Women's Candidates, Rounds 13-14: Goryachkina Wins Despite a Last-Round Defeat
With the main job finishing two rounds early, Aleksandra Goryachkina's motivation and energy in the last couple of rounds was almost surely considerably less than it had been when tournament victory was still up for grabs. Nevertheless, all credit is due to Mariya Muzychuk on her fine last-round victory, giving Goryachkina her only loss of the event. This, all the more so given her own disappointing event and her loss in the penultimate round.
Mariya's sister, Anna, had more to be happy about. She defeated Valentina Gunina in the penultimate round, her fourth victory, without a defeat, in the last ten rounds. Had she not started with just half a point in her first three games, she would have been in the running for first. As it was, she finished in clear second, a point and a half behind Goryachkina and a point ahead of her own closest rivals.
As for Gunina, she lost in the last round as well. That loss, to Tan Zhongyi, bordered on the absurd near the end. Tan's technique wasn't very good, but Gunina's continuing to play in an extremely lost position bordered on contemptibly bad etiquette. She did manage to scrape up one transparent trap at the end, but Tan could have fallen for it (at least the first part of it) and still won. It was a strange end to the tournament, whose final standings look like this:
1. Goryachkina 9.5 (of 14)
2. Anna Muzychuk 8
3-4. Lagno, Tan 7
5-6. Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk 6.5
7. Kosteniuk 6
8. Gunina 5.5
The games of the last two rounds are here, with some remarks on the Tan-Gunina game.