St. Louis - Kings v. Queens Tournament

From left to right: GM Alexadra Kosteniuk, IM Irina Krush, IM Anna Zatonski, IM Martha Fierro, GM Kateryna Lahno.

The lovely ladies did not have a good first day.  Scores/standings.  Lahno did well, winning both of her games to score 2 of the ladies' 3 points.  Alexandra Kosteniuk accounted for the other ladies' point by winning her second game (rapid chess).  The men have 7 points with double wins by GMs Finegold and Nakamura and IM Stopa.

Action continues today at 3:00 p.m. from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.  Looking at the pairings, I'm confident the ladies will score more points today.

I visited the interior of the premises of the CCSCSL for the first time yesterday and stationed myself in the commentary room in the lower level, where IM Jennifer Shahade and GM Yasser Seirawan were giving live commentary and analysis.  In person it looks like it does on video, except it's a smaller space than I thought it would be.  I didn't get upstairs to the playing area, will try today, but I like it in the commentary room; there I can see what's going on on the boards and the commentary helps me understand what's going on, which at my low level of play and chess understanding is extremely helpful!