In the fourth round of FiDE Women grand Prix in Kazan four players succeeded to win their games. The world champion Hou Yifan lost the second game in the tournament, this time against Viktorija Cmilyte. Chinese player had some problems with the development after the opening and got into troubles. Viktorija Cmilyte was trying to get an advantage and converted the game into the better ending where the power of two bishops proved to be decisive.  Elina Danielian sacrificed an exchange in the middle game, playing with white against Tatiana Kosintseva, and created strong attack on the black king in return.

With very little time left Russian player could not find an exact defence and had to resign on 39^th move.  Humpy Koneru and Betul Yildiz had lack of time as well in the endgame, which looked more pleasant for Black. Turkish player made a mistake which immediately changed evaluation in favor of Humpy Koneru.  Indian player didn’t give other chances to the opponent and converted her advantage into full point. Alisa Galliamova lost the second game in a row.  This time she was defeated by Nadezhda Kosintseva, who used inaccurate play of her opponent in the middle game.  Two tense games Anna Muzychuk - Katerina Lahno, Alexandra Kosteniuk – Antoaneta Stefanova finished with draws.

The tournament situation became more clear before the first free day of FiDE Women Grand Prix in Kazan.  Elina Danielian (Armenia) is leading solely with 3 points, following by Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia), Nadezhda Kosintseva (Slovenia), Humpy Koneru (India) and Viktorija Chilyte (Lithuania) half a point behind.  Katerina Lahno (Ukraine), Alexandra Kostenyuk (Russia) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) are sharing 6 – 8^th ranks with 2 points each. Alisa Galliamova (Russia) and Hou Yifan (China) collected 1.5 points to occasionally place on the 9^th – 10^th positions. Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia) and Betul Yildiz (Turkey) are closing the table, having just 1 point after 4 rounds of play.   

Alisa Galliamova - Nadezhda Kosintseva 0-1

Nadezhda Kosintseva: “I was lucky to predict the opening today and decided to play quiet line. I think my position was good. I didn’t remember if Black should play 12…c5 but chose 12…e5. I was calculating another option 15…d5 16.c5 ed 17. Qd4 Ke5 18. Bb5 but it was also unclear. “ Nadezhda also proposed an interesting move for white – long castle, instead of short one, in order to keep two bishops. Alisa didn’t check this opportunity and both players agreed it was the risky idea. Nadezhda also suggested move 29. Ra7 for white because after 29. Bg5, which happened in the game, Black had better position in her opinion.  

Alisa Galliamova: “I made really bad move 20.Nb3 and because of this move I started to have all those problems. I was thinking to play 21.Bh4 after but it was impossible due to reply 21…Nf4. So, of course, I should have chosen 20.Rd1 with the Idea to play 21.Nf1 after Nd3. It would be better compare to what happened in the game.”

- Tomorrow is the day-off. Will you spend some time on the tour about Kazan?

Nadezhda Kosintseva: -I don’t know yet, I didn’t have chance to think about it during the game. When you are at a tournament, you can just dream of the days-off, unlike here. Of course, I’d love to see the city of Kazan I have been twice before. I think, I will join the city tour.

Anna Muzychuk - Katerina Lahno  1/2 – 1/2

Anna Muzychuk: -I had to prepare a lot of variations; among them was the one we finally got.  I was ready to the position with exchange sacrifice because I believe white has enough compensation – two bishops and a strong pawn on e7 .  Nc6 follows the main line, where black end without pawn in the endgame, but it’s possible to hold the position. I was thinking a lot after Be6 and I believe I played correctly. There were many different opportunities but I decided to play 17.Ne5 but I still don’t know what I would do after 17…Na6 with idea to put the rook on c8 and then move the knight to c5 or c6. Well, and in the end we just got tired (laughing).

Katerina Lahno: - I didn’t prepare for this line, to tell the truth and had to find everything over the board. I was choosing between 17…Na6 and 17…Nc6 for a long time but I thought I would play without risk after 17…Nc6 and the position was really about equal.  I made one inaccurate move25… h5 and created a weakness. In fact I wanted to go into rook endgame without a pawn and I thought 25…h5 is useful. I should have played simply Rc7-Rd7 and it’s not easy for white to improve their position. After h5 Anna could have played 26.a4 instead of Rg5 and after that 27.Rg5. The difference is that black haveno time to play Ra8 and a5 compare to what happened in the game.

- How do you evaluate your ranking positions after 1/3 of the Kazan tournament passed?

Anna Muzychuk: - More or less OK. I have collected three draws and one victory, and one should understand, that it’s just the start, however everything will be solved at the finish.

Katerina Lahno: – I agree with Anna. Points will be calculated at the finishing lane. As for me, I confess I have missed some chances, namely, in the first and in the third rounds. Especially yesterday, when I had a lion advantage and didn’t manage to convert it into full point. I cannot event explain what was my computer telling me yesterday about the move Qb7 I was afraid of during the game.

- What plans do you have for tomorrow?  

Anna Muzychuk: - It will be interesting for me to go sightseeing. I’m the first time in Kazan and the prospect of learning new places seems pretty engaging.  

Katerina Lahno: – I am likely to join the tour.

-The tour will start at 1 p.m, isn’t it early for you?

Аnna Muzychuk: - It seems like there shouldn’t be a problem.

Katerina Lahno: - As for me, I usually wake up early. However here I prefer to sleep long and often keep on sleeping on board (smiling).

Elina Danielian - Tatiana Kosintseva 1-0.

Elina entered press-conference room with flowers. - A present of a little Armenian girl, - explained Danielian smiling radiantly, - She was supporting me today, in other words, I have got my fans in Kazan. Whenever Armenians go, we are carefully attended by our compatriots. What a pleasure indeed!

Elina Danielian: I don’t play the line with Qc2 normally and I don’t know what a result of such choice was.

Tatiana Kosintseva: Yes, I didn’t expect 4.Qc2 today, so I decided to avoid the repetition of my previous games and chose 6…d6 ( I played 6…d5 before). After the opening the position was Interesting and difficult. The idea of black is to threat on c4 pawn by playing Ba6 and Rc8 and white try to create some activity because and use the power of two bishops.

Elina Danielian: I could keep two bishops after 12…h6 but the diagonal b1-h7 became weak, so I used this weakness in the future.  I think black could have taken on f6 by the knight. It was better in my opinion because later on the knight had to go on b8 and black pieces were passive.  Afterwards I sacrificed an exchange and got attacking chances instead.  We were in the time trouble and there were so many variations. Instead of h4 I was checking Nf4, Qc2, Qd3 but in the end I decided not to determine the places for my pieces and push the pawn because this move seemed to be useful in many variations.  I believe it was not easy to play this position with black specially without time.

Tatiana Kosintseva: Yes, it was difficult to defend this position. I think d5 was a mistake. I should try to hold the position without making this move.

I have nothing to complain so far, - proceeded the current leader regarding her ranking position. – I’m a little bit afraid of the coming days-off, because usually I’m not playing well after but I hope I will survive this time.  

Tatiana Kosintseva: - I do believe, one day-off will be enough for me to recover. Two defeats out of 4 matches are too much.

Humpy Koneru  - Betul Yildiz 1-0

Humpy Koneru : It was an interesting game, I decided to exchange my knight to bishop and get the pair of bishops, and even I doubled my pawn. There was an idea to take on c6 at some point and go for the ending but it was not clear if white have something there.  We made lot of mistakes because both of us had time pressure. I believe that Black had better position and after I played Rc3 there was an opportunity to play Nd1 and there were some other chances.

Betul Yildiz: Actually I was not ready for the opening. I had some knowledge after e3, so I went for the variation I remembered and I think my position was normal.  Yes, I agree that the endgame was also good for me at one point and I think I could play c6 one move earlier. After that Black could get even better position. And play for win.

How can you estimate your tournament situation?

Betul Yildiz: I am not satisfied with my play. The only good news for me was the win over the world champion Hou Yifan. Actually, this was the top news for the Turkish Chess Federation. I have received not only messages and emails from my friends and colleagues, but also from the Turkish Chess Federation President.

Humpy Koneru:  I made three draws and won one game, so the tournament situation is ok so far.

Hou Yifan - Viktorija Chmilyte 0-1

Hou Yifan: I received not really comfortable position in the opening because I could not castle and it created some problems.

Viktorija Cmilyte; Normally White plays Qd3 after Nf3. That was a point - I was trying to use the move Qd3. After Bg5 I could play e6 and there will be normal position for that variation. After 8…Qa5 it’s impossible to play 9.Bd2 because I have 9…Ne4 10.Ne4 Qe5 11.f3 f5 and we go  into a complicated endgame where I have a pawn up.

It was nice not to let white to make a long castle but I spent a lot of time trying to find precise moves. I thought I had to try to open the position in order to get space for my bishops.  In the end I chose to transfer the game into the endgame and played f5. I was thinking to play f5 few moves before but was not sure if it worked. I thought black would have slightly better position with some winning chances. I believe after exchange sacrifice it‘s a bit easier for me to play. I don’t know the objective evaluation of the position, maybe it’s nothing special. In any case after Nd2 I’m not sure I can go back with my rook because I’m afraid after Nd5 and Ne4 I can be even worse sometimes.

Alexandra Kostenyuk - Antoaneta Stefanova 1/2  - 1/2

Alexandra Kosteniuk: From the opening I’ve got a position with isolated pawn, so I thought I have to play actively that’s why I chose this plan with g4 which looks too risky maybe. After b5 I realized it might have been too optimistic to play g4-g5.  The idea behind this move was to provoke g6 and then maybe to play Ne4-Ng4, or Ne4-Nc5. After Nf5 I thought I didn’t have problems but probably I was little bit too confident.

Antoaneta Stefanova: I didn’t like move g6, that’s why I played Nf5. For me it was important to understand what will happen in the variation where white can take an exchange after 19.Ne4 Qc6 20. Bb4 B7 21.Bf8. I was trying to realize if white can change queens immediately or not. I didn’t find the way so I followed the variation.

Alexandra Kosteniuk: In the position where we exchanged our queens I had feeling I should have some compensation for the pawn but it’s unclear.  In the endgame with rooks and bishop against knight I was just lucky to make a draw. The was a trick: if black play 33…Nh3 34.Kg2 Ng5 35. h4 Ne4 36.fe Nd6 37.Rd7 Nc438. e7 and Rd8 is a threat.

Anna Muzychuk, who was at that moment in the press centre, continued the variation:  38…Re8 39.Rd8 Nd6 40. Rd6 f6 and black have big chances to win.

And those who read our report till end we offer to guess who is on the photo?

Photo provided by Adrian Mikhalchishin and was taken by Vladimir Grabisnky