Shenzhen Women's Grand Prix
Hot on the heels of the first Grand Prix in Rostov, the second Women's Grand Prix of the 2011/12 series in underway in Shenzhen, China.
The contest was delayed by a week to allow Women's World Champion Hou Yifan (pictured) the chance to participate in the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, where she was eliminated in the opening round by Sergey Movsesian.
The Grand Prix is a series of six tournaments to determine the challenger for the 2013 Women's World Championship.
The tournament format is a 12-player single round-robin event. The opening round was on 7th September, and the final round is scheduled for the 19th September, with rest days on the 11th and 16th.
The winner of each of the six Grand Prix tournaments in the series will win 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros, and the overall winner will win a further 15,000 euros.
The regulations for the 2011/12 Grand Prix can be found here.
The standings after 3 completed rounds:
| Name | Elo | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pts |
| Zhao Xue | 2497 | CHN | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2½ | ||||||||
| Hou Yifan | 2578 | CHN | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2½ | ||||||||
| Cmilyte Viktorija | 2525 | LTU | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Tan Zhongyi | 2429 | CHN | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Muzychuk Anna | 2545 | SLO | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 2 | ||||||||
| Ruan Lufei | 2477 | CHN | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1½ | ||||||||
| Ju Wenjun | 2536 | CHN | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1½ | ||||||||
| Zhu Chen | 2490 | QAT | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1½ | ||||||||
| Yildiz Betul Cemre | 2308 | TUR | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ||||||||
| Danielian Elina | 2517 | ARM | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ||||||||
| Kovalevskaya Ekaterina | 2421 | RUS | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ||||||||
| Munguntuul Batkhuyag | 2465 | MGL | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ |
Games start at 15:00 local time (07:00 UTC). The official tournament website is here, and live coverage is available at this link.
The opening ceremony (l to r: Ruan Lufei, Ju Wenjun, Viktorija Cmilyte, Hou Yifan, Anna Muzychuk)
Group picture from the official website.
