2008 Women's World Chess Championship

It's official. Eleven (11) players have "withdrawn" from the WWCC: Maya Chiburdanidze (2489), Georgia (#18 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Lela Javakhishvili (2461), Georgia (#31 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Maia Lomineishvili (2414), Georgia (#55 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Nino Khurtsidze (2413), Georgia (#57 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Sopio Gvetadze (2355), Georgia Sopiko Khukhashvili (2408), Georgia (#62 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Irina Krush (2470), USA (#24 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Karen Zapata (2180), (Peru) Marie Sebag (2529), (France) (#7 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Ekaterina Korbut (2459), (Russia) (#35 on FIDE Top 100 Women) Tea Bosboom Lanchava (2358), (Netherlands) I believe that GM Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO 2376), ranked 83rd on the FIDE list of Top 100 Women, also declined to attend the WWCC due to its location. Although Gaprindahsvili was not playing, she was named on the official website as a member of the appeals committee. Hmmmm, so now the appeals committee only has 2 people on it. So how do they break "ties"? There is no denying that there are some very powerful chessplayers on this list - including some former SOVIET champions. Do you hear laughter, Miniputin? Nearly 20% of the total amount of players having withdrawn will certainly skew the results of the remaining players, giving easy victories to some players to pass to Round 2 who would not otherwise have done so. This affects prize money awards too. I wonder what the other players will think about this after the fact??? By its obstinate refusal to move the WWCC to a safer venue, FIDE has single-handedly made a laughing-stock and total joke of the WWCC. Why did FIDE not just cancel the event outright rather than go through and put its official "stamp" on this mockery of an event? FIDE and Fearless Leader Kirsan have thus signalled their obvious contempt for female chessplayers of all nationalities, while kow-towing to the Russians. Shame, shame on you FIDE and Kirsan. Here are the "results" from the first game of Round 1. Second game is tomorrow, and then 2 days of tie-breaks if needed, before Round 2 starts. 1 1-64 Xu, Yuhua (CHN) 1 0 Solomons, Anzel (RSA) 2 63-2 Alaa El Din, Yorsa (EGY) 0 1 Koneru, Humpy (IND) 3 3-62 Hou, Yifan (CHN) 1 0 Khaled, Mona (EGY) 4 61-4 Zapata, Karen (PER) - + Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) 5 5-60 Cramling, Pia (SWE) 1 0 Sanchez Castillo, Sarai (VEN) 6 59-6 Gasik, Anna (POL) + - Sebag, Marie (FRA) 7 7-58 Zhao, Xue (CHN) 1 0 Zuriel, Marisa (ARG) 8 57-8 Muminova, Nafisa (UZB) 0 1 Kosintseva, Tatjana (RUS) 9 9-56 Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) 1 0 Pourkashiyan, Atousa (IRI) 10 55-10 Golubenko, Valentina, CRO) 0 1 Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) 11 11-54 Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) 1 0 Velcheva, Maria (BUL) 12 53-12 Zakurdjaeva, Irina (RUS) 0 1 Ruan, Lufei (CHN) 13 13-52 Zhukova, Natalia (UKR) 0 1 Rohonyan, Katherine (USA) 14 51-14 Nguyen, Thi Thanh An (VIE) + - Chiburdanidze, Maya (GEO) 15 15-50 Hoang Thanh Trang (HUN) 1 0 Arribas Robaina, Maritza (CUB) 16 49-16 Kadimova, Ilaha (AZE) 1 0 Paehtz, Elisabeth (GER) 17 17-48 Ushenina, Anna (UKR) 1 0 Le Thanh Tu (VIE) 18 47-18 Foisor, Sabina-Francesca (ROM) 1/2 1/2 Socko, Monika (POL) 19 19-46 Krush, Irina (USA) - + Sedina, Elena (ITA) 20 45-20 Zhang Jilin (CHN) 1/2 1/2 Gaponenko, Inna (UKR) 21 21-44 Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO) - + Amura, Claudia (ARG) 22 43-22 Nebolsina, Vera (RUS) 0 1 Harika, Dronavalli (IND) 23 23-42 Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS) 1 0 Mohota, Nisha (IND) 24 41-24 Gvetadze, Sopio (GEO) - - Korbut, Ekaterina (RUS) 25 25-40 Zatonskih, Anna (USA) + - Bosboom Lanchava, Tea (NED) 26 39-26 Kachiani-Gersinska, Ketino (GER) 1/2 1/2 Shen, Yang (CHN) 27 27-38 Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) 1/2 1/2 Moser, Eva (AUT) 28 37-28 Tan Zongyi (CHN) 1/2 1/2 Tania, Sachdev (IND) 29 29-36 Bojkovic, Natasa (SRB) 1/2 1/2 Ju, Wenjun (CHN) 30 35-30 Mongontuul, Bathuyang (MGL) 1 0 Rajlich, Iweta (POL) 31 31-34 Lomineishvili, Maia (GEO) - - Khukhashvili, Sopiko (GEO) 32 33-32 Matveeva, Svetlana (RUS) + - Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO) I invite my readers to do the math for themselves. The red marked players didn't show up. Some players got free passes to the next round, and FIDE didn't do a thing to change things, although it certainly had ample notice that some players, at least, would not appear. FARCE! How is FARCE spelled in Russian? I feel very sorry for the other players who showed up to play.