Wagner started the series as by far the lowest ranked player, almost 100 Elo below her next nearest competitor, and more than 200 behind the highest-rated, Aleksandra Goryachkina.[11]
Astana and first IM norm
The Astana tournament started badly for Wagner with two consecutive losses. Her play generally in Astana was marked by time trouble, but she recovered with a series of draws, and two wins versus Kosteniuk and Kashlinskaya (this last, her favorite game at the tournament). After Kosteniuk utilized the Grand Prix Attack against her Sicilian Defense, Wagner said that before the game, she thought, "'Ha! It would be funny if someone played the Grand Prix during the Grand Prix', but unfortunately I didn't prepare it". She spent 30 minutes on move eight of that game.[12]
In the Munich leg, Wagner finished 12th of 12. Michael Rahal's report notes that she "only slightly underperformed with respect to her rating (-5 points)".[14]
Victory in Nicosia and first GM norm
In the final leg of the Women's Grand Prix in Nicosia, Wagner finished in clear first with 7/11, including victories over Goryachkina and Lagno. She also achieved her second IM norm and her first Grandmaster norm. When asked what she planned to do with her winnings, she said that in Munich, she told herself, "'If I will play well, I will go to one of the stores and buy a designer bag'… so I think I will buy myself something nice!"[15][16]
Sportland NRW Cup
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund in June, the event continued as a festival of chess called the 50th International Dortmund Chess Days, with a number of concurrent events such as the No Castling Masters, won by Caruana, a large open event, won by Donchencko, and the Sportland NRW Cup, in which Wagner participated.[17][18]
With a new peak rating due to her exploits in Nicosia, Wagner started ranked fourth by rating, behind grandmasters from India, Uzbekistan and Israel.[19] She began with two consecutive wins against grandmaster opponents, and finished in clear first with 7/9, the only player to go unbeaten throughout the tournament. In the last round, "In a better position, I offered a draw and secured the tournament win".[18] A performance rating of 2643 against this strong international opposition meant that Wagner also secured her second GM norm and final IM norm.[18][20]
German titles and European team competition
Dinara Wagner became German Women Blitz champion in July with no draws, one loss and 25 wins.[21] In August, Wagner's team Superchess won the women's European Chess Club Cup. Wagner was one of the "heroes of the day" with a final round victory as Superchess clinched the cup.[22] She ended the year successfully defending her Women's German Masters crown in December.[23]
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