2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Today IM Anna Zatonskih clinched the 2009 title with one round to spare! I found it particularly exciting today trying to watch the games and listen to the live commentary of IM Jen Shahade and GM-elect Ben Finegold while trying to get work done! The big match-up of the day was between Krush and Baginskaite. Baginskaite had been in sole possession of second place going into the game, and both Melekhina and Krush were playing catch-up with games running out! But Krush scored the victory today with the white pieces and moved into a tie for second with Baginskaite. I do not understand all that happened, but it seems that Melekhina, who had the black pieces today against Zenyuk, somehow lost what I thought I heard the commentators call more than once a winning position. She lost the game - and her shot at second place, barring both Krush and Baginskaite crashing and burning tomorrow while Melekhina wins her R9 game. I don't think that will happen, but it sure would make a great movie! Abrahamyan pulled a rabbit out of the black pieces and won against Tsagaan who, I believe, once again succumbed to severe time pressure after she had some stunning play to obtain a very favorable position. I expect that this is a somewhat disappointing tournament for Abrahamyan, who last year scored six wins against three losses and no draws, albeit the field this year is MUCH tougher. With her full point today, she now stands at 3.0/8. I have become a fan of Yun Fan who scored her second victory of the championship today, against unlikely victim IM Rusudan Goletiani! Wow! Standings after R8: # Name USCF FIDE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 7½ WINNER AND REPEAT CHAMP! 2 Irina Krush 2490 2458 0 1 ½ 1 - ½ 1 1 ½ 5½ 3 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 ½ 0 ½ - 1 1 ½ 1 1 5½ 4 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ - 1 4½ 5 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 0 0 - 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 3½ 6 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 0 - 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 3 7 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 - ½ 1 3 8 Goletiani Rusudan 2437 2391 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ - 1 0 2½ 9 Tsagaan Battsetseg 2265 2258 0 0 0 - 1 0 ½ 0 1 2½ 10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 - ½ 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2½ Today's games in PGN: [White "Tsagaan, Battsetseg"][Black "Abrahamyan, Tatev"][Result "0-1"][WhiteELO "2265"][WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2342"][BlackTitle "WFM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 g6 6.dxc5 Nd7 7.Ngf3 Nxc5 8.Qd4 Bd7 9.Nb3 Rc8 10.Be3 Nxb3 11.axb3 Rxc2 12.Qxa7 Qc8 13.Bd3 Rxb2 14.O-O Rxb3 15.Rfc1 Bc6 16.Bc2 Rc3 17.Ba4 Bxa4 18.Qxa4 Kf8 19.Rxc3 Qxc3 20.Rc1 Qb4 21.Qd7 Kg7 22.h4 h6 23.Rc7 Qb1 24.Kh2 Qf5 25.Rxb7 g5 26.Kg1 gxh4 27.Nd4 Qg6 28.Kh2 h3 29.gxh3 Rh7 30.Rb8 Bg5 31.Qe8 Kh8 32.Nc6 Bxe3 33.Ne7 Bf4 34.Kh1 Qe4 35.Kg1 Rg7 0-1 [White "Zenyuk, Iryna"][Black "Melekhina, Alisa"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2271"][WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2253"][BlackTitle "WIM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bg5 O-O 6.Qd2 Na6 7.f4 c6 8.Bd3 Nc7 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.Bc2 Ne6 11.O-O-O Nd7 12.Qf2 Bxf3 13.gxf3 h6 14.Bh4 Nxf4 15.Qd2 g5 16.Bf2 Nh3 17.Be3 e5 18.Ne2 b5 19.cxb5 cxb5 20.Bb3 Nb6 21.Kb1 Qf6 22.Rhf1 Rfd8 23.Ng3 a5 24.dxe5 dxe5 25.Nh5 Qg6 26.Qxd8 Rxd8 27.Rxd8 Kh7 28.Ng3 a4 29.Bxf7 Qxf7 30.Bxb6 Qf6 31.Ba5 b4 32.Rd7 Qa6 33.Bc7 Qb5 34.Re7 b3 35.Bxe5 bxa2 36.Ka1 Kg8 37.Rxg7 Kf8 38.Bc3 a3 39.Rd1 axb2 40.Bxb2 Qb6 41.Nf5 Nf4 42.Ba3 Ke8 43.Nd6 1-0 [White "Foisor, Sabina"][Black "Zatonskih, Anna"][Result "0-1"][WhiteELO "2379"][WhiteTitle "WGM"][BlackELO "2492"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.Qc2 c5 7.e3 cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.Bb5 Qb6 10.Nge2 O-O 11.Bxc6 Qxc6 12.O-O Be6 13.Rac1 Rac8 14.f3 Qd7 15.g4 b5 16.a3 Ne8 17.Qb3 a6 18.Bg3 Rc4 19.Rcd1 f6 20.Rfe1 Bf7 21.Nf4 Nc7 22.Qc2 b4 23.axb4 Bxb4 24.Qf5 Qxf5 25.gxf5 Nb5 26.Nfe2 Nxc3 27.bxc3 Bxc3 28.Nxc3 Rxc3 29.Kf2 Rfc8 30.Re3 Rxe3 31.Kxe3 Rc3 32.Rd3 Rxd3 33.Kxd3 Bh5 34.Ke3 a5 35.Bd6 Kf7 36.Kf4 Ke8 37.Ba3 a4 38.Ke3 Kd7 39.h3 Kd8 40.Bf8 Ke8 41.Bc5 Kf7 42.h4 Kg8 43.Kf4 Be8 44.Ba3 Bb5 45.Ke3 Kf7 46.Bb4 Bc4 47.Kd2 Bf1 48.Ke3 Bh3 49.Kf4 Ke8 50.Ba3 Kd7 51.Bf8 Kc6 52.Ke3 Bxf5 53.Kd2 g5 54.Be7 gxh4 55.Bxf6 h3 56.Be5 Be4 0-1 [White "Krush, Irina"][Black "Baginskaite, Camilla"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2490"][WhiteTitle "IM"][BlackELO "2356"][BlackTitle "WGM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.e3 e5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Nf6 8.f3 O-O 9.e4 Qd6 10.d5 Ne7 11.c4 Nd7 12.Nh3 Nc5 13.Nf2 f5 14.Bb4 c6 15.Be2 fxe4 16.O-O Bf5 17.fxe4 Bg6 18.Nd3 b6 19.Bf3 Rfd8 20.Qe2 cxd5 21.cxd5 Rac8 22.Rac1 Re8 23.Nxc5 bxc5 24.Ba3 Qb6 25.Qc4 Bf7 26.Bg4 Qg6 27.Bxc8 Nxc8 28.Bxc5 Nb6 29.Bxb6 Qxb6 30.Qc5 Qg6 31.Qxa7 1-0 [White "Fan, Yun"][Black "Goletiani, Rusudan"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2134"][WhiteTitle ""][BlackELO "2437"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Qc7 7.a3 Nc6 8.Be2 Ne5 9.Be3 h5 10.h3 Ng6 11.Qd2 b6 12.f4 e5 13.fxe5 Qxe5 14.O-O-O Bc5 15.Nf5 Bxe3 16.Qxe3 O-O 17.g4 Nf4 18.gxh5 d5 19.Ne7 Qxe7 20.Qxf4 dxe4 21.Rhg1 Kh7 22.Qg5 Rg8 23.Nxe4 Bb7 24.Nxf6 Qxf6 25.Bd3 Kh8 26.Qxf6 gxf6 27.h6 Bg2 28.h7 Rg7 29.Rxg2 Rxg2 30.Be4 Rc8 31.Bxg2 Rxc4 32.Kb1 Kxh7 33.Rd6 b5 34.Rxf6 b4 35.axb4 Kg7 36.Rxf7 1-0 Tomorrow's final round match-ups: Baginskaite vs Foisor Abrahamyan vs Krush Melekhina vs Tsagaan Goletiani vs Zenyuk Zatonskih vs Fan Baginskaite and Krush are not only fighting for that second berth at the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship, the other ladies will be battling for final positions in the hopes of NOT splitting pooled prize money. There are also additional cash prizes up for grabs: $500 for the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award and $300/$200/$100 for "best game" prizes sponsored by 9 Queens.