GM Anna Muzychuk‘s third win in a row has given her the sole lead on 3.5/4 in the 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Women’s Grand Prix. She’s also on course to win the whole series, but GM Zhu Jiner‘s second win in a row puts her half a point behind the third place she needs to take over. GM Tan Zhongyi‘s hopes were hit by a second loss in a row, to GM Nana Dzagnidze, who now occupies that third spot behind GM Vaishali Rameshbabu.
Round five starts on Saturday, May 10, at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.
For a second day in a row four games were decisive in Austria.
Grosslobming FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Round 4 Results
That mayhem saw Anna Muzychuk seize the sole lead.
Grosslobming FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Standings After Round 4
Once again there was only one draw, and once again it was anything but quiet. There were questions to both players—why did Vaishali reject a chance to grab a pawn on move 16 of a Sveshnikov Sicilian, and why did GM Mariya Muzychuk acquiesce to a draw by repetition in a final position where she could still press with Black? The draw was still enough for Vaishali to keep sole second place.
In Nicosia, Cyprus, Anna Muzychuk had hit the front with a three-game winning streak, and she’s done it again in Austria!
Anna Muzychuk 1-0 Kosteniuk
This time it was an opening disaster for GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who went astray in a hyper-sharp Winawer French, with 9…Nd5? not only a bad move but one played after a 25-minute think. Anna was half an hour up on the clock and emerged with a healthy extra pawn, and while she missed some quicker kills she made no mistake in converting her advantage into a full point.
That win gave Anna the sole lead and, if she ends the tournament that way, she’d gain 130 points to overtake GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. Winning the Grand Prix is lucrative, but more important are the two 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament qualification spots. As it stands Goryachkina would still take the second, but if Zhu can pick up third place (85 points), she’ll have an unassailable 320 points.
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024-5 As It Stands
| Rank | Player | Tbilisi | Shymkent | Monaco | Nicosia | Pune | G’lobming | Total |
| 1 | Anna Muzychuk | 71.67 | 117.5 | 130 | 319.17 | |||
| 2 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 130 | 106.67 | 71.67 | 308.34 | |||
| 3 | Zhu Jiner | 117.5 | 117.5 | 60 | 295 | |||
| 4 | Koneru Humpy | 55 | 106.67 | 117.5 | 279.17 | |||
| 5 | Tan Zhongyi | 105 | 65 | 60 | 230 |
It was all change in round four, with Zhu and Tan converging on the tie for fourth place by opposite paths.
Javakhishvili 0-1 Zhu
Zhu’s second win in a row looked all but impossible when she reached a near-symmetrical opposite-colored bishops and rooks endgame against IM Lela Javakhishvili, but it turns out the position after 45…Kg6 was surprisingly treacherous. The rook had to move, not fearing a capture on e3, while 46.Bd5?? lost on the spot—to the threat of mate-in-one.
Meanwhile Tan lost a second game in a row as the unbeaten Dzagnidze picked up her first win.
Dzagnidze 1-0 Tan
Tan’s loss followed the same script as the day before, as she dropped a pawn in the middlegame and was in trouble for the remainder of the game. This time, however, it was a sharp, double-edged clash and Dzagnidze got to play the fantastic, and fantastically mysterious 24.Bh8!.
Dzagnidze explained:
I was calculating Bc5 here in the beginning, but then realized maybe it’s better to keep the bishops on the board. It’s very strong on this long diagonal… Such a move, you confuse your opponent, especially as we were short on time. That’s why I decided to keep the tension on the board.
The bishop never moved again for the rest of the game, but the impact was felt in Tan using 11 of her remaining 26 minutes on her reply. Mistakes would follow, and Dzagnidze wrapped up victory in 31 moves.
Tan’s 50 percent score isn’t disastrous, but she needs to find her form fast if she’s going to challenge for a Candidates spot via the Grand Prix.
Salimova 0-1 Badelka
A curiosity is that all three players on 50 percent have played only decisive games! For Badelka it was a win, then two losses, and now a second win, over the struggling IM Nurgyul Salimova. Badelka correctly grabbed a pawn on move 14, and a few moves later we had a wild position with an unusual square of pieces in the center of the board—with e5 first occupied by a knight, and then a rook!
The position was roughly dynamically balanced until, playing moves with under five seconds to spare, Salimova slipped and fell to another defeat.
There’s now just one more round before the players get a very well-deserved rest.
Round 5 Pairings
All eyes on Saturday will be on the Candidates battle Tan vs. Anna Muzychuk, while Zhu Jiner, hunting a third win in a row, takes on second-placed Vaishali.
How to watch?
The 2025 Grosslobming FIDE Women’s Grand Prix is the sixth and final leg of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin runs May 6-15 in Grosslobming, Austria. 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.
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