Nicosia GP Round 7: Jiner Zhu regains sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/03/2025

The seventh round of FIDE Nicosia GP 2025 witnessed a big shake up in the leaderboard. GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) suffered a shocking loss against IM Olga Badelka (AUT). Anna made a positional mistake in the middlegame from which she could not recover. It was her first loss of the event and her opponent's first win. GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) defeated IM Divya Deshmukh to regain her sole lead 5/7. Anna is now trailing by a half point at 4.5/7. GM Harika Dronavalli drew with GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR). Both are at 4/7 each with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina who made a quick 11-move draw against GM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER). Round 8 starts today from 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Harika maintains her pursuit

GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) is the new sole leader 5/7 | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Jiner - Divya: 1-0

GM Jiner Zhu (CHN, 2514) played three rated game including one Classical against IM Divya Deshmukh (2470). The GM won all of them. This time also, the result went in favor of Jiner.

Position after 19...g6

Black had to play 19...g6 herself to prevent White from going g6. It created longterm dark square weakness on the kingside which White eventually capitalized on to win the game and gain sole lead.

Interview with Jiner Zhu | Video: FIDE

GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) positionally outplayed IM Divya Deshmukh | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Badelka - Anna: 1-0

IM Olga Badelka (AUT, 2429) and GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 2516) had played two rated games against each other. Anna won both of them - one Classical and one Blitz. However, Badelka scored her first victory of Anna in this round.

Position after 14...Ne4?

14...Ne4? is what started to cause Black's position fall apart 15.cxd5 Nxd2 16.dxe6 Ne4? 17.Nxf7+ Nf5 18.Bc4 Be7 19.Qg4 and White won the game in nine more moves.

Interview with IM Olga Badelka | Video: FIDE

IM Olga Badelka (AUT) - GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR): 1-0 | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE) - GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO): 0-1 | Photo: FIDE/Mark Livshitz

GM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina made a quick 11-move draw | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

GM Harika Dronavalli - GM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Former Women’s World Champion and current FIDE Treasurer, GM Zhu Chen (QAT), made the ceremonial first move for GM Jiner Zhu, FM IO Joran Aulin-Jansson (NOR), FIDE Vice President made the first move for IM Divya Deshmukh | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

Replay live stream

Replay Round 7 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.

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	4	2445	IM	TSOLAKIDOU, STAVROULA	0 - 1	GM	DZAGNIDZE, NANA	2513	10
2	5	2514	GM	ZHU, JINER	1 - 0	IM	DIVYA, DESHMUKH	2470	3
3	6	2429	IM	BADELKA, OLGA	1 - 0	GM	MUZYCHUK, ANNA	2516	2
4	7	2424	GM	PAEHTZ, ELISABETH	½ - ½	GM	GORYACHKINA, ALEKSANDRA	2548	1
5	8	2483	GM	DRONAVALLI, HARIKA	½ - ½	GM	MUZYCHUK, MARIYA	2490	9

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	5	GM	ZHU, JINER	CHN	2514	5	3	15,75	3
2	2	GM	MUZYCHUK, ANNA	UKR	2516	4,5	3	15,00	3
3	8	GM	DRONAVALLI, HARIKA	IND	2483	4	4	13,50	2
4	9	GM	MUZYCHUK, MARIYA	UKR	2490	4	4	12,75	1
5	1	GM	GORYACHKINA, ALEKSANDRA	FID	2548	4	3	12,75	1
6	10	GM	DZAGNIDZE, NANA	GEO	2513	3,5	4	9,25	2
7	6	IM	BADELKA, OLGA	AUT	2429	3	4	11,25	1
8	3	IM	DIVYA, DESHMUKH	IND	2470	2,5	3	9,00	0
9	4	IM	TSOLAKIDOU, STAVROULA	GRE	2445	2,5	3	7,25	1
10	7	GM	PAEHTZ, ELISABETH	GER	2424	2	4	7,50	1

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2513	GM	DZAGNIDZE, NANA		GM	MUZYCHUK, MARIYA	2490	9
2	1	2548	GM	GORYACHKINA, ALEKSANDRA		GM	DRONAVALLI, HARIKA	2483	8
3	2	2516	GM	MUZYCHUK, ANNA		GM	PAEHTZ, ELISABETH	2424	7
4	3	2470	IM	DIVYA, DESHMUKH		IM	BADELKA, OLGA	2429	6
5	4	2445	IM	TSOLAKIDOU, STAVROULA		GM	ZHU, JINER	2514	5