Nicosia GP Round 4: Harika crushes Badelka, Anna Muzychuk joins Jiner Zhu in the lead
GM Harika Dronavalli crushed IM Olga Badelka (AUT) in the fourth round of FIDE Nicosia GP. Harika scored her first win of the event as she surprised her opponent with 2.a3 in the English Opening. She lost an exchange early in the game and could not recover. GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) won her second consecutive game. This time, it was against IM Divya Deshmukh who made a tactical error in the endgame. Anna joined GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) in the lead 3/4. Harika is trailing the leaders by a half point with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina at 2.5/4 each. Round 5 starts today from 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz
Anna wins two in-a-row
The fourth round witnessed four decisive games which is the highest of this event so far. White won in all four of them. The victors of the round are - GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR). GM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) has lost three out of her four games so far.
Harika - Badelka: 1-0
GM Harika Dronavalli (2483) clashed earlier with IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2429) twice in Classical rated games. Both ended in draws. However, this time, Harika was determined to score a victory. She surprised her opponent with 2.a3 in response to 1.c4 e5. Five out of the first six moves by Harika were pawn pushes in the English opening.
8...Qd7? allowed White to go for a tactical shot 9.Bh6! Black can take neither as in all cases she will lose material. So 9...0-0 10.Nxf6+ Bxf6 11.Bxf8 White gained an exchange and went on to win the game comfortably.
The finish was nice with 27.Qh8+ Black has no good choice left.
Anna - Divya: 1-0
GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 2516) faced IM Divya Deshmukh (2470) only once at World Blitz 2023 which ended in a draw. In their first Classical rated game, Anna mentioned that her opponent surprised her with Caro-Kann Defence as she does not play that often.
27...Nxb2? allowed White to gain substantial advantage 28.Nxe6! Kxe6 29.Rcxc6+ Rxc6 30.Rxc6+ Kf5 31.Bd4 Nd3 32.Rxf6+ Ke4 33.Rd6 and it's over.
Replay live stream
GP Standings
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina is the new sole leader of the GP with 236.67 points, followed by IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) 197.5 and GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) 170 points. Bibisara has played all three of her GP events of the season. So, she has none left.
Prizes
Total prize fund is €80000. The top three prizes are €18000, €13000 and €10500 each. The top three GP points are - 130, 105 and 85. For more details, check out the regulations below.
Schedule
Round 1 starts on 15th March at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. The tournament will go on till 24th March 2025. Sole rest day is on Thursday 20th March.
Replay Round 4 games
Round 4 results
GM Nana Dzagnidze - GM Elisabeth Paehtz : 1-0
GM Harika Dronavalli - IM Olga Badelka : 1-0
GM Mariya Muzychuk - GM Jiner Zhu : 0.5-0.5
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina - IM Stavroula Tsolakidou : 1-0
GM Anna Muzychuk - IM Divya Deshmukh : 1-0
Standings after Round 4
Round 5 pairings
IM Divya Deshmukh - GM Nana Dzagnidze
IM Stavroula Tsolakidou - GM Anna Muzychuk
GM Jiner Zhu - GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
IM Olga Badelka - GM Mariya Muzychuk
GM Elisabeth Paehtz -bGM Harika Dronavalli
