Women's Candidates, Round 4: Dzagnidze in Clear First After Her Third Straight Win
Nana Dzagnidze is playing like a boss, leading the 2019 Women's Candidates after her third consecutive win. Her victim today was Valentina Gunina, who played the opening awfully and was duly crushed. With the win Dzagnidze finally takes the solo lead, as Aleksandra Goryachkina could only draw with Anna Muzychuk. (Not that this was a bad result in its own right; a comfortable draw with Black is generally a success in such tournaments. It's just that Dzagnidze keeps winning.)
In the other games, Alexandra Kosteniuk drew with Tan Zhongyi, while the Muzychuk sisters' woes continued to compound themselves as Mariya lost with White against Kateryna Lagno. (Perhaps Caissa is punishing them for their draw in round 1?)
Today's games, with my notes to Dzagnidze's win, are here. Here are the pairings for round 5:
- Gunina (1.5) - M. Muzychuk (1)
- Kosteniuk (1.5) - Dzagnidze (3.5)
- Goryachkina (3) - Tan Zhongyi (2.5)
- Lagno (2) - A. Muzychuk (1)