Hou Yifan won her fifth consecutive game, with black pieces against Ecuadorian international master Martha Fierro in French Tarrasch.  After 18.Bf4 the balance of the position changed irreversibly, afterwards the Chinese youngster finished with a nice tactical blow and won her fifth game in a row and finished

 





Maia Chiburdanidze decided to employ Ragozin against Humpy Koneru in the crucial game of the round. In the complicated middle game neither side took drastic action but made preparations for the real action. When the real fight started taking place white seemed to be the forcing side but black was the side that gained the slight advantage according to the silicon monster. The turning point was where white decided to take on e4 with the rook since taking e4 with the knight would give black the crucial tempo. Just at the time control black made the decisive mistake with taking on g5 which allowed the quick disaster.

 



Zeinab Mamedyarova scored her first win against Shen Yang in a Queen's Indian. White achieved a typical advantage in king side bishop fianchetto where her expansion on queen's side limited black pieces and the enormous pressure of the g2 bishop brought decisive advantage.

 









In the game between Antoaneta Stefanova and Elina Danielian white was the pressing side whole the game but the result did not reflect the course of the game. White sat on the driver's seat from early on and pressed for a while but during the time trouble queens were exchange and white's initiative evaporated and black took the control. After the time control it was over.

 





In the Moscow Variation of Queen's Gambit, Pia Cramling and Marie Sebag drew. Black seemed to be pressing with her bishop pair for a while but after move 40, the position led to a draw.







Xue Zhao won with black pieces against Betül Cemre Yıldız where black showed a good technique with a plan consisting of dominating the black squares. Forcing white to advance the pawns with the same square with the bishop and forcing white to create further weaknesses were the central aims of black's strategy and the Chinese grandmaster won an instructive game to join the shared second place with Koneru Humpy.







Maia Chiburdanidze decided to employ Ragozin against Humpy Koneru in the crucial game of the round. In the complicated middle game neither side took drastic action but made preparations for the real action. When the real fight started taking place white seemed to be the forcing side but black was the side that gained the slight advantage according to the silicon monster. The turning point was where white decided to take on e4 with the rook since taking e4 with the knight would give black the crucial tempo. Just at the time control black made the decisive mistake with taking on g5 which allowed the quick disaster.