Anna Muzychuk joins the leaders
 The Round 4 showdown between the Chinese leaders Zhao Xue and Hou Yifan at the Women's Grand Prix in Shenzhen was an anticlimax - they drew by repetition in 15 moves (and fewer minutes). Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia, in the photo above) took advantage by beating Betul Cemre Yildiz (Turkey) with the black pieces to join the leaders on 3/4.
There were also wins with the black pieces for Ruan Lufei (China) over Elina Danielian (Armenia) and Ju Wenjun (China) over Zhu Chen (Qatar). That last game will appeal to all fans of the King's Indian Defence, as Black left the queenside to its fate while launching an unstoppable kingside attack.
Zhu Chen has just played 38.Nc7 to which Ju Wenjun replied 38...Ng3+
We could easily have had five players tied for the lead, as both Viktorija Cmilyte against Ekaterina Kovalevskaya and Tan Zhongyi against Batkhuyag Munguntuul had a big edge with the black pieces but ultimately had to accept draws in rook endings with an extra pawn.
The current standings are:
1-3. Zhao Xue, Hou Yifan, Anna Muzychuk - 3
4-7. Viktorija Cmilyte, Tan Zhongyi, Ruan Lufei, Ju Wenjun - 2.5
8. Zhu Chen - 1.5
9-11. Betul Cemre Yildiz, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Batkhuyag Munguntuul - 1
12. Elina Danielian - 0.5
Tomorrow, Sunday 11 September, is a rest day. Round 5 takes place on Monday with another game between two leaders, Anna Muzychuk and Zhao Xue. The full pairings are:
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Comments
Cheating?
The Zhao Xue - Hou Yifan game was shameful. Looks like Zhao Xue was under orders from the politburo to draw with white. How else do you justify such a pathetic 15 move game?