Chess Femme News!

From The Times of Malta
17 September, 2010
Juniors take centre-stage at Stella Maris College
[Excerpted]

Jamie Farrugia

[The Malta Junior Chess Championship] organised by the Malta Chess Federation (MCF), was held last week at Stella Maris College in Gżira where junior chess is on the up thanks to the efforts of College director Brother David, a keen chess enthusiast himself, and members of the MCF.

‘Eternal rivals’ Jamie Farrugia, Adrian Cutajar and Gabriel Farrugia were involved in a gruelling three-round title decider on the last day of the competition in the U-12 category.

At the end, Jamie Farrugia’s cool nerves won her the day as she beat her rivals in time-troubled Blitz games to win the U-12 title. Gabriel Farrugia was second ahead of Cutajar.

Women's World Blitz Chess Championship - Moscow (through September 18, 2010)
I found at the French website europe-echecs.com a button to do a Google translation to English, since my French is limited to strange verbs, the months of the year and numbers through twenty.  So much for four years of French in school.  Report by Gérard Demuydt, 17 September, 2010.  There are many very nice photographs of the players.  This one cracks me up - it looks like Irina Krush is catching 40 winks...

List of the players in the final - some qualified by means other than playing the last couple of days:

01 Kosteniuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alexandra g g RUS RUS 2524 2524
02 02 Koneru, Humpy Koneru, Humpy g g IND IND 2593 2593
03 03 Stefanova, Antoaneta Stefanova, Antoaneta g g BUL BUL 2551 2551
04 04 Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Nadezhda g g RUS RUS 2565 2565
05 05 Kosintseva, Tatiana Kosintseva Tatiana g g RUS RUS 2573 2573
06 06 Muzychuk, Anna Muzychuk Anna m m SLO SLO 2535 2535
07 07 Krush, Irina Krush, Irina m m USA USA 2490 2490
08 08 Nebolsina, Vera Nebolsin Vera wg wg RUS RUS 2360 2360
09 09 Zhukova, Natalia Zhukova, Natalia g g UKR UKR 2499 2499
10 10 Gaponenko, Inna Gaponenko, Inna m m UKR UKR 2469 2469
11 11 Skripchenko, Almira Skripchenko, Almira m m FRA FRA 2464 2464
12 12 Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk, Mariya m m UKR UKR 2464 2464
13 13 Paikidze, Nazi Paikidze, Nat wg wg GEO GEO 2376 2376
14 14 Gunina, Valentina Gunina Valentina wg wg RUS RUS 2465 2465
15 15 Lahno, Kateryna Lahno, Kateryna g g UKR UKR 2539 2539
16 16 Sebag, Marie Sebag, Marie g g FRA FRA 2499 2499

Here's something I'm intested in - prize money:
Final - Semi-final

1st place € 10,000 - 1st place € 1,000
2nd Place € 8,000 - 2nd Place € 900
3rd Place € 6,000 - 3rd Place € 800
4th Place € 5,000 - 4th Place € 700
5th Place € 4,500 - 5th Place € 600
6th Place € 4,000 - 6th Place € 500
7th Place € 3,500 - 7-21e Places € 300
8th Place € 2,500 - 22-25th Places € 250
9th Place € 1,500 - -
10-12th Places € 1,000 - -
13th-16th Places € 500 - -

The GM who never sleeps, Susan Polgar, has a current report at her chess blog at the conclusion of the first day's play of the final.  As per usual she is on top of things.

GM Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine is in first place with a one point lead over GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.  An upset is potentially brewing in that GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, whom many thought would take this crown, is back in 6th place with 8.0, one point behind GM Koneru Humpy of India who has 9.0.  IM Irina Krush who finished the semi-final in strong first place is also back in the pack, in 10th with 7.0.  But there is a lot of blitz left to play tomorrow.  I'm not a fan of blitz, it obviously degrades the quality of chess play, but it demands a certain skill set and has its own fan base.  Yes, I'm sure chess dudes all around the world are watching the play for the love of blitz chess, and not because it so happens this is a gathering of some extremely lovely ladies.