Hoang keeps the lead, second GM norm to Melia

Hoang Trang drew with Salome Melia today, again in an endgame, just this time, unlike the others, with a peaceful outcome. Melia with this draw gained her second GM norm in 9 rounds and rating performance of 2641 points.
The game on the second board between Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anna Muzychuk also finished as a draw. It seemed Kosteniuk had some advantage after the opening, but Muzychuk defended well, and in the end the game finished with kings and 2 knights on the board.
Monica Socko played a very good game with white against Valentina Gunina. She punished Russian's mistakes, and outplayed her in 26 moves.
Viktorija Cmilyte defeated Ekatarina Kovalevskaya in a very long and militant game. Ekatarina made few mistakes in a bishop-knight endgame, which turned out to be fatal.
Natalia Zhukova outplayed Serbian Marija Rakic after a very sharp opening. Another Serbian player Irina Chelushkina defeated Maria Kursova, and now she is the best ranked Serbian player in the tournament. In the next round, she will face Marina Romanko from Russia.
Two Turkish representatives achieved important victories against better ranked opponents.
Kubra Ozturk defeated Sabrina Vega, and Betul Cemre Yildiz defeated Cristina-Adela Foisor.
After 9 rounds, Hoang Trang is in sole lead with 7.5 points, followed by Melia, Kosteniuk, Cmilyte and Socko with 7 points, etc.