This was the second leg of five in the Women's Grand Prix series 2015-2016 which would determine the challenger for the women's crown in 2017. (1) The first leg in Monte Carlo was easily won by Yifan Hou who gained the maximum 160 Grand Prix points for her result. The third leg, originally to be held in Tbilisi in Georgia, was held in Batumi, Georgia in April-May 2016.
When
The first round commenced on Thursday 11 February 2016 with the eleventh and final round being played on Tuesday 23 February 2016. Rest days were 15 and 20 February.
Where
Tehran, Iran.
Format
Round robin, twelve players, eleven rounds.
Time Control
For each player 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 from move one.
Tie Breaks
The rules stipulate that no tie breaks will be used in individual GP tournaments. Prizes and Grand Prix ranking points are shared equally where there are any tied placements. If there is a tie at the top of the Grand Prix points tally by the end of the last event, then the winner will be declared as follows, with successive tiebreakers being invoked if the earlier ones do not break the tie:
- No. of actual game result points scored in the three tournaments
- No. of 1st places
- No. of 2nd places
- No. of wins
- Drawing of lots
Prizes and Grand Prix points (2)
The total prize money for this event was 60,000 Euros (nearly US $68,000). Grand Prix points awarded for each place in the event are in brackets after the prize money.
1st Prize 10,000 Euros (160 pts), 4th Prize 5,750 Euros (90 pts), 7th Prize 4,250 Euros (60 pts), 10th Prize 3,000 Euros (30 pts)
2nd Prize 8,250 Euros (130 pts), 5th Prize 5,000 Euros (80 pts), 8th Prize 4,000 Euros (50 pts), 11th Prize 2,750 Euros (20 pts)
3rd Prize 6.750 Euros (110 pts), 6th Prize 4,500 Euros (70 pts), 9th Prize 3,250 Euros (40 pts), 12th Prize 2,500 Euros (10 pts)
Crosstable, Grand Prix points (GPP) and comments (1, 3)
Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 GPP
1 Ju Wenjun 2558 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 7½ 160
=2 Khademalsharieh 2403 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 7 120
=2 Zhao Xue 2506 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 7 120
=4 Pogonina 2454 ½ ½ 0 * 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 6½ 85
=4 Dzagnidze 2529 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 1 0 1 1 6½ 85
6 Koneru 2583 0 ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 6 70
7 Zhukova 2484 ½ 1 0 1 0 ½ * 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 5½ 60
=8 Gunina 2496 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 4½ 45
=8 Harika 2511 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 4½ 45
10 Cramling 2521 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ 0 4 30
=11 Stefanova 2509 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 3½ 15
=11 Batsiashvili 2485 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * 3½ 15
Pogonina (85 GP points from Monaco) kicked off to an early lead in the second round when she was the only player to win her first two games and retained her lead through to and including round five. However a draw by Pogonina with Gunina and a win by Dzagnidze (50 GP points from Monaca) against Zhukova in round six enabled Dzagnidze to draw level with Pogonina to share the lead. They shared the lead for another round before a loss by Pogonina to Stefanova and a win by Dzagnidze over Harika in Round 8 enabled the Georgian to pull clear of the Russian to take the sole lead, which only lasted for that round. In Round 9, Dzagnidze lost her game, as did Pogonina in her game against Zhao Xue playing her first event in the GP, enabling the latter to grab the co-lead alongside the Georgian with 6.5/9. In Round 10, both co-leaders were beaten and overtaken by their conquerors: Zhao Xue lost to Iranian teenager Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (who gained her first GM norm) while Dzagnidze lost to Ju Wenjun, the two winners now sharing the lead with 7/10. In the final round, Ju Wenjun drew with Harika after 50 moves to remain undefeated and to win the tournament outright and take the maximum 160 GP points and 10,000 Euros prize money, while Khademalsharieh was ground down by Zhukova in 74 moves to record her only loss of the event to share second place with Zhao Xue, each winning 120 GP points and 7,500 Euros prize money.
Official site
http://tehran2016.fide.com/
Previous Women's GP event
Women's Grand Prix Monte Carlo (2015)
Next Women's GP event
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Batumi (2016)
(1) Wikipedia article: FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015%E2%80%9316 (2) https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/... (3) http://tehran2016.fide.com/en/compo...
Kibitzing
