Anand Inspires Divya To 1st Win; Anna Muzychuk Catches Zhu

GM Anna Muzychuk's fourth win, over GM Elisabeth Paehtz, saw her catch GM Zhu Jiner in the lead going into the final round of the 2025 Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix. GMs Harika Dronavalli, Aleksandra Goryachkina, and Mariya Muzychuk are within striking distance, but a full point behind after draws. IM Divya Deshmukh, meanwhile, picked up her first win after winning a rollercoaster against IM Olga Badelka. 

The final round starts one hour earlier on Monday, March 24, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET / 5:30 p.m. IST.

Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix Round 8 Results

Anna Muzychuk and Zhu Jiner have been battling for first place all tournament, and now they're neck-and-neck going into the final round.

Nicosia FIDE Women's Grand Prix Standings After Round 8

Zhu had an outside chance of winning the tournament with a round to spare, and the sharp 6.Bg5 Najdorf Sicilian chosen by IM Stavroula Tsolakidou gave the potential for fireworks. We got some, with both players giving up their g-pawns early in the game, but the balance was never seriously upset before it ended in a 49-move draw.

That was a chance for the rest of the field, but Mariya Muzychuk's Grunfeld never made inroads against GM Nana Dzagnidze, with both players ending with 97.6-percent accuracy scores.

Goryachkina-Harika, the clash between the players sharing third place with Mariya, also ended quietly after a big moment was missed. Goryachkina had a chance, but only if she sacrificed a full rook!

The one player who did seize her opportunity, however, was Anna Muzychuk, who bounced back from her loss to rejoin Zhu in the lead.

Anna Muzychuk 1-0 Elisabeth Paehtz

After a loss to Badelka, Anna needed to hit back, and she did, though not against the player she would have chosen to face.

"It’s not so easy because Elisabeth is my best friend among the chess community and we have spent quite a lot of time together, so obviously for me she’s not the opponent I would like to face, but that’s life and we had to play together today." 

The Ukrainian star came into the game plotting a surprise with 1.d4, "I do it very, very rarely," but was surprised in turn by the speed with which Paehtz went for a rare line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. The speed didn't necessarily equal precision, but Black had equalized until starting to go astray just when it was Anna who was getting into time trouble, with under a minute on the clock by move 30.

The time didn't matter, however, since by this point Anna could win by force, as she did starting with 30.Qb4+! Ke8 31.Qg4!, threatening Rc8, and Black has too many weaknesses. The game had slipped away earlier, however, with 23...e5?!, the first of two mistakes that doomed Paehtz.

The final result wasn't significant for the standings at the top, but was a very welcome relief for Divya—all 10 players can now say they've won a game at the event!

Divya Deshmukh 1-0 Olga Badelka

Divya was feeling a bit under the weather for this game, but she didn't let it get her down:

"I don’t really like when my head messes with my chess, so I try not to let it, even when I’m my sickest. I think I even play better when I’m sick because I’m just sitting at the board thinking and not moving. It’s fine!" 

I think I even play better when I'm sick because I'm just sitting at the board thinking and not moving.

—Divya Deshmukh

GM Viswanathan Anand was on hand for the opening move, but the opening that followed wasn't quite as carefully chosen as Anand's in his world championship days.

Divya explained: "After a tough loss yesterday, I didn’t really want to engage myself or even prepare much, so I just decided to freestyle. The opening was a bit weird, at least for me, because I didn’t know the plans and the structures, but I just freerolled away."

The game was complex with the momentum swinging from side to side. When Divya swapped off queens, confessing she'd panicked after forgetting the move she'd calculated, it seemed only Badelka could win, and as late as move 54 she had a chance. 54...f3! was key, while after 54...e3? Black's edge had gone, and when the e-pawn advanced again, White had taken over. 

"My hands were shivering the entire time," said Divya about the latter stages of the game, but she got the job done and is losing just 2.5 rating points after a tough event—if she beats the struggling Paehtz in the final round, she will end on 50 percent and a small rating gain.

All eyes in the final round, however, will be on Zhu vs. Dzagnidze and Harika vs. Anna Muzychuk in the battle for first place. Only if both leaders lose will the players in third come into contention, with Mariya Muzychuk vs. Goryachkina then relevant. Of course, all the games count when it comes to Grand Prix points.

Round 9 Pairings

How to watch?

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 7: Zhu Jiner Leads In Cyprus As Badelka Beats Anna Muzychuk
• Round 6: Harika On Bounce-Back Win: 'The Game Is Cruel, So I Can't Be Friendly!'
• 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