Zhongyi Tan convincingly clinches FIDE Women's Candidates 2024, Koneru Humpy second
GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) drew her final round game against GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) to win FIDE Women's Candidates 2024. Zhongyi scored 9/14 and finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the rest. GM Koneru Humpy defeated GM Tingjie Lei (CHN) to finish second 7.5/14. Tingjie also scored the same and finished third according to tie-breaks. GM Vaishali scored her fifth win in-a-row. She defeated GM Kateryna Lagno in the final round to end up with 7.5/14 and placed fourth. After four losses in-a-row from Round 5 to 9, she made a fantastic comeback by winning her next five games and finished ahead many three stalwarts. Zhongyi will challenge Wenjun Ju (CHN) for the Women's World Championship. Photos: FIDE/Michal Walusza
Vaishali wins five in-a-row
The FIDE Women's Candidates 2024 went quite well for the Indian women. GM Koneru Humpy finished second. GM R Vaishali also scored the same points 7.5/14. However, she was placed fourth according to the tie-breaks. Both Humpy and Vaishali made a great comeback and a strong finish. In the last round, only three games ended decisively and all three of them were won by Indians, playing with black pieces.
Tinjie - Humpy: 0-1
GM Koneru Humpy (2550) lost only two games at this event. One of them occured against GM Tingjie Lei (CHN, 2550) in Round 6.
Black retreated her knight to drive the queen away. 22...Nb8 23.Qxa5 bxa5 24.Rb1 Nd7 25.Rb7+ Kd8 26.Nxf7+ Kc8 27.Nd6+ Qxd6 28.exd6 Kxb7 29.Rxd7+ Ka6 30.Re7 Kb5
Humpy used her king as a piece to capture White's a3 and c3-pawns. She went on to win the game and finish second overall.
Kateryna - Vaishali: 0-1
GM R Vaishali (2475) had lost the first game against GM Kateryna Lagno (2542). However, Vaishali arrived at the final round with a four-game winning streak and Kateryna's sole win of the tournament was against her. The former World Rapid and Blitz Women's champion made a thematic knight sacrifice on g5 for two pawns, exposing her opponent's king. Vaishali defended well and struck back when opportunity arose.
Vaishali stuck 28...Bxf2+! to trade the bishops using tactics. 29.Qxf2 Qxh6 30.Rf1 Rg7 31.Qg3+? Rg7 32.Qf3 Nh5 and Black went on to win the game.
Time control
The time control for each game is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
Prizes
The total prize fund is €250000. The top three prizes are €24000, €18000 and €12000. All prize money shall be divided equally among the players with the equal score after 14 rounds regardless tie-break results. In addition, each player gets €1750 euros for every half point scored.
Replay Round 14 live stream
Replay Round 14 games
Round 14 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2520 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | ½ - ½ | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | 2521 | 6 | |||
| 2 | 8 | 2542 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 0 - 1 | IM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2475 | 4 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2550 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | 0 - 1 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | 2546 | 5 | |||
| 4 | 1 | 2553 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | ½ - ½ | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | 2432 | 7 |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi | CHN | 2521 | 9 | 60,50 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2546 | 7,5 | 52,25 | 3 | 0 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Lei, Tingjie | CHN | 2550 | 7,5 | 52,00 | 4 | 0 | |
| 4 | 4 | IM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2475 | 7,5 | 47,50 | 6 | 0 | |
| 5 | 1 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | FID | 2553 | 7 | 47,00 | 2 | 0 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | FID | 2542 | 6,5 | 45,00 | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | 7 | IM | Salimova, Nurgyul | BUL | 2432 | 5,5 | 39,50 | 1 | 0 | |
| 8 | 2 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | UKR | 2520 | 5,5 | 38,75 | 0 | 0 |
