Gunina Wins Women's Speed Chess GP Leg 2 Final

GM Valentina Gunina beat GM Anna Ushenina 7-5 in Sunday's final of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix's second leg. It was a repeat of the first leg's final, won by Ushenina. 

GM Kateryna Lagno defeated Sarasadat Khademalsharieh 9.5-2.5 in a match for third place held just before the final. The Grand Prix tournament was the second of the four legs that are played June 24-July 19.

The live broadcast of the final day.

Gunina won $3,000 but also 12 Grand Prix points. She is now sharing the lead with Ushenina, who won the first leg. Ushenina gained eight Grand Prix points ($2,000), Lagno six ($1,000), and Khademalsharieh five ($700).

All players who lost in the quarterfinals gained two GP points and $500, while the players who lost in the round of 16 did not get any GP points but still earned $200 in prize money.

Gunina (@Vanina1989) and Ushenina (@Enki007) faced each other exactly one week after they had played their first final, which ended in a 7-4 victory for the Ukrainian grandmaster. 

The first half-hour consisted of 5+1 games, of which three were played. It was Gunina who took the lead, but Ushenina won the next two games before moving to the 3+1 time control.

In the second game, it seemed Black was doing well in the opening as she was using the weakened c3-square—usually White doesn't play b2-b3 in the London System. But Ushenina knew better:

The match remained very close, and the points went back and forth. Ushenina was leading by one point again after five games, but Gunina leveled the score right away with a sudden checkmate in the endgame.

Gunina went into the bullet with a one-point lead, and it was in the fastest of the three time-controls that she made the difference.

Here's her win in game 10 (the second bullet game), which she ended with 40 seconds left on the clock. Commentator GM Daniel Naroditsky suggested changing her last name to Tang, as her play reminded him of the bullet specialist, GM Andrew Tang.

Gunina-Ushenina | Score

Gunina-Ushenina | All games

Before the final, Lagno had beaten Khademalsharieh by a big margin: 9.5-2.5. The Iranian IM was clearly not having her best day as she blundered full pieces, which you cannot afford against the women's world champion in blitz.

Lagno immediately raced away with a 3-0 score in the 5+1 games before Khademalsharieh got on the scoreboard with a draw. Lagno ended by winning the middle segment 3.5-1.5 and then also won three of four bullet games.

Here's one of her most convincing wins in what was one big advertorial for the King's Indian. It was the third 3+1 game.

Lagno-Khademalsharieh | Score

Lagno-Khademalsharieh | All games

In the first, very tense semifinal, Ushenina had beaten Khademalsharieh of Iran by winning the armageddon game of the playoff. Gunina won 6.5-4.5 against her compatriot Lagno. You can find all previous results of the second leg here.

The third leg of the Women's Speed Chess Grand Prix starts on July 8. Each of the 21 Grand Prix players participates in three of the four legs.

FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix | Standings After Leg 2

Each leg is a 16-player knockout and lasts five days (including one rest day after the semi-finals). The dates for the remaining two are July 8-12 and July 15-19 with games starting at 5:30 a.m. Pacific time / 14:30 Central Europe.

All FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championship matches are broadcast live with chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV. More information about the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship can be found here.