After a short "draw break" the World Champion continued her victorious march: this time Elina Danielian could not resist the Chinese player's pressure. Tatiana Kosintseva is speeding up. Today she scored the second point in a row by winning a game against Ruan Lufei and appeared in the leading group. The game Galliamova-Kosteniuk, where the current Russian Champion had all the chances to win at the beginning, is drawn. The games Stefanova - Kosintseva Nadezhda, Koneru - Muzychuk and Lahno - Kovalevskaya also finished in a draw. After 6 games Hou Yifan remains the sole leader with 5. 5 points, 1. 5 points ahead of Kateryna Lahno and Tatiana  Kosintseva.





Comments by GM Vitaly Kiselev

Kateryna Lahno - Ekaterina Kovalevskaya

Lahno chose 1.kf3 and the game passed over to the Queen's Gambit (Tarrasch Defense). Black chose an interesting line with 6...cd 7. Kd4 Qb6. Everybody witnessed the perfect preparation of Ekaterina Kovalevskaya in this variation and Black did not face any problems in the opening. White made a bishop fianchetto and got pieces play against hanging pawns "c" and "d". Black played precisely having exchanged several pieces and forced the draw by repeating the position. 




Hou Yifan - Elina Danielian

The World Champion chose the line with c 3.f3 in the Caro-Kann Defense that becomes more and more popular. The fight was concentrated in the center and in order not to give up the key field e5, Black entered the position with doubled pawns on "f" file. White did not hesitate to take advantage of it and moved the knights to the weakened king's side of the opponent. The Black`s position could be held due to technical nuances, but the move 19...c5 was a mistake, after which Hou Yifan won a pawn. The Chinese player was not satisfied with it and, having taken the second pawn, made her opponent cede the queen. After the first time control Black resigned.      




Antoaneta Stefanova - Nadezhda Kosintseva

  Queen's Gambit (Ragozin System) was played in this game. Black started the game and, having temporarily sacrificed a pawn, got the advantage in the development, however, decided to simplify the position, by exchanging queens and gave the pawn back. After the queens exchange they got an equal rooks-knights endgame with different number of pawns on the sides. Having exchanged a couple of rooks, the opponents made a triple repetition of the position that led to a draw.   






Humpy Koneru - Anna Muzychuk

  Anna Muzychuk chose Dutch Defense (Leningrad variation). Humpy Koneru went for a more popular line with doubled bishop fianchetto. White took a more typical for such position plan by interfering the center by playing 13.e4, and Black went for the planned counterattack by playing of a7-a5-a4. Then Black transferred the knight from a6 to b3 and played 19...e5. After 20. d5-Kd2 21.Qd2-c5 22.b5 they got an equal position. Later on they exchange the queens and entered the equal endgame that further was drawn.   






Lufei Ruan - Tatiana Kosintseva

  The Sicilian Defense (Scheveningen system) was played in the game. White played 19.e5 and after exchanges got the attack on the King's side. Black used a strong resource by playing 24...f5 which stopped the White's. After that Black focused on the weak pawn in the White's camp - d3. White tried to continue the attack by playing g4, but Black took a pawn on d3 and, having made several exchanges, converted the game into the winning ending. 







Alisa Galliamova - Alexandra Kosteniuk

  They played Nimzowitsch Defense (line с 4.Qc2-d5). Black made a mistake in the opening and Alisa Galliamova got a strong attack but later on committed a mistake, when the game seemed to be almost over, and lost the advantage. The White's position was more pleasant, but former World Champion was playing precisely and, having exchanged pieces, led the game to the drawish endgame. You can watch a more detailed analysis of this interesting game on our site tomorrow.