Hou Yifan's second draw

In the eighth round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Rostov-on-Don, Hou Yifan (China) drew against Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia). The World Champion said in the press conference afterwards that she’d played a forced drawing line to take a rest – a luxury she could afford after winning all but one of her other games. She leads by two points with three rounds to go.

Today’s other winners were Ruan Lufei (China) over Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) over Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Russia). The other games were drawn.

The standings are:

1. Hou Yifan – 7/8
2. Tatiana Kosintseva – 5
3-6. Koneru, Lahno, Muzychuk – 4.5
7. N. Kosintseva – 4
8-9. Galliamova, Ruan Lufei – 3.5
10. Kosteniuk – 3
11. Danielian – 2.5
12. Kovalevskaya – 1.5

Tomorrow is a rest day, and then the pairings for Friday’s 9th round are:

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
5	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2538	-	WGM	Ruan Lufei	2479	12
6	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2560	-	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2497	4
7	GM	Danielian Elina	2521	-	IM	Galliamova Alisa	2492	3
8	IM	Kovalevskaya Ekaterina	2427	-	GM	Koneru Humpy	2614	2
9	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2557	-	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2524	1
10	GM	Lahno Kateryna	2536	-	GM	Hou Yifan	2575	11

Official website
Games with Houdini analysis at WhyChess