Women's Grand Prix: Koneru Ties for First, Earns Title Match

Very impressive! Humpy Koneru won when it counted, and everything else went just so for her to tie for first in the Women's Grand Prix tournament in Qatar and qualify for a world championship match later this year against Hou Yifan.

Coming into the last round, she was tied with Marie Sebag for second in the tournament, half a point behind Elina Danielan. Koneru needed to finish tied for first, but with no more than one of her two rivals. On paper it didn't look good at all: while she was facing a tail-ender, Zhu Chen, she would had Black. Further, Danielan was also facing a tailender, but with White, while Sebag, though Black, was facing the second lowest-rated player in the tournament. And yet it all worked out: Danielan was quickly held to a draw by Antoaneta Stefanova, Koneru won, and after a long struggle Sebag overpressed and lost.

By tying for first, Koneru leapfrogged Nana Dzagnidze and came in second in the overall Grand Prix standings, thus qualifying for a match against the World Champion. Why didn't the first place finisher qualify instead? That's because she - Hou Yifan - is already the World Champion. When they play, it will be their third match in a world championship, but their first world championship match in a proper sense. In the last two k.o. events, they played in the semi-finals, with Hou winning both times. Those were mini-matches; this time around they'll play 10 games, probably in or around August or September.

The FIDE Women's Grand Prix: The Good, The Good, and The Ugly

Elina Danielan started with 5/5 and 6.5/7, but today finally had her comeuppance at the hands of the player who needed it most: Humpy Koneru. As I understand the FIDE rules (which can always be changed at the President's whim in any case), world champion Hou Yifan is supposed to play the winner of the current Women's Grand Prix cycle or - in case Hou herself wins it - the runner-up.

Entering the event we're following now, the finale of the current GP cycle, Hou (who isn't playing) leads the series, while Nana Dzagnidze is in second, Tatiana Kosintseva is in third and Humpy Koneru is in fourth. Kosintseva isn't playing in the current event (in Qatar), but Dzagnidze and Koneru are. For simplicity's sake, let's ignore Hou in the overall standings. If Koneru wins this event or ties with at most one other person and Dzagnidze comes in no better than shared second place, then she will face Hou in the title match; otherwise, Dzagnidze gets the match. (So says TWIC, anyway.)

Coming into round 8, Koneru was two points behind the seemingly unstoppable Danielan, but the Indian won and closed to within a point. Further, she has what at least looks like a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way, while Danielan's last three games are against players in the middle of the pack. Dzagnidze matters too, of course, and she's just half a point behind Koneru (and Sebag), with a moderately difficult schedule ahead of her. To summarize, here are the leading standings after round 8 (of 11):

1. Danielan 6.5

2-3. Koneru, Sebag 5.5

4. Dzagnidze 5

Some games from the tournament have caught my eye, and lest anyone got the wrong idea and possibly take offense, the title of this post refers to the three games I'm going to present and not to any of the players! The two "goods" refer to nice attacks that culminated in queen sacrifices, while the "ugly" refers to one of the worst-played rook endgames I've ever seen at the professional level. (Errare humanum est!) Have a look!