Lausanne Women's Grand Prix Day 1: Silence Before The Storm?
The Lausanne Women's Grand Prix started with six draws in the first round on Monday. The tournament is the third of four Grand Prix events where the winner and the runner-up will qualify for the 2021 Women's Candidates Tournament.
Results round 1
Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) – Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) ½-½
Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) ½-½
Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) – Ju Wenjun (CHN) ½-½
Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG) – Marie Sebag (FRA) ½-½
Harika Dronavalli (IND) – Pia Cramling (SWE) ½-½
Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) ½-½
It was a fairly quiet first day of chess in the Mövenpick Hotel in Ouchy, located by the lake in Lausanne. Not surprisingly, GMs Anna and Mariya Muzychuk drew quickly in their game, and this turned out to be an example for the others.
Splitting the point was especially decent for IM Zhansaya Abdumalik, the last-minute replacement for GM Zhao Xue, who couldn't come due to travel restrictions related to the coronavirus. Abdumalik's choice of the 5.Re1 line in the Berlin was a logical one against a strong opponent like the Women's World Champion, Ju Wenjun.
In one of the interesting games of the round, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina could have secured an edge with 21.Bb5 "with the idea to use her passed pawn later," according to GM Yannick Pelletier.
Round 1 games
After Skolkovo and Monaco, Lausanne is the third Women's Grand Prix in the 2019-2020 series. The fourth and final leg will be held in May in Sardinia, Italy.
Each tournament is a 12-player round-robin. The prize fund in each Grand Prix is 80,000 euros, with 15,000 euros and 160 Grand Prix points awarded to the winner.
Pairings round 2
Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – Mariya Muzychuk (UKR)
Pia Cramling (SWE) – Anna Muzychuk (UKR)
Marie Sebag (FRA) – Harika Dronavalli (IND)
Ju Wenjun (CHN) – Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG)
Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) – Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ)
Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) – Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS)
Previous report:
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.”
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