The 9^th round of the third tournament of Women’s Grand Prix Series turned out successful for Bela Khotenashvili (2514). The Georgian chess player face leader Humpy Koneru (2607) and defeated her. Khotenashvili played with white pieces and beat the opponent on the 60^th move.

Bela earned 5.5 points and is in the second place. Harika Dronavalli (India, 2475) and Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine, 2532) have the same points but Bela has better additional data. In the previous round Dronavalli lost to Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia (2495) and Lahno – to Xue Zhao of China (2579).

Khotenashvili has to hold two games in Tashkent. She has a chance to keep the second place.

Today the Georgian chess player will face Lahno with black pieces. In the last round Khotenashvili will play Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria (2496) with white pieces. In the next round Koneru will play Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan (2307) and Dronavalli – Nafisa Muminova of Uzbekistan (2293).

Grand Prix series consist of 6 stages and world’s 18 best women chess players are participating in it. Each of them will compete in four stages.

Here is Top 5 after two stages of Grand Prix: 1. Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) – 250 points; 2. Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) – 220; 3. Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia) – 190; 4. Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia) – 170; 5. Humpy Koneru (India) – 160;