GM Anna Muzychuk has gained the 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix on tiebreaks over GM Zhu Jiner, however stated afterward, “it has by no means been so unhappy to win an occasion.” Anna made a draw towards GM Vaishali Rameshbabu which might have given her a spot within the 2026 FIDE Ladies’s Candidates Match if GM Alexandra Kosteniuk had transformed a successful place towards GM Zhu Jiner. She did not, with Zhu tying for first place in Austria and successful the general sequence, whereas GM Aleksandra Goryachkina took the remaining Candidates spot.
The ultimate spherical of the Grosslobming Grand Prix was a thriller, with the curiosity that the one decisive motion got here within the two video games that weren’t important within the battle for the highest spots.
Grosslobming FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix Spherical 9 Outcomes
The top end result was that Anna Muzychuk took first place—on the tiebreak of taking part in extra video games with the black items—and Zhu Jiner was second on tiebreaks for a 3rd Grand Prix in a row.
Grand Prix factors and prize cash are shared, nonetheless, with each Anna and Zhu incomes €15,500 (~$17k) and 117.5 factors. GM Tan Zhongyi might have joined the tie for first place, however completed clear third after spoiling a very successful place towards GM Mariya Muzychuk.
Grosslobming FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix Ultimate Standings
| Rank | Identify | FED | Score | Factors | Black | GP Factors | Prize (€) | |
| 1 | GM | Anna Muzychuk | 2526 | 6 | 5 | 117.5 | 15,500 | |
| 2 | GM | Zhu Jiner | 2541 | 6 | 4 | 117.5 | 15,500 | |
| 3 | GM | Tan Zhongyi | 2536 | 5.5 | 5 | 85 | 10,500 | |
| 4 | GM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2475 | 5 | 4 | 70 | 8,500 | |
| 5 | GM | Nana Dzagnidze | 2509 | 4.5 | 5 | 55 | 6,500 | |
| 6 | GM | Mariya Muzychuk | 2494 | 4.5 | 4 | 55 | 6,500 | |
| 7 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2479 | 4 | 5 | 35 | 4,750 | |
| 8 | IM | Lela Javakhishvili | 2430 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 4,750 | |
| 9 | IM | Olga Badelka | 2426 | 3.5 | 4 | 20 | 4,000 | |
| 10 | IM | Nurgyul Salimova | 2399 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 3,500 |
Zhu’s gorgeous consistency was rewarded with first place within the general sequence, an extra €30,000 (~$34k), and a spot within the 2026 Ladies’s Candidates Match. Goryachkina had seemed like she may pay a excessive value for her conservative play within the Nicosia Grand Prix (she completed with eight attracts and one win), however in the long run she scraped dwelling by a lower than two-point margin to disclaim Anna Muzychuk a spot within the Candidates.
FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix 2024-25 Ultimate Standings
| Rank | Participant | Tbilisi | Shymkent | Monaco | Nicosia | Pune | G’lobming | Whole | Prize (€) |
| 1 | Zhu Jiner | 117.5 | 117.5 | 117.5 | 352.5 | 30,000 | |||
| 2 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 130 | 106.67 | 71.67 | 308.34 | 22,000 | |||
| 3 | Anna Muzychuk | 71.67 | 117.5 | 117.5 | 306.67 | 16,000 | |||
| 4 | Koneru Humpy | 55 | 106.67 | 117.5 | 279.17 | 12,000 | |||
| 5 | Tan Zhongyi | 105 | 65 | 85 | 255 | 10,000 | |||
| 6 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 105 | 77.5 | 15 | 197.5 | 8,000 | |||
| 7 | Divya Deshmukh | 55 | 40 | 85 | 180 | 7,000 | |||
| 8-9 | Nana Dzagnidze | 71.67 | 50 | 55 | 176.67 | 5,500 | |||
| 8-9 | Mariya Muzychuk | 50 | 71.67 | 55 | 176.67 | 5,500 | |||
| 10 | Stavroula Tsolakidou | 71.67 | 77.5 | 25 | 174.17 | 4,000 | |||
| 11 | Harika Dronavalli | 35 | 71.67 | 65 | 171.67 | ||||
| 12 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 35 | 50 | 70 | 155 | ||||
| 13 | Alina Kashlinskaya | 130 | 20 | 150 | |||||
| 14 | Batkhuyag Munguntuul | 15 | 106.67 | 20 | 141.67 | ||||
| 15 | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 35 | 50 | 35 | 120 | ||||
| 16 | Kateryna Lagno | 40 | 65 | 105 | |||||
| 17 | Nurgyul Salimova | 30 | 40 | 10 | 80 | ||||
| 18 | Polina Shuvalova | 65 | 65 | ||||||
| 19 | Lela Javakhishvili | 20 | 35 | 55 | |||||
| 20-21 | Sarasadat Khademalsharieh | 10 | 35 | 45 | |||||
| 20-21 | Olga Badelka | 25 | 20 | 45 | |||||
| 22 | Elisabeth Paehtz | 15 | 15 | 10 | 40 | ||||
| 23 | Salome Melia | 20 | 20 |
🇨🇳 Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina have formally certified for the 2026 FIDE Ladies’s Candidates Match! ✨
By ending on the high of the general standings within the FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix, Zhu and Goryachkina secured their spots, edging out a robust discipline — together with… pic.twitter.com/wpLj8cmsX9
— Worldwide Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) Might 15, 2025
The ultimate spherical was a thriller, with Anna Muzychuk understanding she needed to end in clear first place to qualify for the Candidates. That made her recreation towards Vaishali virtually must-win, however there was one other situation the place a draw would suffice… and it very practically occurred!
First, it was necessary that Tan did not win, which seemed a non-starter when she gained a decisive benefit after 32…Be7? 33.Bb2!. White was successful on the board and on the clock, the place Tan had a 50-minute benefit. Remarkably, nonetheless, Anna’s sister would go on to save lots of the sport!
So Mariya had accomplished her half, whereas for a draw to be sufficient for Anna it was additionally important for Zhu to lose.
That did not appear probably, however one slip in a minor-piece endgame, 43…Kd5?, and Kosteniuk was successful. 4 strikes later, nonetheless, she let her Chinese language opponent off the hook.
Zhu had accomplished a exceptional comeback to tie for first place for a 3rd Grand Prix in a row regardless of beginning off with two losses—considered one of them, to Anna Muzychuk.
Anna might nonetheless have gained the occasion outright and certified for the Candidates if she’d overwhelmed Vaishali, however regardless of retaining the stress expertly and taking part in 41.h5! at a very good second, there was by no means a transparent win—the opposite-colored bishops all the time meant that any ending was favourite to finish in a draw.
When Milan Dinic congratulated Anna on successful the match and requested how she felt, she was near tears: “Arduous to say, due to course it’s nice to win the occasion, however on the similar time I believe it has by no means been so unhappy to win an occasion.”
It is nice to win the occasion, however on the similar time I believe it has by no means been so unhappy to win an occasion.
—Anna Muzychuk
Anna took first place on tiebreaks in each Austria and Cyprus, however fell simply brief, although it is value noting there are nonetheless six spots within the Candidates up for grabs by way of occasions such because the FIDE Ladies’s World Cup.
The decisive video games on the ultimate day got here in match-ups that did not matter for the standings on the high, however they have been nonetheless dramatic. IM Lela Javakhishvili teased IM Nurgyul Salimova by repeating strikes twice earlier than persevering with with 36…Be4!. If the bishop is taken the black knight will recapture and fork the king on f2 and rook on c3, successful the sport.
Salimova was in a position simply to depart the bishop untouched, however three strikes later she’d put a pawn on e4 and fell to the identical tactic, 39…Bxe4!, which this time was decisive. There was no method again from the lack of that key pawn.
The opposite recreation noticed IM Olga Badelka comply with a line that had given GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu victory over GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen on this 12 months’s Prague Masters. GM Nana Dzagnidze prevented the primary mistake made in that recreation, however nonetheless discovered herself misplaced in round 17 strikes. That the sport lasted till transfer 98 stated extra about Dzagnidze’s preventing spirit, with Badelka struggling to provide you with a method she might have spoiled the win.
In order that’s all for the 2024-5 FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix. The subsequent occasion to sit up for within the ladies’s world championship cycle is the 103-player FIDE World Cup that will likely be held in Batumi, Georgia on July 5-29. The highest-three finishers there will even qualify for the eight-player Ladies’s Candidates Match.
The way to rewatch?
You’ll be able to rewatch the published on FIDE’s YouTube channel. The video games may also be checked out on our devoted 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix occasions web page.
The reside broadcast was hosted by Angelika Valkova and GM Felix Blohberger.
The 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix was the sixth and last leg of the 2024-2025 FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix. The ten-player round-robin ran Might 6-15 in Grosslobming, Austria. Gamers had 90 minutes, plus half-hour from transfer 40, with a 30-second increment per transfer. The highest prize was €18,000 (~$20,000), with gamers additionally incomes Grand Prix factors. Every of the 20+ gamers competes in three occasions; the highest two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Ladies’s Candidates Match that decides the World Championship challenger.
Earlier Protection: