Kateryna Lagno grabbed the sole lead at the Women’s Grand Prix in Astana after scoring a fourth win in a row on Tuesday. Lagno defeated Zhu Jiner with the black pieces, while former co-leader Aleksandra Goryachkina signed a quick draw in her game against Zhansaya Abdumalik. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Polina Shuvalova also scored full points in round 9. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
An action packed day saw five matches decided in the playoffs and one match (Caruana-Xiong) made it all the way to Armageddon, finishing in a dramatic time scramble. After all was said and done, Aronian, Dominguez, Sevian, and Caruana from the Open Field along with Krush, Tokhirjonova, Lee, and Abrahamyan from the Women’s Field advanced to the next stage of the Champions Bracket. | Photos: Austin and Crystal Fuller, Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes
After three rounds of games in Riga, out of 157 participants, naturalised Frenchman Alireza Firouzja became the only player – in the entire Grand Swiss – to have won all three games