Nicosia GP Round 4: Harika crushes Badelka, Anna Muzychuk joins Jiner Zhu in the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 19/03/2025

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.

GM Harika Dronavalli took IM Olga Badelka (AUT) by surprise | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) scored her second win in-a-row to join the lead with GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

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.

Position after 8...Qd7?

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.

Final position after 27.Qh8+

The finish was nice with 27.Qh8+ Black has no good choice left.

Interview with Harika Dronavalli | Video: FIDE

GM Harika Dronavalli surprised IM Olga Badelka with 2.a3 | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

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.

Position after 27...Nxb2?

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.

Interview with GM Anna Muzychuk | Video: FIDE

GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) defeated IM Divya Deshmukh to join the lead | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Interview with GM Nana Dzagnidze | Video: FIDE

GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) capitalized on her opponent, GM Elisabeth Paehtz's (GER) tactical mistake | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) - GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

GM Aleksandra Goryachkina - IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE): 1-0 | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Mr. Criton Tornaritis, President of the Cyprus Chess Federation, made the ceremonial first move of Round 4 on GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and IM Stavroula Tsolakidou's board | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Round 4 in progress | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Replay live stream

Replay Round 4 live commentary by GM Alik Gershon (ISR) and WGM Anastasiya Karlovich (UKR) | Video: FIDE

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.

GM Aleksandra Goryachkina is at the top of the standings with 236.67 points | Source: Official site

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.