Ulaanbaatar
Munguntuul Batkhuyag: New Opening Against Alina Kashlinskaya Proved Effective
Sports
Ulaanbaatar, April 17, 2025 /MONTSAME/. The fifth tournament of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024–2025, organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), is currently underway in Pune, Republic of India, where International Master (IM) of Mongolia Munguntuul Batkhuyag secured a victory in the third round.
Following one win and one loss in her first two games, IM of Mongolia Munguntuul Batkhuyag, playing Black, triumphed over Grandmaster (GM) of the Republic of Poland Alina Kashlinskaya in the third round. At present, IM Munguntuul holds the 88th position in the world rankings, while GM Kashlinskaya is ranked 16th. In a post-game interview, IM Munguntuul noted that she had never previously played against GM Kashlinskaya and had employed a new opening strategy, sacrificing a pawn to create attacking opportunities against her opponent’s king.
With this important win, IM of Mongolia Munguntuul remains among the second-tier group of leaders. After three rounds, GM of the People’s Republic of China Zhu Jiner leads the standings with 2.5 points, followed closely by IM Munguntuul, GM of the Republic of India Koneru Humpy, chess player of the Republic of India Divya Deshmukh, and IM of the Russian Federation Polina Shuvalova, each trailing by half a point.
On the FIDE website, the game was described as follows: “The first game to finish ended in spectacular style. Mongolia’s number one female player Munguntuul Batkhuyag took down Poland’s Alina Kashlinskaya in a complicated, opposite-side castled attacking game. As Munguntuul explained in her post-game interview, she tried out a new opening, which neither of the two had played before, including a pawn sacrifice to open up some files against her opponent’s king. In this position, Munguntuul went in for the kill. She swapped off both White’s knights with 30…Bxf3 31.gxf3 Bxd4 32.exd4 and then finished off with 32….Rxb3+ 33.Kc2 and the fantastic 33…Qc7+! 34.Kxb3 Rb8! after which Kashlinskaya resigned facing checkmate along the a-file. After the game, Munguntuul went through her thought process with Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, noting that “Maybe the late call to play here hasn’t allowed Alina to prepare properly.”
