn't sunk in yet.

With her continuous smiles and exciting playing style, which culminated in her brilliant round five win, Gunina had become a public's favorite. The Russian grandmaster, who turned 30 just two days before the first round, delivered on the final day by holding her main rival Kosteniuk to a draw.

It was yet another thriller of a game, clearly affected by fatigue and emotions.

Gunina: “I was so nervous. My brain just stopped. As yesterday, I was so exhausted. My brain just said: ‘OK darling, you wanted to play this game, but I don’t want to play’ and just stopped!”

Having played many Caro-Kanns in the past, Gunina went for 1...e5 as she wanted something new on the board. Out of book after 8.a3, she was still more than fine out of the opening, and just better by move 26.

Having survived a scary moment there, Gunina underestimated her chances later on. It's also not easy playing for a win when a draw is enough, and that draw was reached in the end.

“These last two games were a mess. I played so solid before and now I’m just too exhausted,” Gunina stated. A tough tournament for her is over, and she thanked a lot of people, including the ones who had helped her obtaining her visa to the U.S.

Besides three European Championship title, three Russian Championship titles and her  2016 London Chess Classic Super Rapidplay Open victory, this was one of Gunina's best achievements in her career.

Irina Krush wasn't in contention anymore after suffering two straight losses, but with a final round win over Harika Dronavalli she nonetheless claimed third place.

Having been under pressure for most of the game, Harika blundered a tactic right after the time control and the tactics continued to favor White.

Nana Dzagnidze came fourth after winning the all-Georgian battle vs Bela Khotenashvili. The latter gave herself a weak pawn on d5, which became a decisive factor after another inaccuracy on move 30.

Anna Zatonskih didn’t have a great tournament but she felt very happy that she could finish with a nice win vs Marie Sebag. After playing her 14th move, Zatonskih went into the confession booth and said she was setting up a trap, which her opponent fell for!

Elisabeth Paehtz eventually ended in last place after losing her fourth game in the final round. Her 28th move was probably wrong, after Zhansaya Abdumalik steered the game to a win with a steady hand.

The Cairns Cup was a new, 10-player women only round robin that took place February 6-15 in St. Louis. At stake was a $150,000 prize fund with the top three finishers receiving $40,000, $30,000, and $20,000, respectively.

Each round was streamed live daily at 1 p.m. Central Time (8 p.m. CET, 2 p.m. New York, 11 a.m. Pacific) with the expert commentary team of WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Yasser Seirawan, and GM Maurice Ashley, as well as a Russian language broadcast with IM Almira Skripchenko and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich on www.uschesschamps.com. On site there was live commentary with WGM Tatev Abrahamyan and IM Tania Sachdev at the Kingside Diner in St. Louis.

Replay the round nine live broadcast of the Saint Louis Chess Club.

Previous reports:

• Gunina Maintains Lead, Clash With Kosteniuk To Decide Cairns Cup
• Cairns Cup: Gunina Overtakes Kosteniuk For Lead
• Cairns Cup: Gunina Catches Kosteniuk After 'Insane' Round
• Cairns Cup: Kosteniuk Leads, Gunina Shines
• Cairns Cup Slows Down In Results, Not In Content
• Inaugural Cairns Cup Takes Off With 4 Decisive Games