Bela Khotenashvili Wins FIDE Women's Geneva Grand Prix

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In the last round of the Fondation Neva Women's Grand Prix, Georgian player Bela Khotenashvili managed to make a draw against Anna Ushenina and won the tournament. Her nearest rival Anna Muzychuk had to win her game in order to catch the leader but the Slovenian player didn’t get anything out of the opening and drew against Alexandra Kosteniuk.

“I’m very happy to win this tournament and consider this result as the best one in my career so far. I would like to thank Georgian chess federation, President of GCF Giya Giorgadze and our coach Davit Jojua for their help”, said Bela Khotenashvili at the final press conference.

Bela Khotenashvili (right) receives first prize from Elena Timtchenko of Fondation Neva

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More pictures from the closing ceremony.

The final standings

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It became clear today how tired all the players were as they made mistakes which don’t normally appear in their games.  The Ukrainian player Katerina Lagno overlooked a piece blunder of her opponent Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, while Hou Yifan missed winning chances in the endgame and evetnually lost against Nana Dzagnidze. Tatiana Kosintseva had a very good position after the opening but used a lot of time and lost against Ju Wenjun. Viktorija Cmilyte outplayed Olga Girya. As a result, Nana Dzagnidze tied for the third place with Tatiana Kosintseva.
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Ushenina-Khotenashvili 1/2-1/2

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Bela Khotenashvili got a position with an isolated pawn in the Queen's Gambit. Anna Ushenina chose an interesting plan and tried to maintain the pressure. The world champion could have achieved an advantage by playing 17.b5 ab 18. Rc6! but didn’t consider this opportunity. After that Black managed to exchange a few pieces and the game ended in a draw.

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Muzychuk-Kosteniuk 1/2-1/2

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It was an important game for Anna Muzychuk, as if she scored a win she had a chance to catch Bela Khotenashvili. “If I could manage to get better position I would definitely play for win”, said Anna Muzychuk but it seems White didn’t get this opportunity during the game. The Slovenian player didn’t expect Alexandra Kosteniuk to play the Caro-Kann and the Russian player managed to equalize the position quite easily. There was no way to improve the position for both sides and the game finished in a draw after 29 moves. Anna Muzychuk finished the tournament undefeated.

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Ju-Kosintseva 1-0

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Tatiana Kosintseva managed to get quite comfortable position with Black but spent a lot of time in the opening.  After 20 moves the Russian player had only 2 minutes left to the time control and started to make inaccurate moves. According to Tatiana Kosintseva, Black could have kept the bishop instead of changing it. Under the time pressure Black lost a pawn and had to fight for a draw in the endgame. Post-game analysis showed that Black could hold the balance but during the game White managed to exchange queens and won.

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Lagno–Batchimeg 1/2-1/2

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Once again the Mongolian player showed good opening preparation and didn’t get any problems with Black. Both players started to play unpredictably after 25 moves and for some time we had doubts in the press-center if there were problems with transmission or not! As it was proved at the press conference, the Mongolian player simply blundered a piece by playing Ba4 but surprisingly Katerina Lagno didn’t take the bishop. As both players pointed out, they simply missed Na4! Katerina Lagno simply followed her plan Nc1-Ne2 and could not imagine that Black blundered a bishop. Black had an advantage in the endgame but Katerina Lagno managed to reach an endgame with opposite color bishops.  

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Hou-Dzagnidze 0-1

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Nana Dzagnidze used to play 9…0-0 but feeling sleepy she mixed moves in the opening. White had a slightly better position after the opening and Nana decided to sacrifice the exchange to complicate the game. “I think Black is just worse if I don’t do anything”, said the Georgian player at the press conference. However, Hou Yifan managed to get an absolutely winning position but had to play precisely as Nana was creating threats all the time. Black used her last chance - bringing the king to the center and trying to advance the e-pawn. Under the time pressure the former world champion started to play inaccurately and even lost the game.

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Girya - Cmilyte 0-1

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The award ceremony was attended by Under Secretary-General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Tokayev, the founder of Neva Fondation Elena Timtchenko, FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhino and FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg.
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