Gunina Leads Skolkovo Grand Prix after Three Rounds

The 2019 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series is underway in Skolkovo, Russia, with twelve of the world’s best female chess players competing for £80,000, with £15,000 going to the winner. In the field are current Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun, her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, and 2019 Cairns Cup winner Valentina Gunina. The event runs through September 23rd.

Gunina leads the tournament after three rounds of play at 2.5/3. She is followed closely by Goryachkina, Harika Dronavalli, Ju Wenjun, and Humpy Koneru, all at 2/3.

Gunina got off to a quick start in Round 1 with this sharp win over Alina Kashlinskaya.

[pgn] [Event "Skolkovo WGP 2019"] [Site "Skolkovo RUS"] [Date "2019.09.11"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Gunina, Valentina"] [Black "Kashlinskaya, Alina"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2502"] [BlackElo "2487"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2019.09.11"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. e3 Nxc3 9. Qc2 Ne4 10. Bd3 Nf6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rb1 Ne7 13. c5 c6 14. Ne5 Ng6 15. f4 Nd7 16. Bd2 f5 17. Nxd7 Qxd7 18. a4 Kh8 19. a5 a6 20. Kh1 Qf7 21. Rg1 Ne7 22. Be1 Ng8 23. g4 Nf6 24. g5 Ne4 25. g6 hxg6 26. Bh4 e5 27. dxe5 Be6 28. Rg2 Rac8 29. Rbg1 d4 30. Bxe4 $1 (30. Rxg6 $2 Bd5 $17) 30... fxe4 31. Rxg6 Bf5 (31... Bd5 32. Qe2 $1 (32. Bf6 $1)) 32. R6g5 dxe3 33. Qb2 Rg8 34. e6 $1 Bxe6 35. Qe5 Rge8 36. Rxg7 1-0 [/pgn]

She followed it up by defeating her countrywoman Alexandra Kosteniuk in Round 2 after Kosteniuk pitched an exchange without sufficient compensation.

[pgn] [Event "Skolkovo WGP 2019"] [Site "Skolkovo RUS"] [Date "2019.09.12"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Black "Gunina, Valentina"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B11"] [WhiteElo "2495"] [BlackElo "2502"] [PlyCount "112"] [EventDate "2019.09.11"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8. O-O h5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Qe2 h4 11. g4 Be7 12. d4 Qb6 13. Rd1 Rc8 14. a4 a6 15. a5 Qc7 16. Bd2 g6 17. Re1 Nb8 18. Bg5 Kf8 19. Na4 Nc6 20. Nb6 Rd8 21. Qd2 Kg7 22. Bf4 Bd6 23. Bxd6 Qxd6 24. Ra3 Rhe8 25. Rb3 Re7 26. Rbe3 Rc7 27. Rb3 Re7 28. Rbe3 Rde8 29. Rd1 Rd8 30. b3 Rc7 31. Qe1 Nb4 32. c4 Nc2 33. c5 Qf4 34. Qe2 Nxe3 35. fxe3 Qg5 36. b4 Re7 37. e4 dxe4 38. Nc4 Nd5 39. Rf1 e3 40. Nd6 f5 41. Kh1 fxg4 42. Ne4 Qh6 43. Qxg4 Rf8 44. Rg1 Nf4 45. Bf1 Qh5 46. Be2 Qxg4 47. Bxg4 Nd3 48. Kg2 Rf4 49. Bf3 Nxb4 50. Nd6 Nc2 51. Be4 Nxd4 52. Re1 Rf2+ 53. Kh1 Nf3 54. Bxf3 Rxf3 55. Kg2 Rf2+ 56. Kg1 Rc2 0-1 [/pgn]

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPC1vr-_HhM   Koneru found a lovely attacking idea in Round 3 to take down Kashlinskaya in just 20 moves.

[pgn] [Event "Skolkovo WGP 2019"] [Site "Skolkovo RUS"] [Date "2019.09.13"] [Round "3.5"] [White "Koneru, Humpy"] [Black "Kashlinskaya, Alina"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2560"] [BlackElo "2487"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rn1r2k1/ppq2pp1/1bb1p2p/8/1PBPN3/P4N2/2Q2PPP/3RR1K1 w - - 0 18"] [PlyCount "5"] [EventDate "2019.09.11"] 18. Neg5 $1 Bxf3 (18... hxg5 19. Nxg5 Kf8 20. Qh7 {and Bxe6 threatens to tear apart the king's defenses}) 19. Qh7+ Kf8 20. Rxe6 (20. Rxe6 fxe6 21. Qh8+ (21. Nxe6+ {is also fine!}) 21... Ke7 22. Qxg7+ {and mate cannot be avoided.}) 1-0 [/pgn]

The Skolkovo Grand Prix is the first in a series of four events that will determine the 2019-2020 Women’s Grand Prix Winner. Upcoming are tournaments in Monaco (December 2-15), Lausanne (March 1-20), and Sardinia (May 20-June 10). An additional £80,000 will be distributed to the sixteen players in the Grand Prix series on the basis of their overall results. Play resumes in Skolkovo tomorrow’s fourth round at 8am EDT. Live coverage is available at the FIDE YouTube channel. CLO will have periodic updates as the tournament progresses.