Tan Zhongyi continues to lead the Women’s Candidates after a day of draws in Round 5

Tan Zhongyi leads the FIDE Women’s Candidates with 3.5/5 half a point clear of
Aleksandra Goryachkina. Nurgyul Salimova is the lowest rated player and
Humpy tried to target her in Round 4 and that backfired. Today Tan got a
very favourable Caro-Kann, 10.Bf4 seems new and 13…d4?! looks like
a mistake, however 15.Nfxd4 winning the pawn straight away rather than
waiting for a better chance with 15.Rfc1 seemed to reduce white’s advantage
and 25.Qc5 (slightly better was 25.Qb6) reduced chances further and
the game was drawn in 25 moves.

Kateryna Lagno missed a major opportunity to beat Lei Tingjie with the black
pieces. First of all Lei was better and 19.Bc1! was a major improvement over
the game. 23.Bd2? (23.d5!) followed by 24.d5 (too late!) gave the advantage to
black after 30…Bxh3 white’s position was falling apart. 31…Ng4! would
have finished things nicely, or 34.Bxe2 but if you don’t finish things you’re
likely to get punished, and it was almost certainly major time pressure
39.Nf5 Nxf5? (39.Qf6 or 39.Bf3) 40.Qxe5 was equal and the game was drawn
a few moves later.

It’s not exaggeration to say that Anna Muzychuk would be the clear leader of the event
if she’d taken all her chances, and it feels like she’s dropped at least half a point every
round with wins going to draws and draws to losses. I can imagine how frustrated she must be. Black against Rameshbabu Vaishali she had
a massive advantage mostly due to a protected, passed g-pawn. but needed to open the position.
45…c6 was the way to do it but it was needed to be followed by 46…b5 not her 46…d5.
After that position remained locked, this time forever and a draw was agreed soon after.

Humpy Koneru played a chastened game with the white pieces against Aleksandra Goryachkina, after her loss in round 4.
In a Semi-Tarrasch Goryachkina seemed comfortable early on and after 34.Bd4?! (34.Be5=) Humpy
was the one under pressure and blacks advantage became tangible after 40.f4?! (40.g3=)
42…Rd5?! however wasn’t the best (42…Bd6 and black continues with a small advantage) and
after a couple more moves the players agreed a draw in a level position.

Round 5 Standings: 1st Tan Zhongyi 3.5pts, 2nd Goryachkina 3pts, 3rd= Lagno, Vaishali, Salimova 2.5pts, 6th= Koneru, Lei Tingjie, Muzychuk 2pts.

Round 6 10th April at 19:30BST:
Vaishali-Lagno,
Koneru-Lei,
Tan-Muzychuk,
Salimova-Goryachkina.