2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

Wow! Lots of excitment in the final round - and it's not over yet! First of all, here are the top 10 final standings, with the caveat below (and it's a big one): Rank Pno Title Name Elo Fed Score TPR 1 11 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2460 ARM 8,5 2598 2 5 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2497 RUS 8,5 2551 3 15 GM Socko, Monika 2449 POL 8 2565 4 24 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 2416 RUS 8 2552 5 17 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 2437 GEO 8 2520 6 16 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 2442 RUS 8 2550 7 9 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2467 RUS 8 2540 8 27 IM Rajlich, Iweta 2399 POL 8 2552 9 18 IM Ovod, Evgenija 2430 RUS 8 2504 10 8 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483 HUN After visiting Chessdom I learned that IM Lilit Mkrtchian and IM Tatiana Kosintseva will do a play-off to determine which chess femme wins the title. (By the way, beautiful photos of the chess femmes at Chessdom). Here are the Round 11 results for the top boards: IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 7.5 RUS 2497 - IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 8.0 RUS 2442 1-0 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 7.5 GEO 2437 - WGM Pogonina, Natalija 7.5 RUS 2467 0.5-0.5 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 7.5 ARM 2460 - WGM Romanko, Marina 7.5 RUS 2451 1-0 IM Rajlich, Iweta 7.5 POL 2399 - GM Socko, Monika 7.5 POL 2449 0.5-0.5 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 7.0 HUN 2483 - IM Khukhashvili, Sopiko 7.0 GEO 2416 0.5-0.5 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 7.0 GER 2455 - WGM Kovanova, Baira 7.0 RUS 2386 0.5-0.5 IM Ovod, Evgenija 7.0 RUS 2430 - WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 7.0 RUS 2384 1-0 IM Turova, Irina 7.0 RUS 2379 - IM Muzychuk, Mariya 7.0 UKR 2427 0.5-0.5 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 7.0 RUS 2416 - IM Melia, Salome 7.0 GEO 2422 1-0WGM Demina, Julia 6.5 RUS 2361 - IM Muzychuk, Anna 6.5 SLO 2540 0-1 IM Vasilevich, Irina 6.5 RUS 2340 - GM Lahno, Kateryna 6.5 UKR 2488 1-0 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 6.5 POL 2352 - IM Gaponenko, Inna 6.5 UKR 2450 0.5-0.5 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 6.5 ROU 2412 - WIM Paulet, Iozefina 6.5 ROU 2315 0.5-0.5 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 6.5 POL 2385 - WGM Botsari, Anna-Maria 6.5 GRE 2289 1-0 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 6.0 GEO 2518 - WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 6.0 RUS 2327 1-0 At the moment, these are the play-offs: For Championship Title: -- L. Mkrtchian (ARM) -- T. Kosintseva (RUS) For Bronze and Silver Medals: -- (1) IM Monica Socko (POL) -- (2) E. Kovalevskaya (RUS) -- (2) N. Pogonina (RUS) (winner of this play-off will meet Socko) -- (3) T. Shadrina (RUS) -- (3) E. Ovod (RUS) (winner of 3 will play-off against winner of 4) -- (4) M. Lomineishvili (GEO) -- (4) I. Rajlich (POL) Here are the special prizes awarded to the chess femmes thus far: Rank Name Fed Score TPR Elo TPR-Elo Prize (Eur) 1 Ziaziulkina, Nastassia BLR 5 2208 1950 258 1000 2 Khokhlova, Ekaterina RUS 4,5 2068 1822 246 900 3 Petrukhina, Irina RUS 4,5 2113 1905 208 800 4 Della-Rossa, Anastasia RUS 4 2074 1868 206 700 5 Balaian, Alina RUS 5 2229 2037 192 600 6 Brunello, Marina ITA 5 2282 2106 176 550 7 Kushka, Alena RUS 5,5 2295 2124 171 500 8 Sorokina, Anastasia RUS 4,5 2250 2087 163 450 9 Lezhepekova, Veronika RUS 3,5 2079 1917 162 400 10 Styazhkina, Anna RUS 4 2072 1926 146 350 11 Lupik, Marina RUS 5,5 2307 2163 144 300 12 Abdulla, Khayala AZE 5 2205 2070 135 260 13 Zizlova, Sofia RUS 4,5 2153 2020 133 220 14 Girya, Olga RUS 7 2441 2315 126 200 15 Lomakina, Galja RUS 5 2183 2058 125 170 Where did my girl Narmin Kazimova finish? 85 114 Kazimova, Narmin 2165 AZE 5,5 2223 Respectable, but not spectacular (85 out of 168, and higher than her start place at 114). There was no magic in this year's Championship for Narmin. Narmin, you keep going. I think you've got what it takes, but you need more training and a LOT more exposure to international competitions. Unfortunately, you are not in a position to obtain this - the sad but true story for too many chessplayers around the world today.