Higher League 61st Russian Women's Chess Championship

Of the 62 players participating in what I understand to be a "qualifying" round for the real deal later this year, under the name of the HL 64th Russian Chess Champinship, GM Tatiana Kosintseva is the sole female, ranked 40th on the list with an ELO of 2559.  Smart move on her part, she's bound to take a beating and yet her ELO should go up because of the tougher competition she's facing.  Two of my favorite male players are also in this event:  my romantic hero who plays chess like an 18th century swashbuckler, GM Alexander Morozevich, ranked 4th on the list with an ELO of 2694, and GM Alexander Khalifman, who won the 1999 FIDE World Chess Champion title, ranked 22nd on the list with an ELO of 2627. 

There is only one more round to go.  After 9, Morozevich is in first place with 7.0/9.  Kosintseva is in respectable 26th place with 5.0 - I'm impressed.  Alexander Khalifman is in 38th place with 4.0. 

The Russian women have their own championshp event this year, the 61st, consisting of 34 players and 9 rounds.  I see none of the top Russian female chess stars in the list, so either they aren't participating this year or they will be seeded into the final event to be held later this year.  Here are the standings after R8, one more round to go:

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	IM	Zaiatz Elena	RUS	2430	7.0	35.5	32.5	6
2	WIM	Charochkina Daria	RUS	2320	6.0	37.0	27.5	5
3	IM	Gunina Valentina	RUS	2487	6.0	36.5	30.0	6
4	WGM	Shadrina Tatiana	RUS	2397	5.5	34.0	21.0	5
5	WGM	Kovanova Baira	RUS	2361	5.5	32.0	23.0	4
6	IM	Ovod Evgenija	RUS	2404	5.0	36.0	23.0	5
7	IM	Kovalevskaya Ekaterina	RUS	2427	5.0	34.0	24.0	3
8	WFM	Kostrikina Anna	RUS	2072	5.0	29.5	19.5	4
9	WGM	Girya Olga	RUS	2394	5.0	28.5	19.5	4
10	IM	Bodnaruk Anastasia	RUS	2419	4.5	32.5	24.0	4
11	IM	Romanko Marina	RUS	2387	4.5	32.0	24.0	3
12	WIM	Tomilova Elena	RUS	2317	4.5	32.0	23.5	3
13	FM	Pustovoitova Daria	RUS	2306	4.5	30.5	20.0	3
14	WIM	Severiukhina Zoja	RUS	2291	4.5	30.5	18.5	4
15	WIM	Ambartsumova Karina	RUS	2303	4.0	34.5	22.5	3
16	IM	Vasilevich Irina	RUS	2342	4.0	32.0	21.0	3
17	IM	Matveeva Svetlana	RUS	2380	4.0	31.0	20.5	3
18		Bukhteeva Viktoria	RUS	2178	4.0	30.5	19.5	2
19	WFM	Goryachkina Aleksandra	RUS	2103	4.0	29.5	16.0	2
20	WIM	Ivakhinova Inna	RUS	2326	4.0	25.5	13.0	3
21		Drozdova Dina	RUS	2239	3.5	30.5	16.5	2
22	WFM	Semenova Elena	RUS	2188	3.5	27.5	15.0	2
23		Zizlova Sofia	RUS	2149	3.5	26.5	15.0	2
24	WIM	Bezgodova Svetlana	RUS	2154	3.5	26.0	14.5	3
25	IM	Savina Anastasia	RUS	2389	3.5	25.5	12.5	3
26	WFM	Kindinova Ekaterina	RUS	2159	3.0	29.5	13.5	2
27		Severina Maria	RUS	2104	3.0	28.0	13.0	3
28	WIM	Ivkina Olga	RUS	2294	3.0	25.0	9.5	2
29	WIM	Fominykh Maria	RUS	2291	3.0	24.5	8.5	2
30	WFM	Belenkaya Dina	RUS	2198	2.5	29.0	14.5	2
31	WFM	Travkina Anastasia	RUS	2176	2.5	28.0	11.5	1
32		Balaian Alina	RUS	2163	2.5	22.5	10.5	2
33		Petrova Olga	RUS	2256	1.5	25.0	8.0	1
34		Antipina Natalia	RUS	0	1.0	23.0	7.0	1