2012 Kazan Grand Prix Update
After eight rounds of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Kazan, Russia, Elina Danielian has continued to perform strongly, and now leads with six points.
Anna Muzychuk is just half a point behind on 5½ points, followed by Koneru Humpy and Viktorija Cmilyte on 5 points.
The Kazan Women's Grand Prix runs from 10-22 June and is the fourth in a series of six tournaments to determine the challenger for the 2013 Women's World Championship. The format of each event is a 12-player single round-robin.
The Kazan standings after 7 rounds:
| # | Name | Nat | Elo | Pts |
| 1 | Danielian, Elina | ARM | 2484 | 6 |
| 2 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2598 | 5½ |
| 3 | Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2589 | 5 |
| 4 | Cmilyte, Viktorija | LTU | 2508 | 5 |
| 5 | Hou, Yifan | CHN | 2623 | 4½ |
| 6 | Lahno, Kateryna | UKR | 2546 | 4½ |
| 7 | Kosintseva, Nadezhda | RUS | 2528 | 4 |
| 8 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | 2457 | 3½ |
| 9 | Kosintseva, Tatiana | RUS | 2532 | 3½ |
| 10 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | BUL | 2518 | 3 |
| 11 | Galliamova, Alisa | RUS | 2484 | 2 |
| 12 | Yildiz, Betul Cemre | TUR | 2333 | 1½ |
Kateryna Lahno (left) beat Alexandra Kosteniuk in round 5
Anna Muzychuk beat the lowest seeded player Betul Yildiz in round 5
Elina Danielian kept up the winning pace in round 6
Hou Yifan has made a slow recovery after a poor start to the tournament
Viktorija Cmilyte won her round 7 game
Kateryna Lahno missed a nice tactic against leader Elina Danielian in round 8
Hou Yifan continued her recovery by beating Alexandra Kosteniuk in round 8
The winner of each of the six Grand Prix tournaments in the series will win €6,500 out of a prize fund of €40,000, and the overall winner will win a further €15,000.
The standings after the first three tournaments can be found in our previous news report. The regulations for the 2011/12 Grand Prix can be found here.
Round-by-round reports, results and games can be found at the official website together with live video coverage and commentary.
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Photos by Rashit Shiriyazdanov and Anastasiya Karlovich for the official website. Games via TWIC.
