2008 Women's World Chess Championship

Humpy Koneru is cruising along, as is Pia Cramling. Who will win the championship title this year? I don't have a clue! Here is Round 4 Game 1 action from official website: Two wins, two drawsSeptember 7, 2008 In the first day, quarter final matches brought long battles as predicted here and only two ended with victories. Koneru (India) played her quiet, positional style and gradually has overcome her opponent. Once again, the opponent was deprived of the counter play opportunities and had to resign. Cramling (Sweden) played with Black against former World Champion Stefanova (Bulgaria) and achieved a good position at the end of the opening. But thereafter as she told us in the press conference, somehow she let the opponent to regain territory and nearly to equalize the game. Then again, she could strengthen her game and went with a substantial advantage into the Queen/Rook against Queen/Bishop endgame with even a pawn plus. Move by move, she increased the pressure on the White, gained more advantage and won the game at move 54th. Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) started the game very well, had a slight advantage after the opening but gradually she lost it and had to cope with a little bit worse position in the endgame. The agreement of the players on the draw came at move 57th. Hou Yifan (China) reached a draw quite early (29th move) against Mrktchian (Armenia) in a Queen Indian with Black. RUS Kosteniuk, Aleksandra 2510 ½/ UKR Ushenina, Anna 2476 ½ IND Koneru, Humpy 2622 1/ CHN Shen, Yang 2445 0 ARM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2436 ½/ CHN Hou, Yifan 2557 ½ BUL Stefanova, Antoaneta 2550 0/ SWE Cramling, Pia 2544 1