2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

LatestChess.com reports on the upcoming 2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship. It is an 11-round Swiss beginning March 7 and completing March 21, 2009. The playing time will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The Individual European Women's Championship 2009 is a qualification event for the next World Championship for Women. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 14 players will qualify. The top 20 players of the EIWCC will divide a prize fund of 70 000 euro. 2008's top finishers/money winners: 1 GM Lahno Kateryna 2479 UKR 8.5 (6,000 E) 2 IM Ushenina Anna 2474 UKR 8.0 (5,000 E) 3 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2450 UKR 8.0 (4,000 E) 4 IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2466 LTU 8.0 (3,000 E) 5 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2413 ARM 8.0 (2,000 E) 6 IM Skripchenko Almira 2443 FRA 8.0 (1,900 E) 7 IM Dembo Yelena 2429 GRE 8.0 (1,800 E) 8 GM Cramling Pia 2539 SWE 7.5 (1,700 E) 9 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2470 RUS 7.5 (1,600 E) 10 IM Muzychuk Anna 2486 SLO 7.5 (1,500 E) 11 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2538 BUL 7.5 (1,400 E) 12 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2443 GEO 7.5 (1,300 E) 13 IM Danielian Elina 2479 ARM 7.5 (1,200 E) 14 IM Lomineishvili Maia 2400 GEO 7.5 (1,100 E) 15 WGM Demina Julia 2337 RUS 7.5 (1,000 E) As noted in previous posts, the first leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the Is Banc Ataturk Masters - which will take place at the same time as the Individual European Women's Chess Championship. Oops. Some of the Grand Prix Ataturk players would not be able to participate in the IEWCC because of their country of residence. Some players would qualify, but they've evidently opted to play in the Ataturk - perhaps a chance for more money? GM Humpy Koneru 2621 GM Yifan Hou 2571 GM Antoaneta Stefanova 2557 (11th place, 1400 E) GM Pia Cramling 2548 (8th place, 1700 E) GM Marie Sebag 2529 (Sebag played in the Men's Individual European CC last year and won her 3rd and final GM norm) GM Maia Chiburdanidze 2516 GM Zhao Xue 2508 GM Zhu Chen 2496 IM Elina Danielian 2496 (13th place, 1200 E) WGM Shen Yang 2448 WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova 2362 WIM Betül Cemre Yıldız 2214