Chess Femme News

A few updates - haven't had time to put these on the Chess Femmes News website, maybe this weekend. I hope you enjoy these: From the Shreveporttimes.com Young chess whiz wins tournament By Jane Bokun • janebokun@gannett.com • September 23, 2009 Emmie Wysywany and her coach are taking the game of chess to a whole new level. Chess whiz Emmie, 10, represented Louisiana recently at the National Chess Tournament in Lubbock, Texas. When the smoke cleared, Wysywany won the state title. "I love playing," she said. Following eight days of concentrated chess, Wysywany won three games but lost the final games. The competition included adults representing all 50 states. The daughter of Ken and Jill Wysywany is not the only one in her family to star at chess tournaments. Siblings Alexandra, Francis and Anna also play the game. The family even has a chess coach named Tommy Beckham, who works with the children on a daily basis and drives from Greenwood to do it. Rest of article. From The New York Times Chinese Women Remind the World of Their Prowess By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN Published: September 19, 2009 Sometimes when a champion emerges from a country that is not known for its chess, it can presage a new power in the game. when Xie Jun of China won the Women’s World Chess Championship in 1991, it was not clear if she was an anomaly. Any doubts have long since been put to rest: China is a world power in chess, particularly among women. China has produced three world champions — Xie, Zhu Chen in 2001-4 and Xu Yuhua from 2006-8 — and has four of the world’s top 20 players. China reaffirmed its status at the Women’s World Team Championship in Yingbo, China, Sept. 2-11. It fielded two squads in the 10-team competition, and its A team edged out Russia and Ukraine for the title after an unusual finish. Rest of article. (Note: There is, or was, some controversy about whether the last match-game may have been thrown so that China could/would win the title. I don't know enough about chess to be able to express an opinion as to that.)