Grosslobming FIDE Women's Grand Prix, 6 to 16 May 2025

[Mick Norris]

website

TWIC

FIDE Women's Grand Prix takes place in Grosslobming, Austria Tue 6th May to Fri 16th May 2025. Players: Jiner Zhu, Zhongyi Tan, Anna Muzychuk, Nana Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Lela Javakhishvili, Olga Badelka and Nurgyul Salimova.

The event is the final in a series of 6. The top two in the final standings will qualify for the Candidates. The leaders are Aleksandra Goryachkina followed by Humpy Koneru, neither play in this final event. Goryachkina seems certain to take one of these places and indeed almost certainly win the series, Humpy Koneru will likely not finish second. Zhu Jiner won't need a very big result to overtake her and Anna Muzychuk & Tan Zhongyi are also still in the race.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Interesting to see how well Tan has recovered from that rather bruising WC match.

[Mick Norris]

Interesting to see how well Tan has recovered from that rather bruising WC match.

Ok so far

Zhu, Jiner vs Tan, Zhongyi
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Re1 O-O 10. Be3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nc3 bxa4 13. Bb1 Nc6 14. Nxa4 Nd4 15. Nd2 Rb8 16. Nc4 Bb5 17. Nd2 Qa5 18. c3 Ne6 19. b3 d5 20. Nf3 d4 21. Bd2 Qc7 22. cxd4 cxd4 23. Nb2 Nd7 24. b4 Nd8 25. Ba2 Nc6 26. Qc2 Qd6 27. Nc4 Nxb4 28. Bxb4 Qxb4 29. Ncxe5 Nxe5 30. Nxe5 Qc3 31. Qe2 Qc7 32. Nc4 Bb4 33. Rec1 Qe7 34. e5 Rfe8 35. f4 Kh8 36. Rab1 a5 37. Qe4 f6 38. Nd6 Bxd6 39. Rxb5 Rxb5 40. exd6 Qd8 41. Qxd4 Rb4 42. Rc4 Qd7 43. Qd5 Rb6 44. Re4 Rd8 45. Qxa5 Qxd6 46. h3 Ra6 47. Qb5 g6 48. Bc4 Ra1+ 49. Kf2 Kg7 50. Qb2 Ra7 51. Qe2 Rdd7 52. h4 Re7 53. g3 Rxe4 54. Qxe4 Kh6 55. Kg2 Re7 56. Qa8 Re2+ 57. Kh3 Qc5 58. Bd5 Qe7 59. Qc8 Re3 60. Bc4 Qd6 61. Kh2 Re1 62. Kh3 Qe7 63. Bd5 Rd1 64. Be4 f5 65. Qc2 Re1 66. Qc3 Rg1 67. Qd4 Rd1 68. Bf3 Rd2 69. Qd5 Qe1 70. Qa8 Qe7 71. h5 Kg7 72. Qa1+ Kh6 73. hxg6 hxg6 74. Qh8+ Qh7 75. Qc3 Rf2 76. Bd5 Qg7 77. Qxg7+ Kxg7 78. Bg2 Rd2 79. Kh2 Kf6 80. Kg1 Ke6 81. Bc6 Rxd3 82. Kf2 Rc3 83. Bb7 Kd6 84. Kg2 Kc5 85. Kf2 Kd4 86. Ba8 Rc7 87. Bf3 Rc2+ 88. Kg1 Ke3 89. Bd5 Rc7 90. Kg2 Rg7 91. Be6 Re7 92. Bd5 Rd7 93. Bc6 Rg7 94. Bd5 g5 95. fxg5 Rxg5 96. Kh3 Kf2 0-1

[Mick Norris]

On the rest day, 3 rounds to go, Anna Muzychuk leads with 4.5; on 4 we have Zhu Jiner and Rameshbabu Vaishali

As it stands, the WGP would be (I think) Anna Muzychuk on 319.17, Zhu Jiner 330 with both ahead of Goryachkina (308.34)

[Mick Norris]

Final round today, Anna Muzychuk leads with Zhu Jiner on 5.5; Tan Zhongyi is on 5; on 4.5 we have Nana Dzagnidze and Rameshbabu Vaishali

Joint first isn't enough for Anna Muzychuk as far as getting into the top 2 in the WGP

Badelka Olga - Dzagnidze Nana
Kosteniuk Alexandra - Zhu Jiner
Tan Zhongyi - Muzychuk Mariya
Muzychuk Anna - Vaishali Rameshbabu
Salimova Nurgyul - Javakhishvili Lela

[LawrenceCooper]

Final round today, Anna Muzychuk leads with Zhu Jiner on 5.5; Tan Zhongyi is on 5; on 4.5 we have Nana Dzagnidze and Rameshbabu Vaishali

Joint first isn't enough for Anna Muzychuk as far as getting into the top 2 in the WGP

Badelka Olga - Dzagnidze Nana
Kosteniuk Alexandra - Zhu Jiner
Tan Zhongyi - Muzychuk Mariya
Muzychuk Anna - Vaishali Rameshbabu
Salimova Nurgyul - Javakhishvili Lela

Anna Muzychuk misses out on qualification after drawing her round 9 game. Kosteniuk looked like winning but allowed Zhu to escape and Goryachkina to qualify for the Candidates.

[Mick Norris]

That's a pity for Anna

TWIC

The event was the final in a series of 6. The top two in the final standings qualifying for the Candidates. The leaders going into the event were Aleksandra Goryachkina followed by Humpy Koneru, neither playing in the final event. Goryachkina looked strong favourite to qualify but if Anna Muzychuk had won and Zhu Jiner finished second then she would have missed out. Zhu started with 0/2 after losing to Anna Muzychuk but came back with five wins in a row before seeing out the event with two draws. Anna Muzychuk took first place on tie-break from Zhu but they shared grand prix points and this was not enough to overtake Goryachkina, only a win alone would have done that. So it was Zhu Jiner who won the Grand Prix and Goryachkina finished second. There are other routes to the Candidates including the Women's World Cup (3 places), the Grand Swiss (2 places) and the FIDE Women’s Events 2024-25 series 1 place. which takes place in 2026 and the complete field is yet to be decided.

WGP standings

Zhu 352.5
Goryachkina 308.34
Muzychuk A 306.67