Women's Candidates, Round 6: Goryachkina Gets a Massive Gift
It was quite the round today/yesterday, as all four games were decisive. The Muzychuk sisters both won - finally. Kateryna Lagno defeated Tan Zhongyi with the black pieces (though from what was early on a lost position). And in the most important game of the round, Aleksandra Goryachkina bounced back from a (thoroughly) lost position to defeat her main rival (so far), Nana Dzagnidze. The first half of the game was well played by Dzagnidze, but in the second time control she squandered some of her advantage and then all of it, and then achieved a lost position by continuing to press. She had one last chance to save the game afterwards, but missed the opportunity and went down to defeat.
Goryachkina thus finds herself in a fantastic position, with her 5/6 score leaving her a point and a half clear of Dzagnidze and Lagno, her closest competitors. Eight rounds remain.
Round 7 is on Saturday, as Friday is a rest day. Here are today's games, with notes to all but Tan Zhongyi vs. Kateryna Lagno.
Reader Comments (1)
It’s events like this which make me miss an active Judit Polgar, it just comes off as some sort of GM norm event. Which is nice but no big deal. I get the point of it to promote and all but still miss the active Judit. Maybe there is a better way to say it, though everyone will understand me. She played chess like a man.
[DM: Actually, I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Are you talking about ratings? I don't think that male GMs rated under 2600 play like "women" or "children". An aggressive style? There are plenty of women who play aggressive chess and plenty of men who play more solidly. Fighting spirit? The same thing: there are plenty of female chess players who are great fighters and plenty of men who are not. So I don't think someone has to be "woke" or to ignore the big gap between the top men and the top women to find the remark either mystifying or inappropriate.
Btw, Judit Polgar never played in a women's world championship event, so the event wouldn't have been any stronger if she was still active. Btw #2, Goryachkina's TPR so far is 2804, which is "manly" enough for all but Carlsen, Caruana, and Ding Liren. I don't think she's playing like a 2804, but all the same, she is playing terrific chess. She's also just 20 years old, so she may still get significantly better.]