Koneru, Muzychuk Win Kazan Grand Prix
Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk shared victory in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Kazan, Russia with 7½/11 points.
Long-time leader Elina Danielian ran out of steam, losing her last three games to finish back in 6th position.
Women's world champion Hou Yifan finished strongly to claim a share of third place with Viktorija Cmilyte on 7 points.
The Kazan Women's Grand Prix was the fourth in a series of six tournaments to determine the challenger for the 2013 Women's World Championship. The best 3 Grand Prix event scores by each player count towards their final Grand Prix total.
Hou Yifan is currently leading the overall standings (see the end of this article), and if she stays there then the regulations state that the second placed player will challenge her for the world title.
Anna Muzychuk (left) and Humpy Koneru (right) receive their prizes from the FIDE president
The final standings in the Kazan Grand Prix:
| # | Name | Nat | Elo | Pts |
| 1 | Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2589 | 7½ |
| 2 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2598 | 7½ |
| 3 | Hou, Yifan | CHN | 2623 | 7 |
| 4 | Cmilyte, Viktorija | LTU | 2508 | 7 |
| 5 | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | 2457 | 6 |
| 6 | Danielian, Elina | ARM | 2484 | 6 |
| 7 | Kosintseva, Tatiana | RUS | 2532 | 5½ |
| 8 | Lahno, Kateryna | UKR | 2546 | 5 |
| 9 | Kosintseva, Nadezhda | RUS | 2528 | 4½ |
| 10 | Stefanova, Antoaneta | BUL | 2518 | 4½ |
| 11 | Galliamova, Alisa | RUS | 2484 | 3 |
| 12 | Yildiz, Betul Cemre | TUR | 2333 | 2½ |
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Alexandra Kosteniuk inflicted Elina Danielian's first defeat in round 9
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Humpy Koneru defeated Kateryna Lahno with black in round 9
Hou Yifan continued her climb up the leaderboard with a round 9 win against Alisa Galliamova
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Humpy Koneru won her last round game to clinch a share of first place...
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...with Anna Muzychuk who also won her last round game.
The winner of each of the six Grand Prix tournaments in the series receives €6,500 out of a prize fund of €40,000, and the overall winner will win a further €15,000.
The official website for the Kazan Grand Prix is here. The full regulations for the 2011/12 Grand Prix can be found here.
The overall Grand Prix standings after 4 of 6 rounds:
| Player | Rostov | Shenzhen | Nalchik | Kazan | Jermuk | Istanbul | Pts |
| Hou Yifan | 160 | 160 | 100 | 420 | |||
| Anna Muzychuk | 100 | 130 | 145 | 375 | |||
| Kateryna Lahno | 130 | 80 | 50 | 260 | |||
| Viktorija Cmilyte | 35 | 100 | 100 | 235 | |||
| Zhao Xue | 75 | 160 | 235 | ||||
| Ju Wenjun | 100 | 130 | 230 | ||||
| Tatiana Kosintseva | 100 | 55 | 60 | 215 | |||
| Koneru Humpy | 65 | 145 | 210 | ||||
| Nadezhda Kosintseva | 80 | 55 | 35 | 170 | |||
| Elina Danielian | 45 | 50 | 75 | 170 | |||
| Ekaterina Kovalevskaya | 20 | 20 | 100 | 140 | |||
| Antoaneta Stefanova | 45 | 55 | 35 | 135 | |||
| Alisa Galliamova | 65 | 30 | 20 | 115 | |||
| Ruan Lufei | 30 | 75 | 105 | ||||
| Tan Zhongyi | 100 | 100 | |||||
| Alexandra Kosteniuk | 10 | 10 | 75 | 95 | |||
| Zhu Chen | 35 | 55 | 90 | ||||
| Munguntuul Batkhuyag | 60 | 20 | 80 | ||||
| Betul Cemre Yildiz | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Photos by Rashit Shiriyazdanov and Anastasiya Karlovich for the official website. Games via TWIC. Overall standings via Wikipedia.
