Armenia’s Elina Danielian is on a roll at the Women’s Chess Grand Prix Series 2011-2012 in Kazan. Scoring back to back victories, she maintains her sole lead after six rounds. Anna Muzychuk, who had caught up with Danielian in joint lead, could only score a draw in the sixth round against a very determined former women’s world chess champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. The tense game could only end in a draw.
Meanwhile, Katerina Lahno playing with Black tried her best to gain advantage of Alisa Galliamova’s badly placed Knight and scored the win with the latter coming under time pressure. Tatiana Kosintseva scored the first win for herself by beating Betul Yildiz. Yildiz’s only win in the tournament has actually come against top seed women’s world chess champion Hou Yifan. The Turkish player underestimated Black’s Queenside attack.
In the other games, women’s world chess champion China’s Hou Yifan obtained a better middlegame position against former women’s world chess champion Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova. Yifan then went on to implement a decisive attack and win. Another tense game, Koneru-Cmilte, finished in a draw.
After six rounds of play, Elina Danielian leads with 4.5 points. Katerina Lahno and Anna Muzychuk share the second place with half a point behind. Hampy Koneru and Viktorija Cmilyte are sharing 4th – 5th places with 3.5 points, followed by Nadezhda Kosintseva and Hou Yifan who are placed 6-7 with 3 points each. Alexandra Kosteniuk, Tatiana Kosintseva and Antoaneta Stefanova are at 8 – 10 spots with 2.5 points. Alisa Galliamova is currently eleventh with 2 points, followed by Betul Yildiz with 1 point.