Chess Femme News

Dylan Loeb McClain blogs about the wife and husband chessplayers who won the respective Women's and Men's - oops - "Overall" French Chess Championship titles:  Almira Skripchenko and Laurent Fressinet. 
August 22, 2010, 6:52 pm
An Unusual Double: Husband and Wife Win French Chess Championships
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff talk in passing about the strength of women chessplayers in China - in fact, the entire article should have been devoted to the subject!
Chess notes

Gauging the growth of chess in China
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
August 23, 2010

The Chess Federation of Honduras is hosting the Men's and Women's Sub-zonals 2.3 (August 20 - 27, 2010).  Current standings of the chess femmes after R4:

Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3
1 Mencos Claudia GUA 1912 4,0 4,0 10,0 0,0
2 Madrigal Ana Daniela NCA 1884 3,0 3,0 9,0 0,0
3 Aguilar Marcela ESA 1805 3,0 3,0 8,0 0,0
4 Sotomayor Villatoro Silvi GUA 1777 3,0 3,0 7,5 0,0
5 Torres Hernandez Leslie Caroli HON 1940 3,0 3,0 7,5 0,0
   Alarcon Pamela NCA 1869 3,0 3,0 7,5 0,0
7 WCM Mora Oviedo Andrea Melissa HON 1807 3,0 3,0 7,0 0,0
8 Barria Raisa PAN 1850 3,0 3,0 7,0 0,0
9 WIM Mazariego-K Carolina GUA 2086 2,5 2,5 7,5 0,0
10 WCM Sanchez Ingrid ESA 1971 2,0 2,0 6,0 0,0
11 WCM Duron Godoy Sari Esther HON 1905 2,0 2,0 6,0 0,0
     Gamboa Alvarado Leticia CRC 1682 2,0 2,0 6,0 0,0
13 Eshraghi Roya CRC 0 2,0 2,0 5,0 0,0
14 Granados Maria NCA 1958 2,0 2,0 5,0 0,0
     Gonzalez Yaribeth PAN 1890 2,0 2,0 5,0 0,0
16 WFM Pastor Tania ESA 1942 2,0 2,0 4,0 0,0
17 Figueroa Julissa GUA 1792 2,0 2,0 3,5 0,0
18 Hernandez Bera ESA 1812 1,5 1,5 4,0 0,0
19 Mendieta Kathya NCA 1648 1,5 1,5 3,5 0,0
20 Dominguez Ana ESA 1765 1,5 1,5 3,5 0,0
21 Ortiz Katherine Berenice HON 0 1,5 1,5 3,0 0,0
22 Rodriguez Marxia GUA 0 1,5 1,5 2,5 0,0
23 Naira Alejandra HON 0 1,0 1,0 3,0 0,0
24 Muñoz Alba PAN 0 1,0 1,0 2,5 0,0
25 Calderon Any HON 0 1,0 1,0 2,0 0,0
26 Fernandez Mirna Graciela HON 0 1,0 1,0 2,0 0,0
27 Ortiz Rosa Daniela HON 0 0,5 0,5 2,0 0,0
28 Mendieta Rodriguez Tamara NCA 0 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,0

Baku Open
August 22 - 31, 2010
GM Gata Kamsky heads the list of GMs at 2713.  A total of 159 players, many of them Azerbaijani chess femmes, are participating.  Round 1 was played earlier today.  One of my favorite young chess femmes, WIM Narmin Kazimova of Azerbaijan, is playing.  She caught my eyes a couple of years ago when as a very young player she had an impressive run of wins against much higher rated players in the 2008 European Women's Chess Championship, before being knocked off.  But her potential for such level of play has been a lure to me ever since.  Unfortunately, she doesn't often travel out of Azerbaijani, probably for financial reasons, and so her playing has leveled off. 

The top chess femme is 20 GM Zhukova Natalia 2499 UKR.  Because there are so many playing, I'll provide a report on the final standings of the chess femmes at the conclusion of the Open.  In the meantime, several sources are providing daily coverage, including Susan Polgar's blog.