Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie both draw in Round 12 of the Women's Candidates - 12
Tan Zhongyi was losing against Nurgyul Salimova. By move 25 Tan was in a very uncomfortable position and tried to break out tactically with 25...b6? but this made things worse. Salimova's 43.f6?! (43.g6!) was a step in the wrong direction but she restored her winning position only to play 50.Bxf7? (50.Nxb4, 50.Rh4+ or 50.Bc6) which basically threw away the entire advantage and the game was drawn.
Whilst Tan was losing Lei Tingjie seemed poised to overtake her with a win against Kateryna Lagno. Lei defended the French Defence Advanced variation and after 13.Bg3? was better and seemingly within sight of the winning line played 26.Nf3? (26.Qb6! was the only winner) when the position became equal again and drawn on move 40.
Aleksandra Goryachkina got nothing in the Catalan against Humpy Koneru, pieces came off and a draw was agreed on move 25. The only decisive game was a resurgent Rameshbabu Vaishali who beat Anna Muzychuk. Things started to go wrong for Muzychuk after 24.e6 and by move 40 Vaishali had traded into a completely winning endgame which she converted.
Round 12 Standings: 1st Tan Zhongyi 8pts, 2nd Lei Tingjie 7.5pts, 3rd= Lagno, Koneru, Goryachkina 6pts, 6th Vaishali 5.5pts, 7th= Salimova, Muzychuk 4.5pts.
Rest Day 19th April 2024
Round 13 20th April at 19:30BST: Salimova-Lagno, Tan-Goryachkina, Koneru-Muzychuk, Vaishali-Lei.
Round 14 21st April at 19:30BST: Lagno-Vaishali, Lei-Koneru, Muzychuk-Tan, Goryachkina-Salimova.