Three players are on the top

Kazan stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix is gradually reaching its climax.

Competition Day#9 brought three resultative games and three draws, which once again tossed the tournament layout to bring two more players to the ranking lead.

Quite predictably, Kosintseva sisters concluded a draw. It took them 14 moves this time to seal their usual result officially. 13 moves later, Viktorija Cmilyte shared points with Anna Muzychuk.

Anna Muzychuk: Taking into consideration, that I played with black pieces, the draw seems to be a good result.  

Chess is a serious game. Have you ever made something foolish or unpredictable either at the table or outside sport?

Anna Muzychuk: I’m not a great fan of unexpected things (laughing). 

Viktorija Cmilyte: I might have been unpredictable, but very many years ago.

Alexandra Kostenyuk defeated Elina Danielian on the 30th move of the game.

The finish is at a hand, and there is a good chance now, that several players might finish with the same number of points. What criterions will determine the winner in this case?   

Elina Danielian: The first thing that counts will be the result of the games between the players concerned. I have already been to such a situation with Humpy Koneru. We have collected the same total, and it was she to celebrate the overall win because of her victory in our game.

And what if the players concerned have had a draw?

Elina Danielian: Then referees will look at the additional criterions, such as “win with black pieces”, if I am not mistaken.

So you don’t know this for sure, do you? Haven’t you consulted the regulations?  

Alexandra Kosnetyuk: Why should we share points before the game? 

Alisa Galliamova suffered loss to Hou Yifan on the 48th move. Katerina Lahno lost to Humpy Koneru on the 82nd move. Antoaneta Stefanova shared points with Betul Yildiz on the 70th move to reveal an interesting trend of the Kazan tournament. 27 out of 54 matches, happened here during FIDE Women Grand Prix, ended in a draw.

Two rounds before the finish of the event, three players are resting on the top with 6 points each. Current leaders are Elina Danielian (Armenia), Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) and Humpy Koneru (India). Viktorija Cmilyte (Lithuania) and Hou Yifan (China) are chasing them with 5,5 points, followed by Nadezhda Kosintseva, Alexandra Kostenyuk (both – Russia) and Katerina Lahno (Ukraine), who have collected 4,5 points in Kazan. Tatiana Kosintseca (Russia) is on the 9th place with 4 points. Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) goes 10th with 3,5 points. Alisa Galliamova (Russia) and Betul Yildiz (Turkey) are closing the ranking with 2 points.