2007 U.S.Women's Chess Championship - Day 4

Hola darlings! I'm behind the times tonight - it's after 9 p.m. and I'm exhausted. Dondelion's new computer (purchased in December) crashed from some unknown cause and we had an emergency telephone call this evening that lasted much longer than it should have, seeing as how he'll be here in less than 2 days! And the pre-twilight was so lovely when I got home (after working OT the past few days that has thrown my schedule totally off kilter) that I said to hell with everything, I pulled out the sprinkler and gave the gardens some much needed watering while I imbibed more than one large glass of cheap vino... Sooo, I'm half-looped right now and giddy from talking to my One and Only, and I don't have a report on Round 7 from earlier today. So sue me, heh heh heh! I was shocked to the ends of my toes when I logged on to the official Championship website just a few minutes ago to check out the live (my time) Round 8 action and saw - Krush (w) v. Rohanyan (b) DRAW! Well, to beat an old metaphor to death and then some, guess Rohanyan is a more of a dark horse than anyone gave her credit for, heh heh heh! AND the teenage queen, dressed all in black, Melekhina (behind the white pieces tonight), defeated Elizabeth Vicary - damn! I mean, I've been rooting for both of these chess femmes, the least they could have done was a cheapo draw like Krush and Zatonskih did a few round ago:) Decisive results all over the place! Speaking of Zatonskih (w), she dispatched Baginskaite (b) tonight in 29 1/2 moves. Eek! The two ladies from Mongolia are still battling it out... AMEN! Airapetian (w) finally gets 1/2 point in a draw with Abrahamyan (b) in a 46 move game. So, what are the standings now? Do any of you out there really give a flying - well - no, I'm not going to say THAT word, LOL! LEAP! Here are the cumulative standings from the official website as the chess femmes completed Round 8 (minus the results of the game between the two ladies from Mongolia): 1-2 Irina Krush 6 1-2 Katerina Rohonyan 6 3 Anna Zatonskih 5½ 4-5 Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 4 4-5 Tsagaan Battsetseg 4 6-8 Camilla Baginskaite 3½ 6-8 Alisa Melekhina 3½ 6-8 Tatev Abrahamyan 3½ 9 Elizabeth Vicary 2½ 10 Chouchanik Airapetian ½ So, it seems that Krush and Zatonskih, the favorites coming into the Championship, are in the top 3 - and dark horse Rohanyan is a surprising #2 at the present time - who knows where she'll be after the end of Round 9 tomorrow morning??? Perhaps in #1??? Only the Chess Goddess and Time will tell...