17-Move Disaster For Paehtz As Tan Survives Scare Vs. Humpy
Mongolian IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul scored the only win of round two of the 2024 Shymkent FIDE Women's Grand Prix after unleashing the crushing 17...Ba3!! on GM Elisabeth Paehtz, who was left with little choice but to resign after a one-hour game. GM Koneru Humpy came closest to a win among the other players, but chose wrongly on move 40 of a wild clash with GM Tan Zhongyi. Tan continues to lead with IMs Bibisara Assaubayeva and Stavroula Tsolakidou, now on 1.5/2.
Round three will start on Friday, November 1, at 6 a.m. ET / 11:00 CET / 3:30 p.m. IST.
Round 2 Results
Assaubayeva, Tsolakidou, and Tan lead on 1.5/2.
Standings After Round 2
Overall day two in Shymkent was quieter, with a number of relatively uneventful draws.
GM Kateryna Lagno played the Exchange French against IM Divya Deshmukh and the opening lived up to its drawish reputation. 18-year-old Deshmukh was happy with how her FIDE Women's Grand Prix debut was going: "So far, so good. Two days, two draws, can’t complain!"
So far, so good. Two days, two draws, can't complain!
—Divya Deshmukh
The Indian number-two noted that her incredible year, crowned by winning double gold at the Women's Chess Olympiad, made it hard to keep up her motivation. "It’s actually been a quite good year and it’s a pity because now it’s a little hard to find more motivation, but I’m trying my best and this tournament is so prestigious so I’m going to give my best," she said in the post-game interview.
Tsolakidou vs. IM Nurgyul Salimova was a game where Salimova briefly had chances, but the tricky endgame liquidated into a draw.
A similar situation played out in GM Aleksandra Goryachkina's game against Assaubayeva, where the computer was giving Goryachkina a substantial advantage that fizzled out the moment she swapped off queens.
The remaining games were where most of the day's drama took place. Things went from bad to worse for Paehtz, who had been ground down in six hours the day before and hadn't appreciated being approached for an interview afterward.
Yesterday was the first time of my entire career when the press team approached me after a 6 hours lasting defeat asking me for an interview, starting with “how do I feel”?
— ElliPaehtz (@ElliPaehtz) October 31, 2024
She faced Mongolia's Munguntuul, who played the same Caro-Kann she'd played against Paehtz a month earlier in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
Paehtz varied as early as move two, but it turned out both players were prepared for the hyper-sharp variation that appeared on the board. In fact the first new move of the game was Paehtz's last, 17.Ng5??, which ran into the crushing rejoinder 17...Ba3!!.
Ouch! Elisabeth Paehtz resigns in 17 moves after Batkhuyag Munguntuul finds the devastating 17...Ba3!!https://t.co/sjtbGkfC85 pic.twitter.com/DhffG7uB3M
— chess24 (@chess24com) October 31, 2024
Munguntuul, a 37-year-old mother-of-three playing her first Grand Prix in 12 years, had been aware of the idea before the game, and commented, "I thought Elisabeth probably didn’t notice that there was the Ba3 move—it’s not such an obvious move!"
Tan played the longest game for a second day in a row, but this time she was on the ropes, as she went astray in the follow-up to what began as a sound knight sacrifice. In the end it all came down to mutual time-trouble and a decision on the fateful move 40, before Humpy would have gained another 30 minutes to think.
40.exf4! and Humpy would likely have gone on to win, but with just over 20 seconds on her clock she opted for 40.Kxf4? instead, when the world championship challenger found the only drawing move, 40...Qxg2!. It was a bullet dodged.
Friday's round three will see our first clash of the leaders, as Assaubayeva takes on Tsolakidou.
Round 3 Pairings
How to watch?
You can watch the broadcast on FIDE's YouTube channel. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated 2024 Shymkent FIDE Women's Grand Prix events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by IM Irine Sukandar and GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko.
The 2024 Shymkent FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the second of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin runs October 30-November 8 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Players have 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes from move 40, with a 30-second increment per move. The top prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with players also earning Grand Prix points. Each of the 20 players competes in three events; the top two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament that decides the World Championship challenger.
Previous Coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
