Harika On Bounce-Back Win: 'The Game Is Cruel, So I Can't Be Friendly!'
GM Harika Dronavalli pounced on a late mistake by GM Nana Dzagnidze to recover from what she called a "heartbreaking loss" in the previous round of the 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix. Harika is joined a point behind leader GM Anna Muzychuk by GM Mariya Muzychuk, who outplayed GM Elisabeth Paehtz in round six. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina is also a point back after failing to crack strong defense by IM Olga Badelka.
Round seven starts on Saturday, March 22, at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.
Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix Round 6 Results
The top two were unchanged, but Mariya and Harika climbed into contention with wins.
Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix Standings After Round 6
The key game for the standings in round six was leader Anna Muzychuk vs. second-placed GM Zhu Jiner. Anna had a chance to make it four wins in a row, but it was understandable that she instead made a rock-solid draw that kept her half a point ahead of Zhu with three rounds to go.
The balance was also never seriously upset in the highly theoretical clash between IMs Divya Deshmukh and Stavroula Tsolakidou, where new moves were made only in an already drawish position.
The one tense draw saw Goryachkina come extremely close to bamboozling Badelka in an Anti-Berlin in the run-up to the time control. It looked like long suffering ahead for Black, but instead Badelka's active counterplay gave a relatively comfortable 59-move draw.
There were two wins in round six, and both were much needed, for different reasons.
Nana Dzagnidze 0-1 Harika Dronavalli
Few things worse than what happened to Harika in round five can happen in professional chess. She blundered on move six ("I just mixed up something, my mind got blanked out") and never got a second chance. What did it teach her?
I realized the game is cruel so I can’t be friendly. I just have to fight it out. If I lost, I have to try to win. That’s what I’m trying to learn, to have this fighting spirit, not to be too sympathetic about others, because then I get into a situation to suffer. So I’m trying not to mix emotions, people, and chess. That’s what I learned from the game which I lost!
I realized the game is cruel so I can't be friendly.... I'm trying not to mix emotions, people, and chess!
—Harika Dronavalli
The game was certainly a fight, but when some sharp middlegame tactics earned Harika a knight and bishop for a rook, she got the chance to push in the endgame. It should still have been a draw, but 57.Kg1??, which Harika explained as a combination of tiredness, panic, and time pressure, suddenly turned an equal position into a lost one. Harika executed 57...Be8!, trapping the white rook, before Dzagnidze had the chance to realize what she'd done.
To recover from the previous loss, Harika told herself on the rest day, when she was back on a 50-percent score, "I just decided to take it as all draws and start the tournament afresh!" Mariya Muzychuk, who actually had scored all draws, also managed to strike in round six.
Mariya Muzychuk 1-0 Elisabeth Paehtz
Mariya was happy to have had the rest day to prepare for the unpredictable Paehtz, and even happier that the German star played a Najdorf that was among the more likely choices. Muzychuk speculated that her opponent didn't know 10.Bg2, and when the white kingside pawns began to move eight moves later, the writing was on the wall. By move 25, Mariya could choose any of the countless winning options, including a spectacular queen sacrifice! She was completely right to state, however:
"If I see something very concrete, I will go for it, but if not, my position is already very good—why should I take these risks and sacrifice my queen?"
The win was never in doubt for Mariya, who joins Harika and Goryachkina within touching distance of the leader.
In round seven, Harika vs. Mariya Muzychuk is the one clash without a clear favorite, while Zhu, Anna Muzychuk, and Goryachkina may all push for wins regardless of playing White or Black.
Round 7 Pairings
How to watch?
You can watch the broadcast on FIDE's YouTube channel. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich and GM Alik Gershon.
The 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the fourth of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin runs March 15-24 in Nicosia, Cyprus. Players have 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes from move 40, with a 30-second increment per move. The top prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with players also earning Grand Prix points. Each of the 20+ players competes in three events; the top two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament that decides the World Championship challenger.
Previous Coverage:
- Round 5: Anna Muzychuk Snatches Sole Lead; Move 6 Blunder Dooms Harika
- Round 4: Anna Muzychuk Beats Divya To Catch Leader On Day Of 4 Wins
- Round 3: Anna Muzychuk Beats Dzagnidze Twice To Climb To 2nd
- Round 2: Zhu Jiner Takes Sole Lead On 2/2
- Round 1: Tsolakidou, Zhu Jiner Grab Wins As Nicosia Women's Grand Prix Begins
- Goryachkina Wins In Monaco, Takes FIDE Women's Grand Prix Lead
- Goryachkina Wins Shymkent FIDE Women's Grand Prix
- Kashlinskaya Wins Tbilisi Grand Prix, Earns 2nd GM Norm
- FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-2025: All The Info
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
