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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

FIDE May 2011 Rating List (top women)

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2699	11	1976
2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2614	11	1987
3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2612	20	1994
4	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2567	0	1985
5	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2559	0	1986
6	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2557	11	1987
7	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2537 *	27	1978
8	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2537	20	1990
9	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2530	10	1989

2011 US Women's Champion broke the top 10 and 2500 for the first time! Congratulations!

Top Girls

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2612	20	1994
2	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2520	18	1991
3	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2511	29	1991
4	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2473	14	1992
5	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	m	RUS	2419	17	1992
6	Paikidze, Nazi	wg	GEO	2408	7	1993
7	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2401	29	1991

Hou Yifan wins 1st Chinese Women Chess Masters Tournament

Final standings:

1. Hou, Yifan g CHN 2602 * 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1 7 2638

2. Shen, Yang wg CHN 2443 0 * 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 6 2561
3. Ju, Wenjun wg CHN 2519 0 0 * 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 6 2552

4. Wang, Yu A. im CHN 2398 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 4½ 2441
5. Huang, Qian wg CHN 2394 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 4½ 2441

6. Ding, Yixin wg CHN 2376 1 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 4 2400
7. Gu, Xiaobing wg CHN 2369 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ * 1 1 1 4 2401

8. Zhang, Xiaowen wg CHN 2344 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 3½ 2367

9. Tan, Zhongyi wg CHN 2428 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 3 2312

10. Zhao, Xue g CHN 2495 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 * 2½ 2264

Official website: http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

1st China Women Chess Grandmaster Tournament

Female World Champion Hou Yifan participates in 1st China Women Chess Grandmaster Tournament

Monday, 18 April 2011 07:15

1st China Women Chess Grandmasters Tournament has just started in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province in China from April 16 to April 26. Ten Chinese top women grandmasters including women world champion Hou Yifan (GM, Rtg.2602) and bronze medalist Zhao Xue (GM,Rtg.2495) are both participating in this tournament.

For the purpose of encouraging competition, this tournament has special rule which does not allow players to offer draw to their opponent, unless the game is theoretically drawn. For the round-robin 9 round schedule, the time control is 90 minutes for total, with 30 seconds increment per move. Game live broadcasting will be at 14:00 CCT each day and spectators can click website link http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chess.html to support their favorite players. Round result can be found at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr48019.aspx?art=4&lan=1&wi=1000

Current standings

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	GM	Hou Yifan	2591	CHN	*	1	½	1	1	½			1		5.0	15.50	0.0	4
2	WGM	Shen Yang	2461	CHN	0	*	½		1	1			½	1	4.0	9.75	0.0	3
3	IM	Wang Yu A	2403	CHN	½	½	*	1			½	½		½	3.5	11.25	0.0	1
4	WGM	Gu Xiaobing	2369	CHN	0		0	*			1	½	1	1	3.5	7.25	0.0	3
5	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2524	CHN	0	0			*	½	½	1		1	3.0	6.50	0.0	2
6	WGM	Huang Qian	2402	CHN	½	0			½	*	½		½	½	2.5	7.00	0.0	0
7	WGM	Tan Zhongyi	2430	CHN			½	0	½	½	*	½	½		2.5	6.75	0.0	0
8	WGM	Ding Yixin	2370	CHN			½	½	0		½	*	½	½	2.5	6.50	0.0	0
9	WGM	Zhang Xiaowen	2339	CHN	0	½		0		½	½	½	*		2.0	5.75	0.0	0
10	GM	Zhao Xue	2474	CHN		0	½	0	0	½		½		*	1.5	4.25	0.0	0

Women's Grand Prix 2011-2012

Women's Grand-Prix 2011-2012

Tuesday, 12 April 2011 14:08

FIDE announces the Women's Grand-Prix 2011-2012 which will give qualification to the Women's World Championship match 2013. The schedule of the 6 events is the following:

1-15 August 2011, Rostov RUSSIA

8-22 September 2011, Shenzhen CHINA

8-23 October 2011, Nalchik RUSSIA

16-30 May 2012, Kazan RUSSIA

16-30 June 2012, Jermuk ARMENIA

16-30 November 2012, Istanbul TURKEY

In total 18 players will participate, 10 qualifiers as per regulations (listed below) plus 6 nominees from the organisers of each tournament (to be announced) plus 2 nominees of the FIDE President (to be announced).

The 10 qualifiers up to now are:

01. Hou, Yifan (World Champion 2010)
02. Ruan, Lufei (finalist world championship 2010)
03. Koneru, Humpy (semi-finalist world championship 2010)
04. Zhao, Xue (semi-finalist world championship 2010)
05. Kosintseva, Tatiana (by rating 2566,00 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
06. Stefanova, Antoaneta (by rating 2553,00 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
07. Kosintseva, Nadezhda (by rating 2551,50 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
08. Muzychuk, Anna (by rating 2528,00 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
09. Lahno, Kateryna (by rating 2526,50 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
10. Cmilyte, Viktorija (by rating 2526,50 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)

The 3 first reserves for any replacements needed:
01. Dzagnidze, Nana (rating 2524,00 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
02. Cramling, Pia (rating 2516,50 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)
03. Harika, Dronavalli (rating 2512,00 / Jul 2010 & Jan 2011)

The full regulations of the Women's Grand-Prix 2011-2012 are published here:
http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=43&view=category

Asian dominance

World domination pursued by Asian women at title event
by Adam Richards
26th Dec 10

More evidence that Asia is taking the balance of power from Eastern Europe in the game of chess has been seen at the Women’s World Chess Championship.

This year’s World Championship started earlier in December in southern Turkey, with 24 of the 64 competitors coming from Eastern Europe. However, by the time the championships reached the quarter finals stage, just one Eastern European, Kateryna Lahno from Ukraine, remained in the competition.

China saw four of its competitors reach the quarter finals, whilst the last quarterfinalist was a French player – Almira Skripchenko – although she originally came from Moldova.

Skripchenko and Lahno were then eliminated at the quarterfinals stage , with the semifinalists being three Chinese competitors and one Indian – Humpy Koneru.

Koneru was the highest-ranked competitor in the semifinals, but suffered a defeat by Hou Yifan, who is only 16 years-of-age from China, but already ranked in the number three position in the world.

This is the second time that Koneru has lost to Hou. She was also beaten by the Chinese player in the 2008 World Championship’s semifinals.

In the final, Hou came up against Ruan Lufei. Ruan’s excellent results in the tournament came as a surprise. Ruan was the number four ranked Chinese player and currently studying at Carnegie Mellon University in their doctoral program.

Ruan’s tournament results is a sign of just how strong chess is in China at the moment.

The final was won by Hou in the second game when Ruan made some poor moves.

Source: http://www.discountvouchers.co.uk

Women Pan American Chess Championship 2010

Women Pan American Chess Championship 2010
28th November to 4th December at the Casa de Portugal in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

The Women Pan American Chess Championship 2010 is taking place from 28th November to 4th December at the Casa de Portugal in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. 54 players compete over the 9 rounds of Swiss pairing system. IM Carolina Lujan of Argentina and WGM Yaniet Marrero Lopez of Cuba are top-seeded in the starting list.

Here are the top 10 seeds:

1 IM Lujan Carolina ARG 2349
2 WGM Marrero Lopez Yaniet CUB 2349
3 WIM Vigoa Apecheche Yanira CUB 2282
4 WIM Morales Mendoza Luciana PER 2187
5 WFM Chumpitaz Carbajal Ann PER 2174
6 WFM Terao Juliana Sayumi BRA 2154
7 Fernandez Maria Florencia ARG 2149
8 WFM Feliciano Vanessa BRA 2145
9 WIM Guerrero Rodriguez Alejandra MEX 2117
10 WFM Cancio-Bello Ayes Flavia CUB 2114

More here: http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/women-pan-american-chess-championship

4-way tie for 1st at Ukrainian Women's Championship

Final top 5 standings:

1-4. IM T.Vasilevich (2417 - winner on tiebreaks), IM Gaponenko (2469), WFM Gritsayeva (2301) and WIM K.Dolzhykova (2298) 6 ½ out of 9

5-8. WIM Andrenko (2231), WGM S. Cherednichenko (2260), WGM Zdebskaja (2383) and WFM Ivanenko (2132) 6

Click here or the image above to view games.

Info provided by ChessToday.net