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Anna Muzychuk joins Dzagnidze and Gunina in the lead |
A relatively peaceful round compared to the previous two, but the five draws were achieved only after some fierce battling.
Anna Muzychuk recovered after the yesterday's loss to put an end on the winning streak of Zhao Xue. Muzychuk deposed the Chinese from the leading pack and joined Dzagnidze, Gunina on the top of the standings.
Nino Batsiashvili made a nice escape from the lost ending with a desperado and stalemate.
Lela Javakhishvili ended the bad streak of three consecutive loses by saving weaker position against Olga Girya. This is the first draw for Girya in the tournament.
Friday is the rest day, the event continues on 30th April.
Muzychyk Anna - Zhao Xue 1-0
White started with the Italian opening. By making several energetic moves she spoiled black's pawn structure. Zhao Xue saw her best chance in opposite castling.
However, white was few tempi ahead with the attack. She traded queens and won a pawn. Black sought escape in the knights ending but white's passed pawns were too powerful.
Dzagnidze Nana - Danielian Elina 1/2
This was a relatively quiet line of the Queen's Indian defence but Danielian found the way to mix the things up by ruining white pawn structure.
Seeing no way to make progress, black traded the queens and tried her luck in the ending. White was able to cover all the entry points and the game was drawn shortly after the time control.
Javakhishvili Lela - Girya Olga 1/2
In the Exchange Slav everything was normal until the queens went off. White made two aimless moves with the bishop which allowed her opponent to win the a-pawn.
White then braced for a long and difficult defence. The cause was helped by having a target in black b-pawn. Her patience was rewarded when she forced black to repeat the moves.
Kosteniuk Alexandra - Muzychuk Mariya 1/2
In the sharp line of the English opening white left a pawn en-prise but black passed on offer and rushed to complete the development.
Kosteniuk performed a typical Nd5-maneuver to clear up some files, but Muzychuk remained solid despite the apparently weak d6-pawn.
Black had a sufficient pieces activity and after massive exchanges draw was agreed on move 31.
Khotenashvili Bela - Batsiashvili Nino 1/2
In the Queen's Pawn opening white performed several pawn breaks before reaching the convenient structure. She then transposed into a much better rook ending.
Despite the terrible time trouble white achieved a winning position. But instead of calming down after the time control, she dropped the victory with 42.Rxh7 allowing black to perform a desperado with the rook and make a stalemate.
Skripchenko Almira - Gunina Valentina 1/2
In the Caro-Kann white grabbed a pawn early in the opening and managed to hold onto it throughout the rest of the game without conceding much counterplay.
Black sought her chance in the position with all heavy pieces on the board. She handled that well and after the time control a rook ending with 3 vs 2 pawns on the same side emerged.
For another 40 moves white tried to break the black defence, but finally the game ended in a draw.
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