Nadezhda Kosinzeva managed to stop the winning series of the Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan: after the long fight a draw in a game Kosintseva-Hou was recorded. Another game Muzychuk – Stefanova was also finished in a peaceful outcome. The Bulgarian chess player missed good chances to win. Other games were decided: the victories of Black outnumbered White’s success with 3 to 1.
Alisa Galliamova got a comfortable position against Ruan Lufei and managed to convert it into a full point. Humpy Koneru won against Alexandra Kosteniuk. In the double edged position of a game Danielian – Lahno, Armenian player made a mistake and lost to Katerina Lahno. Tatyana Kosintseva turned to be stronger in the almost equal position in the game against Ekaterina Kovalevskaya. After 5 rounds the Women’s World Chess Champion Hou Yifan is leading with 4.5 points. The Ukrainian chess player Katerina Lahno placed second and has one point down. Humpy Koneru and Tatyana Kosintseva share the third place with 3 points each
The Russian Champion chose the position with bishop g2 fianchetto. This time White entered this position without d4. Black played very accurately trying to simplify the position and after the queens exchange the position could be estimated as equal. However the move 17.b4 was the beginning of an intersting plan that brought a slight stable advantage to White. Alisa Galliamova hold an attack and before the time-trouble she managed to win a pawn. The Russian Champion has brilliantly led this technically winning ending to the victory.
Elina Danielian - Kateryna Lahno
The English opening had happened in the game. In the middle game the Armenian chess player decides to sharpen the position by sacrificing the pawn on e2, however, in the complications that followed, she did not find the strongest 27.Qf7 with White's initiative and continued by playing 27.Kpg2. As a result she was left in the position with a pawn down. In the time-trouble White made a mistake by playing 31.Nb6, missed an intermediate move and remained one piece down. There were several moves after this but when the time control finished White resigned.
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya - Tatiana Kosintseva
After the free day all the participants got some rest and some energy for new battles. Ekaterina Kovalevskaya chose a closed position with bishop fianchetto on g2. White arranged a pieces play on the king's side and Black answered with a pawns attack on the queen's one. Black were faster in their play and after the time-trouble they conquered some space advantage as well extra pawn. After this the game entered the technical phase where Black realized their edge.
Nadezhda Kosintseva - Yifan Hou
The leader of the tournament Hou Yifan has played a Sicilian Defense (Najdorf variation). We could see that the World Champion was perfectly prepared - she had 01:29 on her clock after the first 23 moves. Nadezhda Kosintseva confessed after the game that she had forgotten the precise moves order, therefore she spent a lot of time to remember the lines. After the opening Black had a position with one extra pawn, but White had enough compensation by means of the pieces activity. White exchanged some pieces and passed over to the rooks endgame with equal material. White had a slight advantage due to connected passed pawns on the king's side, but Hou Yifan was playing precisely and led the game to a draw.
Alexandra Kosteniuk - Humpy Koneru
The Spanish Defense had happened in the opeing and both players did not waiste time during the first 20 moves. Further on they started the positional play where both sides were trying to realize their plans. Black played actively on the king's side and White had to give a pawn in order to distract the attention of the opponent's pieces. The Indian chess player had an obvious advantage but made a mistake by the decisive move and gave chances for the draw to the Former World Champion. On the 46th move White had a good oppotrunity to pass over to the drawish rooks endgame by playing 46.Ra4 and could have used not a very fortunate position of the rook on d3 by playing 47.Ke2. However, White missed this opportunity and got a worse position that was not possible to be saved.
Muzychuk - Stefanova
Both opponents missed the city excursion on the free day yesterday, most probably they spent more time for the preparation. The interesting variation of Caro-kann defence with the closed centre was played. White had hold a typical plan of an attack at the king's side. Meanwhile Black organized a strong contrattack in the centre by playing 12...d4. After that they exchanged queens and Antoanetta Stefanova got the better position due to the weak pawn structure of White. Black was gaining its advantage but in the time trouble they played unaccurate moves 28... f4 an 29...Nf5. This gave an opportunity to White to simplify the posision. At the same time 28...Nc6 could have caused more trouble to White. As a result the game turned to a Knight ending with a little advantage for Black due to the activity of their pieces. Thanks to the precise defence White managed to make a draw.
