Attracts for the main trio of GMs Anna Muzychuk, Zhu Jiner, and Tan Zhongyi within the penultimate spherical of the 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix left the standings unchanged, however imply Zhu has booked a FIDE Candidates spot, whereas Tan misses out. The day’s wins got here for GM Nana Dzagnidze, who received a rollercoaster sport towards IM Nurgyul Salimova, and GM Mariya Muzychuk, who pounced on a mistake by GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Spherical 9 begins one hour earlier on Thursday, Might 15, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.
Spherical eight was the quietest but, with “solely” two wins.
Grosslobming FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix Spherical 8 Outcomes
That meant that Anna Muzychuk and Zhu are nonetheless tied for first place going into the ultimate spherical, with Tan half some extent again, whereas Dzagnidze joins GM Vaishali Rameshbabu inside some extent of the leaders.
Grosslobming FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix Standings After Spherical 8
Spherical eight was the day Zhu’s five-game successful streak lastly got here to an finish, but it surely did so with essentially the most comfy of attainable attracts towards IM Olga Badelka. It is truthful to say 11…Ndxe5 did not catch the Chinese language 22-year-old off-guard, since she blitzed out the tactical sequence that adopted and on transfer 17 had 5 minutes greater than she began the sport with. She had a slight edge, however was content material to soundly take a draw.
That draw did not change the general Grand Prix standings by way of factors, however now having one spherical much less made an enormous distinction to the potential outcomes.
FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix 2024-25 As It Stands
| Rank | Participant | Tbilisi | Shymkent | Monaco | Nicosia | Pune | G’lobming | Whole |
| 1 | Zhu Jiner | 117.5 | 117.5 | 117.5 | 352.5 | |||
| 2 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 130 | 106.67 | 71.67 | 308.34 | |||
| 3 | Anna Muzychuk | 71.67 | 117.5 | 117.5 | 306.67 | |||
| 4 | Koneru Humpy | 55 | 106.67 | 117.5 | 279.17 | |||
| 5 | Tan Zhongyi | 105 | 65 | 85 | 255 |
Even when Zhu now loses within the ultimate spherical she will at worst end in a tie with one different participant for third place (Anna Muzychuk and Vaishali play one another, so cannot each win), incomes 77.5 factors, and giving her a minimal of 312.5, forward of GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. Which means we are able to congratulate the Chinese language rising star with turning into the primary participant confirmed for the 2026 FIDE Girls’s Candidates Event.
Tan’s draw towards Vaishali implies that she’s now mathematically out of the race for the 2 spots, since even sole first in Grosslobming would solely give her 300 factors, under at the very least Zhu and Goryachkina. Tan in actual fact needed to be cautious to make the draw, since what Vaishali described as a “very attention-grabbing pawn construction” clearly favored White.
Anna Muzychuk, after a three-game successful streak, has now made a fourth attract a row, this time in a 28-move draw by repetition towards IM Lela Javakhishvili. To qualify for the Candidates Anna should now take sole first place in Grosslobming, which possible means beating Vaishali within the ultimate spherical whereas Zhu fails to beat Kosteniuk. A draw is also sufficient, however then Zhu should lose and Tan fail to beat Anna’s sister Mariya.
There have been additionally two decisive video games in spherical eight.
Mariya Muzychuk 1-0 Kosteniuk
Wins have been like London buses for Mariya Muzychuk—you wait round for seven rounds to get one, then one other comes alongside straight away. The round-eight win turned utterly on one second. Kosteniuk might have taken a chunk with 17…Nxd3! after which performed 18…e5, however as a substitute performed 17…e5?? first, dropping a chunk and the sport. “It appears to me that she merely made the second transfer of the variation,” stated Mariya.
Let’s finish with the sport of the spherical!
Dzagnidze 1-0 Salimova
Salimova’s 6…Qb6?! already took a 1.c4 c5 English off the trodden path, and when she received down to simply over half an hour on her clock earlier than enjoying the shedding transfer 11…Nxe4? it regarded set to be a snug win for Dzagnidze.
As a substitute the Georgian star struggled to recollect evaluation that possible did not exist, went astray herself, and admitted it was a “miracle” that she averted getting checkmate in what adopted.
One of many wildest video games of what is been a wild event.
Spherical 9 Pairings
So all of it comes right down to a ultimate spherical the place the main target will likely be on Kosteniuk-Zhu, Tan-Mariya Muzychuk, and Anna Muzychuk-Vaishali. Do not miss the motion, that begins one hour sooner than common.
How you can watch?
You’ll be able to watch the printed on FIDE’s YouTube channel. The video games may also be checked out on our devoted 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix occasions web page.
The stay broadcast was hosted by Angelika Valkova and GM Felix Blohberger.
The 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix is the sixth and ultimate leg of the 2024-2025 FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix. The ten-player round-robin runs Might 6-15 in Grosslobming, Austria. Gamers have 90 minutes, plus half-hour from transfer 40, with a 30-second increment per transfer. The highest prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with gamers additionally incomes Grand Prix factors. Every of the 20+ gamers competes in three occasions; the highest two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Girls’s Candidates Event that decides the World Championship challenger.
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