1st SportAccord Mind Games

Under the auspices of FIDE, in Beijing, China between the 8th of December and 17th December 2011. Thirty-two players by invitation are competing: 16 players (open) and 16 women players.

Official website. 
The minimum rating for the Open is 2700. For the Women’s events, the minimum rating is 2450.

Here's the schedule of events:
9th – 11th December, Rapid Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
12th – 13th December, Blitz Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
14th – 16th December, Blindfold Event (Open and Women – 8 players each) and Pairs Event (8 teams of two players)

From rt.com:

‘Mind Games huge step towards Olympic recognition of chess’
December 10, 2011

Russian Chess World Champion Aleksandra Kostenyuk believes that the World Mind Games could become a platform for her sport to gain more exposure and maybe even become an Olympic discipline.
­“I love chess very much,” Kostenyuk said. “And I’ve been playing chess for the biggest part of my life, since the age of five. And I’ve been dreaming of seeing chess as a big part of the Olympic movement.” 

Beijing – the city which hosted the 2008 Olympics – is trading brawn for brains this time around with the SportAccord World Mind Games opening ceremony taking place there on Friday. Chess, Go, bridge, draughts and Xiangqi are the five disciplines being pursued, with the Games to be televised, which will certainly add to the pressure.

Note: I want to clarify that GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is the 12th Women's World Chess Champion.  She held the title 2008 - 2010.  The caption under the video in this article refers to GM Kosteniuk as the "current" women's world chess champion.  That is incorrect.  The current Womens' World Chess Champion is GM Hou Yifan, who first won the title in 2010 and successfully defended her title in a match against GM Koneru Humpy last month. 


Current world chess champion Aleksandra Kostenyuk (L)
giving a simultaneous exhibition. (RIA Novosti / Valeriy Melnikov)

Here is the official list of female players (quite a line-up, but missing GM Koneru Humpy):

1	Hou, Yifan	GM	CHN	2578	1994
2	Muzychuk, Anna	IM	SLO	2562	1990
3	Lahno, Kateryna	GM	UKR	2549	1998
4	Ju, Wenjun	wgm	CHN	2543	1991
5	Stefanova, Antoaneta	GM	BUL	2531	1979
6	Dzagnidze, Nana	GM	GEO	2516	1997
7	Harika, Dronavalli	IM	IND	2513	1991
8	Zatonskih, Anna	IM	USA	2506	1978
9	Cmilyte, Viktorija	GM	LTU	2503	1983
10	Danielian, Elina	GM	ARM	2497	1978
11	Cramling, Pia	GM	SWE	2495	1963
12	Socko, Monika	GM	POL	2479	1978
13	Dembo, Yelena	IM	GRE	2468	1983
14	Skripchenko, Almira	IM	FRA	2468	1976
15	Paehtz, Elisabeth	IM	GER	2457	1985
16	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	GM	RUS	2439	1984

Standings in the Rapid Chess event after R4 (completion of rounds tomorrow) - this information from Chessdom.com:

Sportaccord World Mind Games Rapid – Women
Round 4 standings:

1. GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2439 – 3.5
2. GM Lahno Kateryna UKR 2549 – 3
3. WGM Ju Wenjun CHN 2543 – 3
4. IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2457 – 2.5
5. GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2516 – 2.5
6. GM Hou Yifan CHN 2578 – 2.5
7. IM Skripchenko Almira FRA 2468 – 2
8. GM Socko Monika POL 2479 – 2
9. GM Cramling Pia SWE 2495 – 2
10. IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2562 – 2
11. GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2512 – 1.5
12. IM Dembo Yelena GRE 2468 – 1.5
13. GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2531 – 1.5
14. GM Danielian Elina ARM 2497 – 1.5
15. GM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 2503 – 0.5
16. IM Zatonskih Anna USA 2506 – 0.5