I am following the Bavarian Open for Alua’s quest for IM (she won’t get it this tournament but will probably end up ~30 Elo away from 2400 so just needs another good tournament or two to clinch it). But I have noticed something strange. Her compatriot Liya Kurmangaliyeva, who is like the 6th option on the Kazakhstan women’s team, has defeated GM Brandon Jacob, GM Ortik Nigmatov, and IM Ashot Parvanyan. All three of them dropped out of the tournament entirely after losing to her. What’s going on?