1st SportAccord Mind Games

The event is over and the final results are in.  The last contest was blindfold chess - eek!  This, from the official website:

Time to say goodbye!

Friday, 16 December 2011

The SportAccord World Mind Games are over and in the final day we knew the surprising results of both the men and women events. The women's World Champion Hou Yifan from China proved again, that she is the best chess player in the world. Her results were brilliant - she was able to clearly win 2 of 3 competitions! Only in the rapid event, where she took 6th place , was this not really sucessful. Anyway, we congratulate the Chinese player with this great results!  [Keep in mind that this event was sponsored by a Chinese company and held in China. I think Hou Yifan's results speak for themselves, but she is not the best female chessplayer in the world and she certainly is not the best chessplayer in the world!] The Russian former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk can be proud of her results also. She won the rapid competition and took the 4th and 3rd place in blitz and blindfold accordingly. And last but not least - she was selected as the Ambassador of this games among the other great players and officials of 5 mind sports. We can't even imagine who can do this job better then her. She was brilliant - on the chess board and outside it. Final standings - Blindfold (Women's):  Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED 1.Rd. 2.Rd. 3.Rd. 4.Rd. 5.Rd. 6.Rd. 7.Rd. Pts. 1 1 GM Hou Yifan 2578 CHN 2 b 0 6 w 1 15 b 1 13 w 1 4 b 1 11 w 1 3 b ½ 5½ 2 9 GM Cmilyte Viktorija 2503 LTU 1 w 1 8 b ½ 9 w 1 11 b 1 10 w 1 3 w 0 4 b 0 4½ 3 16 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2439 RUS 7 b 1 4 w 0 10 w 0 12 b 1 14 w 1 2 b 1 1 w ½ 4½ 4 6 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2516 GEO 16 w 1 3 b 1 11 w 0 8 b ½ 1 w 0 10 b 1 2 w 1 4½ 5 13 IM Dembo Yelena 2468 GRE 13 w ½ 10 b ½ 8 w 0 7 b 1 9 b ½ 12 w 1 11 b 1 4½ 6 15 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2457 GER 10 w ½ 1 b 0 14 w ½ 15 w 1 13 b ½ 9 b 1 8 w 1 4½ 7 8 IM Zatonskih Anna 2506 USA 3 w 0 16 b 0 12 b 1 5 w 0 15 b 1 14 w 1 13 b 1 4 8 3 GM Lahno Kateryna 2549 UKR 15 b ½ 2 w ½ 5 b 1 4 w ½ 11 b ½ 13 w 1 6 b 0 4 9 10 GM Danielian Elina 2497 ARM 12 b 1 11 w ½ 2 b 0 10 b ½ 5 w ½ 6 w 0 16 b 1 3½ 10 7 GM Harika Dronavalli 2512 IND 6 b ½ 5 w ½ 3 b 1 9 w ½ 2 b 0 4 w 0 14 b 1 3½ 11 4 WGM Ju Wenjun 2543 CHN 14 w 1 9 b ½ 4 b 1 2 w 0 8 w ½ 1 b 0 5 w 0 3 12 2 IM Muzychuk Anna 2562 SLO 9 w 0 14 b ½ 7 w 0 3 w 0 16 b 1 5 b 0 15 w 1 2½ 13 5 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2531 BUL 5 b ½ 15 w ½ 16 b 1 1 b 0 6 w ½ 8 b 0 7 w 0 2½ 14 12 GM Socko Monika 2479 POL 11 b 0 12 w ½ 6 b ½ 16 w 1 3 b 0 7 b 0 10 w 0 2 15 11 GM Cramling Pia 2495 SWE 8 w ½ 13 b ½ 1 w 0 6 b 0 7 w 0 16 w 1 12 b 0 2 16 14 IM Skripchenko Almira 2468 FRA 4 b 0 7 w 1 13 w 0 14 b 0 12 w 0 15 b 0 9 w 0 1 Photo from Chessqueen: GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, left, and GM Hou Yifan, right, the 12th and 13th Women's World Chess Champions, respectively.  Kosteniuk won gold (blitz) and bronze (blindfold) medals; Hou won two gold (rapid and blindfold).