Kosteniuk Wins Women's Speed Chess GP Leg 4 Final
On Sunday GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the fourth and final leg of the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix. Thanks to her 7-5 win against Indian GM Humpy Koneru, Kosteniuk finished first in the overall Grand Prix and qualified for the Super Final against GM Anna Ushenina on July 20.
Earlier in the day, GM Hou Yifan had beaten IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh 7.5-2.5. This Grand Prix tournament is the fourth and final leg.
The games of the Women's Speed Chess events are played on the Chess.com Live Server at www.chess.com/live. All matches are broadcast live with chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV. The Super Final starts Monday, July 20, at 7:00 a.m. Pacific / 16:00 Central Europe.
The live broadcast of the final day.
Kosteniuk won $3,000 and gained the maximum 12 Grand Prix points for a total of 24, two more than Ushenina and GM Valentina Gunina. The latter narrowly missed out on the Super Final, having scored one game point less than Ushenina in her GP series.
Koneru gained eight Grand Prix points ($2,000). Hou got six GP points this time ($1,000), and Khademalsharieh five ($700).
All players who lost in the quarterfinals gained two GP points and $500, while the players who lost in the round of 16 did not get any GP points but still earned $200 in prize money.
FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship Grand Prix | Final Standings (Top)
| # | Fed | Name | Rating | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Score | TB1 |
| 1 | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2521 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 24 | 86.5 | ||
| 2 | Anna Ushenina | 2387 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 22 | 69 | ||
| 3 | Valentina Gunina | 2476 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 22 | 68 | ||
| 4 | Kateryna Lagno | 2608 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 20 | 73 | ||
| 5 | Hou Yifan | 2601 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 69.5 | ||
| 6 | S Khademalsharieh | 2431 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 64 | ||
| 7 | Humpy Koneru | 2483 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 37.5 |
The final of this fourth leg was equal for more than half of the match. The score was 3.5-3.5 after three 5+1 games and four 3+1 games.
Koneru started with a loss but then received praise for how she conducted the second 5+1 game. The aggressive, computer-accurate play is indeed impressive:
It was after those seven games that Kosteniuk ran away, scoring three wins in a row: the last 3+1 game and the first two bullet games. That more or less decided the match; Koneru won one more, but time was running out. The match ended with a draw.
That last 3+1 game was indeed a turning point because Koneru was, in fact, winning before she ended losing.
She did it! By winning the last leg of the Women's #SpeedChess Grand Prix, @chessqueen overtook Valentina Gunina and Anna Ushenina in the standings and will now play Ushenina in tomorrow's Superfinal. (And the news spread quickly! 😂)https://t.co/N19wF42cKg pic.twitter.com/hXPzUlxOD3
— Chess.com (@chesscom) July 19, 2020
Kosteniuk-Koneru | Score
| # | Fed | Name | Username | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Score |
| 1 | Alexandra Kosteniuk | @ChessQueen | 2700 | 2662 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 7.0/12 | |
| 2 | Humpy Koneru | @humpy1987 | 2603 | 2641 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 5.0/12 |
Kosteniuk-Koneru | All games
Before the final, the match for third place ended in a convincing victory for Hou. Khademalsharieh could briefly enjoy the lead as she won the first game and drew the second, but then the former world champion had enough of it and duly won five games in a row.
Khademalsharieh did have her chances, but often games were decided by heavy blunders when time was running low. An example is game six:
Hou-Khademalsharieh | Score
| # | Fed | Name | Username | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Score |
| 1 | Hou Yifan | @yifan0227 | 2705 | 2803 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 7.5/10 | |
| 2 | Sarasadat Khademalsharieh | @sara_khm | 2613 | 2515 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 2.5/10 |
Hou-Khademalsharieh | All games
You can find all the previous results of the fourth leg here.
Each of the 21 Grand Prix players participated in three of the four legs. Each leg was a 16-player knockout and lasted five days.
All FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championship matches are broadcast live with chess-master commentary on Chess.com/TV. The Super Final starts Monday, July 20, at 7:00 a.m. Pacific / 16:00 Central Europe.
More information about the FIDE Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship can be found here.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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