Chess Femme News

My focus this weekend will be on the City of Montreal Open Chess Championships, one of the local chess endeavors with which we are involved, and cleaning up my yard from the wreckage left behind by the strong winds that came through earlier in the week and made an absolute mess -- a jumble of downed branches and twigs and leaves.  I will be getting my work-out raking, for sure!

There was not much in the news regarding chess femmes when I checked earlier today --

From Rediff Sports.com
Humpy lone Indian to participate in world blitz chess
September 10, 2010 18:53 IST
 

GM Koneru Humpy, 2009.

World number two [#2 rated female chessplayer in the world] Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will represent India in the FIDE Women's world blitz chess championship finals to be held in Moscow, Russia on September 17 and 18.

Humpy is the only player to represent India.

She qualified for the finals by virtue of her world ranking. Humpy from ONGC has represented India in two women Grand prix tournaments this year as a part of FIDE Women's world chess championship cycle 2010-2011.

The Final Tournament will be played as a double round-robin event with a total number of 16 players, 15 rounds on the first day and 15 rounds on the second day (30 games in two days). Time control for each player will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, starting from move one.

The other prominent players qualified for the finals are:

1. Alexadra Kostenuik (ELO 2524) , reigning women's world champion from Russia,
2. Stefanova, Antoaneta (ELO 2551), former women's world champion from Bulgaria,
3. Kosintseva, Nadezhda (ELO 2565), former Russian women's champion,
4. Kosintseva, Tatiana (ELO 2573), former European champion from Russia,
5. Muzychuk, Anna (ELO 2535), reigning world junior champion from Slovenia,
6. Lahno, Kateryna (ELO 2539), former European Champion from Ukraine.

I wish Humpy good luck!  She is one of my favorite players, I have been following her career since 2001 and watched her mature into a woman as well as a formidable chessplayer.  I do not believe, however, that blitz is a form of play she excels in.

Chantelle Foster, from article.

A the term "chess starlet" was used in the article - LOL!  Who is called a starlet anymore?  But congratulations are due to English chessplayer Chantelle Foster, thirteen years old, who will be playing on behalf of England later this month at the European U-18 Chess Championships:

From The Thame Gazette (thametoday.co.uk)
Published Date: 10 September 2010
Chess star's England call
Chess starlet Chantelle Foster has been selected by the English Chess Federation to represent England at the European Chess Championships in Batumi, Georgia, later this month.

Why did FIDE schedule this Championship and the Olympiad with overlapping dates?  My guess is that at least some countries had to decide whether to send their best chessplayers, who happen to be 18 or under, to the European U-18 Championships or the Olympiad.  Definitely not fair to countries that do now have a large player base to draw from. 

World University Chess Championship 2010
One more round to go. It's been a very tough competition for the ladies, no one is running away with it.  Here are the standings for the femmes after R8:

Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3
1 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag MGL 2412 6,0 6,0 28,0 37,0
2 WGM Guramishvili Sopiko GEO 2343 5,5 5,5 29,0 37,5
WIM Drljevic Ljilja SRB 2273 5,5 5,5 29,0 37,5
4 WIM Fuchs Judith GER 2237 5,5 5,5 28,5 37,5
5 WGM Tsereteli Tamar GEO 2384 5,5 5,5 28,0 38,0
6 WGM Tuvshintugs Batchimeg MGL 2333 5,5 5,5 27,0 36,0
7 WIM Borosova Zuzana SVK 2277 5,5 5,5 27,0 35,5
8 WGM Sukandar Irine Kharisma INA 2372 5,5 5,5 25,0 33,0
9 Zhang Ying CHN 2210 5,0 5,0 24,0 32,0
10 WFM Cheremnova Tamara RUS 2225 5,0 5,0 24,0 31,0
11 WIM Severiukhina Zoja RUS 2313 4,5 4,5 31,5 41,5
12 WIM Yanjindulam Dulamsuren MGL 2212 4,5 4,5 30,5 37,5
13 WGM Stojanovic Andjelija SRB 2337 4,5 4,5 29,5 39,5
14 Lkhamsuren Uuganbayar MGL 2206 4,5 4,5 28,5 34,5
15 WIM Melekhina Alisa USA 2273 4,5 4,5 27,5 36,5
16 WIM Seps Monika SUI 2184 4,5 4,5 27,0 35,5
17 WFM Salman Mahini Mona IRI 2001 4,5 4,5 26,5 35,0
18 WIM Kharashuta Ekaterina RUS 2298 4,5 4,5 24,5 33,0
19 WFM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan KAZ 2243 4,5 4,5 24,5 32,0
20 Alavi Homa IRI 1953 4,5 4,5 22,5 28,5
21 WIM Hoolt Sarah GER 2251 4,0 4,0 25,5 34,0
22 Lestari Baiq Vina INA 2177 4,0 4,0 24,0 32,0
Hemmatizadeh Nina IRI 1891 4,0 4,0 24,0 32,0
24 WFM Hegarty Sarah N ENG 2084 4,0 4,0 23,5 32,0
25 WFM Davletbayeva Madina KAZ 2163 3,5 3,5 26,5 35,0
26 Djukic Sandra SRB 2198 3,5 3,5 24,0 32,5
27 Garcia Liria Caetano BRA 1908 3,5 3,5 23,5 31,0
28 Van Nies Pauline NED 2167 3,0 3,0 24,0 32,0
29 WCM Lindiawati Evi INA 2133 3,0 3,0 23,5 30,5
30 Rajapaksha Ashanti K. SRI 1790 3,0 3,0 21,0 28,5
31 Naydenova Yordanka BUL 1924 3,0 3,0 21,0 27,0
32 Martinez Janine BRA 1949 3,0 3,0 21,0 26,5
33 Heinatz Maria SUI 1935 3,0 3,0 20,0 27,5
34 Dale Hannah ENG 1779 3,0 3,0 19,5 25,5
35 WCM Kadek Iin Dwijayanti INA 1889 3,0 3,0 18,5 24,0
36 Gunawardena Shanila SRI 0 3,0 3,0 16,0 21,0
37 WCM Liyanagedara L G A SRI 1844 2,5 2,5 19,0 25,0
38 Ferreira Ana Margarida POR 1816 2,0 2,0 16,5 21,5
39 De Silva Himeshi SRI 0 1,0 1,0 17,0 22,0