
Pia Cramling went through another long battle but her opponent Alexandra Kosteniuk is known as a trained marathon runner. The Russian eventually squeezed a full point from a drawish endgame and inflicted the first defeat on the Swedish legend.

The encounter between Harika Dronavalli and Alina Kashlinskaya was as balanced as a true Exchange French can be. Nothing really happened and both players shared the point on move 31. Anna Muzychuk and Antoaneta Stefanova produced some more action in the middle game, but everything simplified quickly after the central advance 18...d5. Zhansaya Abdumalik sacrificed a pawn with Black on move 16 but failed to obtain full compensation for it. Her opponent Mariya Muzychuk did not play actively enough after that and suddenly had to be slightly careful to keep the balance. She coped with the task and secured the draw on move 40.
The long-awaited remake of the World Championship final between Aleksandra Goryachkina and Ju Wenjun will take place on Thursday’s round 10. In view of Ju’s poor shape in Lausanne, the Russian will certainly try and take small revenge in her fight for the first place.

Results of round 9:
Harika Dronavalli (IND) – Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) ½-½
Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Antoaneta Stefanova(BLG) ½-½
Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) – Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) ½-½
Pia Cramling (SWE) – Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) 0-1
Marie Sebag (FRA) – Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) ½-½
Ju Wenjun (CHN) – Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) 0-1
Standings after round 9:
1. Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) - 6 points
2. Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) - 5½
3.-6. Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS), Anna Muzychuk (UKR), Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) and Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) - 5
7. Harika Dronavalli (IND) - 4½
8.-10. Pia Cramling (SWE), Ju Wenjun (CHN) and Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) - 4
11.-12. Marie Sebag (FRA) and Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) - 3
Program of round 10, 12 March at 3 pm:
Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – Nana Dzagnidze (GEO)
Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) – Ju Wenjun (CHN)
Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Marie Sebag (FRA)
Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) – Pia Cramling (SWE)
Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG) – Mariya Muzychuk (UKR)
Harika Dronavalli (IND) – Anna Muzychuk (UKR)
Follow all the action live with commentary by grandmasters Mikhail Gurevich and Keti Tsatsalashvili on the tournament website http://wgp2019.fide.com.
Pictures in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
Text: Yannick Pelletier
Photos: David Llada
Contact: press@fide.com