With a draw against Elina Danielian in the 9th round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Sharjah, UAE, the World Champion Hou Yifan secured overall first place in the FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2013-2014.
Yifan’s main competitor in the Series, Humpy Koneru, fell behind in the standings and can not catch up with only two rounds to go.
Meanwhile in the ongoing event in Sharjah, Ju Wenjun moved into sole lead by defeating Harika Dronavalli to stay half a point ahead of Yifan.
Hou Yifan
Batchimeg Tuvshintugs split the point with Nafisa Muminova to keep the third place in the tournament one point behind of Hou Yifan.
Anna Ushenina, who defeated Tatiana Kosintseva, is on the fourth place. Zhao Xue outplayed Alina L’Ami and shares the fifth place together with Elina Danielian.
Harika Dronavalli and Ju Wenjun
Round 9 results:
WGM L’ami Alina 2446 0 – 1 GM Zhao Xue 2508
WGM Muminova Nafisa 2315 ½ – ½ WGM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2346
GM Hou Yifan 2661 ½ – ½ GM Danielian Elina 2490
GM Harika Dronavalli 2521 0 – 1 WGM Ju Wenjun 2559
GM Koneru Humpy 2598 ½ – ½ GM Zhu Chen 2461
GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2494 0 – 1 GM Ushenina Anna 2487
Round 9 standings:
1. WGM Ju Wenjun 2559 CHN – 7½
2. GM Hou Yifan 2661 CHN – 7
3. WGM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2346 MGL – 6
4. GM Ushenina Anna 2487 UKR – 5½
5-6. GM Danielian Elina 2490 ARM and GM Zhao Xue 2508 CHN – 5
7. GM Harika Dronavalli 2521 IND – 4½
8-9. GM Koneru Humpy 2598 IND and GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2494 RUS – 4
10. WGM Muminova Nafisa 2315 UZB – 2½
11. GM Zhu Chen 2461 QAT – 2
12. WGM L’ami Alina 2446 ROU – 1
Round 10 pairings:
GM Zhao Xue 2508 – GM Ushenina Anna 2487
GM Zhu Chen 2461 – GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2494
WGM Ju Wenjun 2559 – GM Koneru Humpy 2598
GM Danielian Elina 2490 – GM Harika Dronavalli 2521
WGM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2346 – GM Hou Yifan 2661
WGM L’ami Alina 2446 – WGM Muminova Nafisa 2315
Alina L’Ami – Zhao Xue
Tatiana Kosintseva – Anna Ushenina
Photos by Anastasya Karlovich, courtesy of the official website
