Video from Tbilisi

Round 7 video courtesy of Europe Echecs

Video from Tbilisi

Videos provided by Europe Echecs

Cmilyte perfect after 5 in Tbilisi

Leaders (top 25) after 5 rounds

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	n
1	GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	LTU	2504	5.0	3211	9.0	15.0	5
2	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	GEO	2470	4.0	2615	9.5	15.0	5
3	GM	Lahno Kateryna	UKR	2530	4.0	2614	9.0	15.0	5
4	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2506	4.0	2601	8.5	13.5	5
5	WGM	Paikidze Nazi	GEO	2408	4.0	2592	8.0	14.5	5
6	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	GEO	2454	4.0	2588	9.0	15.5	5
7	GM	Cramling Pia	SWE	2468	4.0	2581	9.0	15.5	5
8	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	GEO	2436	4.0	2560	9.0	15.0	5
9	IM	Ushenina Anna	UKR	2468	4.0	2551	8.0	14.0	5
10	IM	Galojan Lilit	ARM	2377	4.0	2545	8.5	14.5	5
11	IM	Romanko Marina	RUS	2387	4.0	2527	8.0	12.5	5
12	IM	Bodnaruk Anastasia	RUS	2419	4.0	2505	7.0	13.0	5
13	GM	Danielian Elina	ARM	2506	3.5	2553	11.0	19.0	5
14	IM	Ovod Evgenija	RUS	2404	3.5	2516	10.0	15.5	5
15	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	RUS	2559	3.5	2493	8.5	13.5	5
16	GM	Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan	SCO	2462	3.5	2486	7.5	13.0	5
17	IM	Muzychuk Anna	SLO	2537	3.5	2484	8.5	14.5	5
18	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	GEO	2557	3.5	2483	9.0	15.0	5
19	IM	Purtseladze Maka	GEO	2352	3.5	2470	9.0	14.5	5
20	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	2456	3.5	2441	8.5	13.5	5
21	IM	Gaponenko Inna	UKR	2455	3.5	2440	8.0	13.5	5
22	IM	Khukhashvili Sopiko	GEO	2421	3.5	2428	8.0	14.0	5
23	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	UKR	2473	3.5	2427	7.5	12.0	5
24	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	ROU	2414	3.5	2425	9.0	14.0	5
25	IM	Moser Eva	AUT	2445	3.5	2418	7.5	13.0	5

Full standings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr49244.aspx

President Ilyumzhinov visits Tbilisi

Visit of the FIDE President to Tbilisi
Friday, 06 May 2011 08:46

On the 6th of May FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia where European Individual Women's Chess Championship 2011 is taking place on 6-19 May. There he attended the Opening Ceremony of the Championship which was held in the hotel "Sheraton Metechi Palace".

In his greeting speech FIDE President noted that it is remarkable that the tournament is conducted in the land of such titled and strongest chess players as Nona Gaprindashvili, Maia Chiburdanidze, Nana Alexandria, Nino Gurieli, Nana Ioseliani, Maia Lomieshvili, Nana Dzagnidze and many others.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov also thanked the Organizing Committee of the Championship, i.e. Mr. Giorgi Ugulava, Mayor of Tbilisi, Mr. Lado Vardzelashvili, Minister of Youth and Sport, Mr. Mair Mamedov, general sponsor and Director General of SOCAR Energy Georgia and Mr. Giorgi Giorgadze, President of the Georgian chess federation.

Plan backfire?

Hosting European women's chess championships may backfire a bit on home turf
2011-04-30 14:39:43
by Yi Gaochao

TBILISI, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Feelings toward the board game of chess among Georgian women are as split as generation gaps between grandmothers and granddaughters.

The generation-asunder feelings are once more brought forth by the incoming of the 2011 European Individual Women Chess Championship and the 2011 European Individual Women Rapid Chess Championship to the threshold of the South Caucasus country. Georgia is hosting the two events one after the other in early and mid-May.

For the old-timers, chess for women is reminiscent of a Georgian glory, though under the flag of the then Soviet Union. Between 1961 and 1991, two Georgian women reigned the international chess scene for women with 10 successive world championship titles spanning the entire three decades.

For the newcomers, chess for the weaker sex set off the jinx and jitters for them to break through so as to equal even part of the 1961-1991 Georgian glory.

First Nona Gaprindashvili and then Maia Chiburdanidze made their fame not only for reigning the world for three decades but also for being the world's first and second women to gain the title of grandmaster for their expertise and excellence in the game.

Their fame soon spilled out of the chess board. Gaprindashvili has a perfume named after her, with a Tbilisi factory churning out Gaprindashvili perfume in bottles shaped like the chess piece of Queen. Chiburdanidze has several commemorative postage stamps minted for her including a 1986 one by Mongolia to depict one of her famous moves in the world championship games.

Be it the dissolution of the former Soviet Union or the political and economic ups and downs, Georgia has experienced 20 years of oblivion through a drought of medals of any hue in women chess actions.

Gia Giorgadze, president of the Georgian Chess Federation, said while explaining the backstep: "Speaking on this setback we have to take into account one important circumstance such as a painful process of changing of generations."

The absence of Chiburdanidze from the Georgian squad led to a below-par performance at last year's Chess Olympiad as against the Chiburdanidze-paced Georgian team for the previous Chess Olympiad.

Yet such young talents as Salome Melia and Bella Khotenashvili produced some brow-lifting performances at the last Chess Olympiad held in Russia.

Spearheaded by top-seeded Nana Dzagnidze, the Georgian trio are expected by compatriot chess lovers and admirers to revive to some extent and even to restore to the full the Georgian glory in women chess games by making the most of their home advantage.

But chess pundits in Georgia cannot be just too optimistic, in that Georgia enters this year's European championship with none who has ever taken any medal from the annual event which was inaugurated in 2000 in the Georgian Black Sea resort of Batumi. The Georgians took two bronze medals from the 2000 and 2001 championships but these medallists do not play this year.

The upcoming young Georgian women chess players will face strong rivals as two-time continental champions Pia Cramling from Sweden (2003 and 2010), Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia (2007 and 2009) and Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine (2005 and 2008).

If they truly want to triumph on home turf, the Georgian women chess players, especially the leading trio, will have to beat their own nerves and nerds first before they can hope to beat their opponents en route to taking their first European medals after a hiatus of a full decade.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com

European Individual Women Chess Championship 2011

European Individual Women Chess Championship 2011
7th to 18th May in Tbilisi, Georgia

The European Individual Women Chess Championship 2011 will be played from 7th to 18th May in Tbilisi, Georgia. So far 133 players (among them 11 GM, 25 WGM, 26 IM, 25 WIM, 17 WFM) from 26 federations have registered to take part in the tournament. Players list is bellow.

The European Women's Rapid Chess Championship will take place immediately after the main event, on 19-22nd May in Kutaisi. The playing venue will be "Maia Chiburdanidze's chess school" and the organizers are providing a prize fund of 10400 EUR. The tournament format is 11-round Swiss with the rate of play 15 minutes for a game for a player, with an increment of 10 seconds per move.

European Individual Women Chess Championship top seeds:

1 GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2567
2 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda RUS 2567
3 GM Kosintseva Tatiana RUS 2559
4 GM Lahno Kateryna UKR 2531
5 IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2528
6 GM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 2526
7 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2523

Forthcoming European championships in Tbilisi

Chess lovers gripped by forthcoming European championships
Top seed Dzagnidze expected to challenge for honours

The excitement is mounting for Tbilisi’s chess enthusiasts as the opening ceremony of the European Women’s Chess Championship approaches.

In less than two weeks the Georgian capital will play host to the illustrious tournament for the first time with Europe’s finest female chess players competing at the Sheraton Metechi Palace from May 7-18.

The inaugural championship in 2000 was held in Batumi and after an eleven year absence Georgia will again be the centre of attention for European Women’s Chess.

It was recently announced that a field of 130 competitors from representing 26 nations from across the continent will descend on Tbilisi next month.

Not surprisingly, Georgia will be heavily represented at the Championships with 46 players hoping to delight the home crowd.

During the Soviet era, Georgia produced a plethora of dynamic chess talents and were constantly among the medals at both European and World level.

However, Georgian chess has experienced some lean times since then and no Georgian woman has taken a medal at the European Individual Championships since 2001 when Ketevan Arakhamia claimed bronze in Warsaw, Poland.

Bidding to end a decade long drought of European medals for Georgia will be number one seed Nana Dzagnidze.

The 24-year old is viewed as Georgia’s brightest female chess talent and certainly their best hope for a medal in Tbilisi.

Dzagnidze burst on to the scene in 1999 at the World Girls Under-12 Championship where she won gold before also winning the World Girls Under-20 Championship in 2003 at the tender age of 16.

Such formidable success in her teens saw her establish herself as a fixture on the Georgian Chess Olympiad squad. In 2008 in Dresden, Germany she was instrumental in helping the Georgians claim the gold medal, taking 7 points from a possible 10.

In the same year, Dzagnidze was awarded the title of Grand Master, following in the footsteps of some of the most revered players in Georgian chess history.

In July 2010 she won the Grand Prix tournament where she was unbeaten in an eleven match round-robin contest.

Hope for the Georgian are high next month but she will face stiff competition from the Kosintseva sisters, Nadezhda and Tatiana from Russia, seeded second and third respectively.

Nadezhda, much like Dzagnidze, was a precocious talent in her youth. She earned three gold medals at the European Youth Championships, at under-10, under-12 and under-18 level.

In 2005, at the age of 20, she claimed silver at the 2005 European Women’s Championships in Moldova and will be looking to go one better six years on in Tbilisi.

Her younger sister Tatiana has fearsome record in the Championships, having won gold in Dresden in Germany and again two years later in St Petersburg. A third European gold would be an unprecedented achievement.

Elsewhere, reigning champion Pia Cramling, who will also be going for a third gold having won the 2003 Championships in Istanbul, is seeded in 9th place. The Lithuanian Viktorija Cmilyte was runner-up last year in Croatia and is seeded sixth this time.

Interestingly, seeded in fifteenth is the Georgian-born Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant who will be representing her adopted country of Scotland. She was the last player to earn a medal for Georgia at the Championships and will be aiming to become the first to do so for Scotland next month.

The head referee for the Championships will be Nana Aleksandria while the President of the Georgian Chess Federation, Gio Giorgadze, has been named as director of the tournament.

By Alastair Watt
22.04.2011
Source: http://www.georgiatoday.ge