A Heartbreaking Win for Anna Muzychuk at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix
“Of course it’s great to win the event but I think it has never been so sad to win the event,” said Anna Muzychuk, after she won the Austria event of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix but finished third on the overall Grand Prix leaderboard, missing out on Candidates qualification by the slimmest of margins.
Muzychuk and Zhu Jiner were tied for first place going into the final round, and Muzychuk needed to finish solo first to earn enough Grand Prix points to pass Aleksandra Goryachkina for the second spot. Zhu had a losing endgame against Alexandra Kosteniuk, but it turned in the following position.
47. Bb2?? was a blunder, as 47. …Nxe3 48. Kxe3 Nd5+ simplified into a dead equality. Kosteniuk needed to play 47. Nxg4! and trust in the passed h-pawn, for example 47. …fxg4 48. h6 c4+ Pulling White’s king a square further away from the g-pawn. 49. Kxc4 g3 50. h7 g2 51. Bd4! Ng6 52. Kc5 (D), and White can win on the queenside. The long-range bishop beats the knight in this endgame.
Muzychuk had an extra pawn in a queen and bishop endgame against Vaishali Rameshbabu, but it would have been very difficult to break through that blockade that Vaishali had set up, and it ended in a threefold repetition.
Thus, Muzychuk and Zhu finished tied at 6/9, and Muzychuk won the tournament by virtue of having more games with Black. Tan Zhongyi failed to convert a good position and drew to finish in third at 5.5/9.
Zhu finishes first place in the Grand Prix with 352.5 points, on three T1-2 finishes. Goryachkina comes second at 308.34, with a 1st, a T1-3, and a T3-5. And Muzychuk is third at 306.67, with two T1-2s and a T3-5. Sympathies to her, for a superb season that came up just short.
The final season-long standings are available on the Grand Prix website, and the games can be viewed on Lichess.
Photo via FIDE
