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Saturday, 23 June 2012 |
The 4th stage FIDE Women Grand Prix officially came to a close in Kazan on 22 June, 2012
After 11 rounds Slovenian player Anna Muzychuk and Indian player Humpy Koneru became winners of the championship. According to the regulations of Grandprix in the case of any tie in any tournament, the Grand Prix ranking points and prize money will be split equally.
Before the last round three players shared first place: Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Muzychuk and Humoy Koneru. The 11th round of the tournament was an extremly tense and 5 games out of six were desicive. Humpy Koneru sacrifieced a piece and managed to defeat Alisa Galliamova with black pieces.
Anna Muzychuk used a mistake of Nadezhda Kosintseva and won the game as
well, while Viktorija Cmilyte made a draw against Antoaneta Stefanova. As
a result, 2 players finished on the top, followed by the current world
champion Hou Yifan (China) and Lithuanian Viktorija Cmilyte with 7
points. In her last game in Kazan, Hou Yifan has secured a confident win
over Elina Danielian, who was leading during the tournament but lost
three last games. Elina Danelian from Armenia and Russian Alexandra
Kostenyuk collected 6 points each to share 5th – 6th positions. Ex-world
champion defeated Betul Yildiz and sufficiently improved her ranking.
One more Russian Tatiana Kosintseva defeated Ukrainian Katerina Lahno
and finished seventh with 5.5 points. Lahno consequently ranked one spot
lower half a point behind.
Nadezhda Kosintseva and Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova finished on the
9th – 10th places with 4.5 points, Russian Alisa Galliamova showed
11th result with 3 points, followed by Betul Yildiz from Turkey with
2.5 points.
Press conferences:
Antoaneta Stefanova - Viktorija Cmilyte 1/2 -1/2
Hou Yifan -Elina Danielian 1-0
Katerina Lahno - Tatiana Kosintseva 0-1
Alisa Galliamova - Humpy Koneru 0-1
Nadezhda Kosintseva - Anna Muzychuk 0-1
Alexandra Kosteniuk - Betul Yildiz 1-0
After the end of the game, Hou Yifan and Elina Danielian shared their impressions with journalists.
Hou Yifan: - I could have started in Kazan much better, and therefore I am not very much pleased with my results.
Elina Danielian: On the contrary, after a good start I lost three games in a row at the finish. However, I am more or less satisfied with the way I played here.
How many tournaments a year do you play?
Hou Yifan: - I didn’t count that. As far as I remember, I compete almost every single month.
Elina Danelian: - As for me, I turn o play less and less. I think I play around 8 tournaments a year.
What are your impressions from Kazan?
Hou Yifan: - I liked everything here. People are friendly and nice, and very hospitable.
Elina Danelian: I was in Kazan, when I was a child and took part in some children tournaments. When we went on a tour about the city, I could remember nothing. I learned the city as if I was for the first time here. The city is constantly changing and renewing. It is very nice indeed and I’m certain it will become even better.
The press-conference was occasionally interrupted by a small boy of about six, who wanted to ask the players his own questions. Startled for a moment, the boy did not hesitate to complete his mission:
How did you play when you were a child, - he asked Elina Danelian
Elina Danelian: My results were very different. I used to win and lose, and I was very much upset when I lost games with good winning chances. I even used to cry.
To crown it all grandmasters wished the little player to have a good luck and good chess prospects.
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