Koneru edges out Zhu at FIDE Women’s Grand Prix
Humpy Koneru has won the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix event at Pune, India on tiebreak over Jiner Zhu. Both players scored a very strong 7/9, with IM Divya Deshmukh taking third at 5.5/9.
Koneru had beaten Zhu in round 7 to take a half-point lead, but Zhu struck right back with a win over Deshmukh in round 8. That would set up a dramatic final round where perhaps if either player could win, they would win the tournament.
As it happened, both players won, in a pair of very long endgames: Koneru beat Nurgyul Salimova in 84 moves, in a knight endgame, and Zhu earned Polina Shuvalova’s resignation on move 76, in a rook endgame. Both players had winning positions for half the game, so knowing that Koneru would win on tiebreak, Zhu would have been the one hoping for a small miracle on the other board.
Salimova got into a bad position early in a Slav, symbolized by her only being able to castle on move 26. Koneru made no more than a couple small missteps on her way to converting. Zhu seized her chance on move 30:
It turns out 30. Qc3! was needed, rather than the game’s 30. Re3?? Bxf3 31. gxf3 d5! and White’s position cracks open as the queen remains under fire.
The games can be reviewed in full on Lichess. The good news for Zhu is that the Grand Prix points are shared, so she and Koneru both jump up the season-long leaderboard and have good chances at one of the two Candidates qualification spots. The final event is in Austria, May 5-16, where Zhu will have to fend off top-flight players Anna Muzychuk and Tan Zhongyi.
Photo: FIDE
