The Swiss Museum of Games - Musee Suisse du Jeu

Goddesschess first met Dr. Ulrich Schaedler in Amsterdam at the end of November, 2001 when Don McLean, Georgia Albert, her daughter Michelle, and I attended a symposium of chess historians, scholars and interested parties at the Max Euwe Institute under the auspices of the Initiativ Gruppe Konigstein ("IGK"). 

Dr. Schaedler or, Stooping Wolf, as we know him (we all gave ourselves 'nicknames' over the years), has been a friend of Gchess ever since.  A year or so ago he visited Georgia in Las Vegas with friends/family to attend a concert at the MGM Grand performed by a group that he'd always wanted to see.  At the time the euro v. dollar ratio was so favorable, the trip was made at a greatly discounted price.  When we first visited Amsterdam in 2001, the price ratio was the just the opposite, and we got round-trip airfares out of Montreal for $333 each, and hotel rooms in Amsterdam for about $30 USD a night.  Back then, we paid in The Netherlands' old currency -- the Euro hadn't been officially adopted by the country at the time!  How times change...

But we don't.  Oh yes, we grow older as we look at ourselves in the mirror and in photographs, but in our heart and in our mind's eye, we remain the same forever -- at whatever "age" we thought we were our "best" ...  In truth, we are always at our best, even as we age, as long as we maintain our zest to always make ourselves better and to keep on learning new things.  Shhhhh, that's a secret not everyone has realized. 

While visiting GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's chessqueen.com, I found photographs of Alexandra and Dr. Ulrich Schaedler taken at The Swiss Museum of Games when she visited there in October, 2011.  Ulrich has been curator at the Museum for several years. When Ulrich first took over as curator, the Musee did not even have a decent website!  Glad to say that now, it does!

In 1999, Don McLean represented Goddesschess at an IGK Symposium in Hamburg, Germany, and gave a talk about how the internet would change the future of research into the origins of chess and other ancient boardgames and how it would facilitate collaberation and the publication of research.  Back then, Don's talk was met with some skeptical eyes, but what he talked about that day proved to be true as the internet grew and grew and grew, and Goddesschess grew along with it.  Now, we take it for granted that you can type in just about any subject you want to find out more about into your favorite search engine, and you will get some results.  But back then, it was still new, and there wasn't much information available like the info we compiled.

On May 6, 2012, Goddesschess will celebrate its 13th anniversary online.  Whew!  Hard to believe.  We're not getting older, we're just getting better and better and better...

Stooping Wolf, you're a handsome man!

2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

Hola darlings!

Sorry I haven't been posting much the past few days.  We switched to "daylight savings time" last week (the week before?) -- I don't remember exactly when.  I'm having a hard time adjusting, just like I had a hard time in the spring this year when we "leaped ahead" an hour.  Yeah, I supposedly gained an hour of sleep one Saturday night, but honestly, I've been heading to bed at 9 p.m. or shortly after, because my body is telling me it is actually 10 p.m. or after!  I just cannot win!

This year's European Team Chess Championships are now herstory.  The top three women's teams were:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1		Russia	RUS	9	8	1	0	17	25.5	177.0	165.50	137.5
2	5		Poland	POL	9	6	2	1	14	23.0	178.0	133.25	138.5
3	3		Georgia	GEO	9	7	0	2	14	22.5	181.0	134.00	139.0

I have my favorite players that I follow when I see them listed in events.  In this year's ETCC-Women, I had 10 players I was following, and I lost track of some of them, because they were alternating with other players on their teams and weren't playing every single game.  I won't go into all the details of their performances here, but I would like to point out some things.

First of all, I was following the 12th Women's World Chess Champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.  She had some very tough tournaments earlier this year where she did not perform well.  But - the important thing - she never gave up.  She kept playing, she kept fighting.  Event after event, a very full schedule for this mother away from her husband and young daughter for so long!  Now, I don't follow gossip on line or participate in message boards or post messages at blogs the way I used to years ago, so I don't know for a fact that some people may have been saying that Alexadra was no longer a top-tier female player - but I'll bet such things were said and/or implied. 

Anyone who would say or snidely imply such things just doesn't know this woman or understand how women work, in general!  I don't claim a great acquaintance with Alexandra, but after exchanging correspondence over the years, I did meet her (finally) in person in September in St. Louis, while she was there to participate in the Kings v. Queens Tournament at the St. Louis Chess Club.  I know that Alexandra has a great heart and a great spirit, like all the women's chess champions do.  One simply cannot achieve that peak of success as a chessplayer without having such heart and spirit.  I will never, ever count Alexandra down and out!

And Alexandra proved that she still has what it takes to win!  In addition to winning a Gold Medal for her part in her Team's performance, Alexandra also won an individual Gold Medal for her performance on Board 4.  A well-deserved medal, I might add.  She was great!

You can check out her numbers performance (statistics measuring lots of different performances) at chess-results.com (tournament)  and also at chessqueen.com (story).  We've been invited to share the photos posted there - great photos -- you can check them out in more detail:

A happy Russian Women's Team - and rightfully so.  Anyone who thinks chess is a game of nerds hasn't seen these women, that's for sure! 

Alexandra wrote at chessqueen.com:

All the players in our team had a great result. I got 5.5 out of 7 (4 wins and 3 draws) and got the highest rating performance of my team, 2575 ELO. Our team’s average rating performance was 2523, even higher than our starting average rating of 2509, which was the highest team average at the start of the championship. Out of the 9 x 4 = 36 games played by our team, we only lost 3 individual games, but never lost a single match.

As for individual performances, everyone in our team did great! Apart from everyone in our Russian women’s team getting a team Gold medal, I got an individual Gold medal on the 4th board, as did Tatiana Kosintseva on board 2 and Natalija Pogonina on board 5. Valentina Gunina got an individual Bronze medal on board 3, and Nadezhda Kosintseva barely missed a medal with her 4th place on the 1st board, which is still a great performance. In all our 5-person team got 9 medals (8 Gold, 1 Bronze), almost the maximum!

Of 124 female players, Alexandra's performance ranked 4th overall (top 10 only shown, below):

The best players sorted according Rp,Pts,games,%,board (Final Ranking after 9 Rounds)

No.			Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	Pts.	Games	%	Bo.
1		IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	Slovenia	2782	8.5	9	94.4	1
2		GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	Ukraine	2632	5.0	7	71.4	1
3		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	Georgia	2593	5.0	8	62.5	1
4		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	Russia	2575	5.5	7	78.6	3
5		IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	Georgia	2573	6.5	8	81.3	3
6		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	Russia	2559	6.0	8	75.0	2
7		IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	Ukraine	2538	6.0	8	75.0	2
8		WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	Poland	2524	5.5	8	68.8	2
9		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	Russia	2524	5.5	9	61.1	1
10		WIM	Ohme Melanie	2361	Germany	2521	6.5	8	81.3	2

Another Goddesschess friend, IM Salome Melia, (who married in early summer this year) playing on the Georgian Women's Team, also won two medals:  A Team Bronze Medal and an Individual Bronze Medal for her performance on Board 5:

Board 5
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %
1 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2451 RUS 2518 2278 4 5 80.0
2 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2460 UKR 2468 2327 5,5 8 68.8
3 IM Melia, Salome 2392 GEO 2460 2302 5 7 71.4
Come on, Salome!  I have faith that you can earn a GM title. 

GM Kateryna Lahno did well for her team and for herself.  While the Ukrainian Women's Team finished out of contention for a Team Medal, Lahno won an individual Silver Medal for her excellent performance on Board 1:

Board 1
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %
1 IM Muzychuk, Anna 2557 SLO 2782 2338 8,5 9 94.4
2 GM Lahno, Kateryna 2549 UKR 2632 2474 5 7 71.43 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2516 GEO 2593 2498 5 8 62.5

Performance wise, here is how the women I was following placed (of 124 female players):

No.

Name

Rtg

Team

Rp

Pts.

Games

%

Bo.

2

GM

Lahno Kateryna

2549

Ukraine

2632

5.0

7

71.4

1

4

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2439

Russia

2575

5.5

7

78.6

3

20 IM Melia Salome 2392 Georgia 2460 5.0 7 71.4 4
21 IM Dembo Yelena 2468 Greece 2459 5.5 9 61.1 1

50

WGM

Reizniece-Ozola Dana

2281

Latvia

2344

5.0

9

55.6

1

61

WGM

L’ami Alina

2364

Romania

2308

3.0

7

42.9

1

68

WGM

Rudolf Anna

2347

Hungary

2286

3.5

7

50.0

2

70

WGM

Calzetta Ruiz Monica

2301

Spain

2284

4.5

7

64.3

2

73

WIM

Kazimova Narmin

2241

Azerbaijan

2278

3.5

7

50.0

2

87

IM

Houska Jovanka

2415

England

2221

2.5

8

31.3

1

 So, it looks like Kateryna Lahno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Melia Salome, Dana Reizniece-Ozola and Narmin Kazimova will gain some ratings points as a result of their performances at the 2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women.  Congratulations!

2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

And the winner is ...  RUSSIA!

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1		Russia	RUS	9	8	1	0	17	25.5	177.0	165.50	137.5
2	5		Poland	POL	9	6	2	1	14	23.0	178.0	133.25	138.5
3	3		Georgia	GEO	9	7	0	2	14	22.5	181.0	134.00	139.0
4	2		Ukraine	UKR	9	6	0	3	12	21.5	180.0	110.50	138.0
5	12		France	FRA	9	6	0	3	12	21.0	172.5	107.50	133.5
6	8		Bulgaria	BUL	9	5	1	3	11	19.5	175.5	100.00	135.5
7	4		Armenia	ARM	9	4	3	2	11	19.0	182.0	104.00	139.5
8	7		Germany	GER	9	4	2	3	10	20.5	161.5	86.50	125.5
9	15		Israel	ISR	9	4	2	3	10	19.0	164.5	85.00	125.5
10	11		Slovenia	SLO	9	4	2	3	10	19.0	146.0	74.50	119.5
11	10		Spain	ESP	9	4	1	4	9	19.5	152.0	69.00	117.5
12	18		Czech Rep.	CZE	9	3	3	3	9	18.0	176.0	85.00	136.0
13	13		Netherlands	NED	9	3	3	3	9	18.0	167.0	81.25	128.5
14	21		Austria	AUT	9	4	1	4	9	17.5	150.0	62.25	120.5
15	6		Hungary	HUN	9	3	3	3	9	17.0	172.0	79.00	129.5
16	19		Croatia	CRO	9	4	1	4	9	17.0	169.0	79.25	129.0
17	9		Romania	ROM	9	4	1	4	9	16.5	184.5	84.75	142.0
18	14		Serbia	SRB	9	3	2	4	8	19.5	151.0	52.75	124.5
19	23		Italy	ITA	9	3	2	4	8	18.0	132.5	48.25	110.5
20	17		Azerbaijan	AZE	9	3	2	4	8	17.5	159.5	65.75	123.5
21	16		Greece	GRE	9	2	4	3	8	17.0	165.5	70.25	127.0
22	27		Turkey	TUR	9	3	1	5	7	17.0	157.5	58.00	124.0
23	22		England	ENG	9	3	1	5	7	17.0	146.5	44.00	122.0
24	26		Lithuania	LTU	9	1	4	4	6	15.5	147.5	37.50	122.5
25	25		Switzerland	SUI	9	2	2	5	6	14.0	152.5	39.25	125.5
26	20		Latvia	LAT	9	2	1	6	5	17.0	133.5	26.50	110.5
27	24		Montenegro	MNE	9	2	1	6	5	13.5	150.5	30.50	125.5
28	28		Norway	NOR	9	0	0	9	0	4.0	151.0	0.00	118.0

Annotation:
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: points (game-points)
Tie Break3: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (sum of team-points of the opponents)
Tie Break4: Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break (with real points)
Tie Break5: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)

Here are the final match results for Round 9:

Round 9 on 2011/11/11 at 13:00
Bo.	1	Russia	Rtg	-	21	Austria	Rtg	3 : 1
1.1	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	-	IM	Moser Eva	2448	½ - ½
1.2	IM	Gunina Valentina	2514	-	WIM	Kopinits Anna-Christina	2276	1 - 0
1.3	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	-	WFM	Newrkla Katharina	2131	1 - 0
1.4	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2451	-	WFM	Novkovic Julia	2089	½ - ½
Bo.	4	Armenia	Rtg	-	5	Poland	Rtg	2 : 2
2.1	GM	Danielian Elina	2507	-	GM	Socko Monika	2479	½ - ½
2.2	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	-	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	0 - 1
2.3	IM	Galojan Lilit	2383	-	WGM	Majdan-Gajewska Joanna	2386	1 - 0
2.4	WGM	Kursova Maria	2315	-	WGM	Szczepkowska-Horowska Karina	2379	½ - ½
Bo.	12	France	Rtg	-	2	Ukraine	Rtg	3 : 1
3.1	IM	Milliet Sophie	2386	-	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2427	1 - 0
3.2	WGM	Maisuradze Nino	2315	-	IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	½ - ½
3.3	WGM	Guichard Pauline	2305	-	IM	Gaponenko Inna	2435	1 - 0
3.4	WGM	Leconte Maria	2282	-	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2460	½ - ½
Bo.	9	Romania	Rtg	-	3	Georgia	Rtg	1½:2½
4.1	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2418	-	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	0 - 1
4.2	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	2335	-	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2475	½ - ½
4.3	WIM	Bulmaga Irina	2334	-	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	1 - 0
4.4	WGM	Voicu-Jagodzinsky Carmen	2300	-	IM	Melia Salome	2392	0 - 1
Bo.	15	Israel	Rtg	-	7	Germany	Rtg	2 : 2
5.1	IM	Klinova Masha	2316	-	WGM	Michna Marta	2382	1 - 0
5.2	WIM	Porat Maya	2299	-	WIM	Ohme Melanie	2361	0 - 1
5.3	WIM	Efroimski Marsel	2230	-	WGM	Levushkina Elena	2307	0 - 1
5.4	WIM	Vasiliev Olga	2305	-	WIM	Hoolt Sarah	2286	1 - 0
Bo.	18	Czech Rep.	Rtg	-	8	Bulgaria	Rtg	1 : 3
6.1	WGM	Kulovana Eva	2297	-	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2531	½ - ½
6.2	WGM	Nemcova Katerina	2276	-	WGM	Videnova Iva	2297	½ - ½
6.3	WIM	Havlikova Kristyna	2285	-	WGM	Voiska Margarita	2328	0 - 1
6.4	WIM	Olsarova Tereza	2232	-	WGM	Nikolova Adriana	2286	0 - 1
Bo.	11	Slovenia	Rtg	-	14	Serbia	Rtg	2½:1½
7.1	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	-	IM	Bojkovic Natasa	2396	1 - 0
7.2	WGM	Krivec Jana	2291	-	WGM	Chelushkina Irina	2276	1 - 0
7.3	WGM	Srebrnic Ana	2219	-	WGM	Stojanovic Andjelija	2280	0 - 1
7.4	WIM	Rozic Vesna	2263	-	WIM	Drljevic Ljilja	2273	½ - ½
Bo.	6	Hungary	Rtg	-	17	Azerbaijan	Rtg	2 : 2
8.1	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	2446	-	WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	2314	½ - ½
8.2	WGM	Rudolf Anna	2347	-	WIM	Kazimova Narmin	2241	½ - ½
8.3	WGM	Gara Ticia	2375	-	WIM	Mammadova Gulnar	2290	0 - 1
8.4	IM	Gara Anita	2340	-	WIM	Umudova Nargiz	2210	1 - 0
Bo.	13	Netherlands	Rtg	-	22	England	Rtg	3 : 1
9.1	GM	Peng Zhaoqin	2379	-	IM	Houska Jovanka	2415	1 - 0
9.2	IM	Lanchava Tea	2320	-	WFM	Yurenok Maria S	2106	1 - 0
9.3	WIM	Bensdorp Marlies	2242	-	WFM	Bhatia Kanwal K	2087	1 - 0
9.4	WIM	Haast Anne	2268	-	WFM	Hegarty Sarah N	2060	0 - 1
Bo.	27	Turkey	Rtg	-	19	Croatia	Rtg	1½:2½
10.1	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2301	-	WGM	Golubenko Valentina	2293	1 - 0
10.2	WIM	Ozturk Kubra	2239	-	WIM	Franciskovic Borka	2280	½ - ½
10.3		Cemhan Kardelen	1881	-	WGM	Medic Mirjana	2236	0 - 1
10.4		Menzi Nezihe Ezgi	1911	-	WIM	Jelica Mara	2234	0 - 1
Bo.	10	Spain	Rtg	-	26	Lithuania	Rtg	3½: ½
11.1	IM	Alexandrova Olga	2423	-	WGM	Daulyte Deimante	2238	1 - 0
11.2	WGM	Vega Gutierrez Sabrina	2327	-	WIM	Zaksaite Salomeja	2200	½ - ½
11.3	WGM	Calzetta Ruiz Monica	2301	-		Batkovskyte Dominyka	2102	1 - 0
11.4	WIM	Hernandez Estevez Yudania	2284	-		Vanagaite Giedre	1958	1 - 0
Bo.	16	Greece	Rtg	-	20	Latvia	Rtg	2½:1½
12.1	IM	Dembo Yelena	2468	-	WGM	Reizniece-Ozola Dana	2281	½ - ½
12.2	WGM	Botsari Anna-Maria	2313	-	WGM	Berzina Ilze	2320	1 - 0
12.3	WIM	Fakhiridou Ekaterini	2180	-	WIM	Skinke Katrina	2227	½ - ½
12.4	WIM	Pavlidou Ekaterini	2176	-	WGM	Erneste Inguna	2218	½ - ½
Bo.	23	Italy	Rtg	-	24	Montenegro	Rtg	2½:1½
13.1	IM	Sedina Elena	2343	-	WGM	Vojinovic Jovana	2346	½ - ½
13.2	IM	Zimina Olga	2338	-	WFM	Milovic Aleksandra	2171	1 - 0
13.3	WIM	Brunello Marina	2221	-	WFM	Stojanovic Marija R	2095	½ - ½
13.4		Panella Fiammetta	2014	-		Blagojevic Tijana	1925	½ - ½
Bo.	28	Norway	Rtg	-	25	Switzerland	Rtg	1½:2½
14.1	WFM	Johnsen Sylvia	2028	-	WIM	Seps Monika	2198	0 - 1
14.2		Reppen Ellisiv	1949	-	WIM	Heinatz Dr Gundula	2205	0 - 1
14.3		Carlsen Ellen Oen	1931	-		De Seroux Camille	2056	½ - ½
14.4		Hansen Erle Andrea Marki	1762	-		Stoeri Laura	1939	1 - 0

I skipped a couple days - c'est la vie.  You can find full results for the European Women's Team Chess Championship at chess-results.com.

15,000 Year Old Cave "Paintings" Found in Swabia

Isn't Swabia where they found a carved bone "Venus"???  I'll check on that  -- (see below)

Stone Age paintings found in Swabia
Published: 9 Nov 11 07:25 CET

Archaeologists have found cave paintings thought to be Central Europe's oldest such artwork in Baden-Württemberg’s Swabian Alps.

They found four painted stones from the cave Hohle Fels near Schelklingen, although the meaning of the red-brown spots is still a mystery.

The stone paintings, thought to be 15,000 years old, are being displayed at a special exhibition at the University of Tübingen’s museum.

The spots don’t seem particularly artistic at first glance. But they are important because they represent the first time such old paintings have been found in Central Europe, although similar work has been seen in France and Spain.

The stones at Hohe Fels appear to have been painted with a mixture of red chalk and lime, with water from the cave, said excavation technician Maria Malina.

“These spots are anything but accidental,” said archaeologist Nicholas Conard who assisted on the find. “It is quite clear that they have relevant content.”

What it all really means remains unclear. There is speculation the spots could refer to shamanism or be a menstrual calendar of sorts.

Hohle Fels has been a magnet for archaeologists in recent years after researchers working there found a Venus figure and flutes thought to be 40,000 years old.

The Local/DPA/mdm

****************************************************************

Related Links:

35,000 Year Old "Venus" Figurine
November 3, 2009

World's Oldest Flute?
June 24, 2009

New "Venus" Figurine Discovered
May 15, 2009

2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

The best players sorted according Rp,Pts,games,%,board (Rank after Round 7)

No.			Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	Pts.	Games	%	Bo.
1		IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	Slovenia	2741	6.5	7	92.9	1
2		IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	Georgia	2723	5.5	6	91.7	3
3		GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	Ukraine	2671	4.5	6	75.0	1
4		WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2451	Russia	2610	2.5	3	83.3	4
5		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	Russia	2603	5.5	7	78.6	2
6		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	Russia	2574	4.5	6	75.0	3
7		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	Georgia	2563	3.5	6	58.3	1
8		WGM	Szczepkowska-H. Karina	2379	Poland	2551	5.5	7	78.6	3
9		IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	Ukraine	2535	4.5	6	75.0	2
10		GM	Socko Monika	2479	Poland	2533	4.5	7	64.3	1

Board Pairings

Round 7 on 2011/11/09 at 15:00
Bo.	4	Armenia	Rtg	-	1	Russia	Rtg	1½:2½
1.1	GM	Danielian Elina	2507	-	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	½ - ½
1.2	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	-	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	½ - ½
1.3	IM	Galojan Lilit	2383	-	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	½ - ½
1.4	WGM	Kursova Maria	2315	-	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2451	0 - 1
Bo.	5	Poland	Rtg	-	2	Ukraine	Rtg	2½:1½
2.1	GM	Socko Monika	2479	-	GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	1 - 0
2.2	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	-	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2427	1 - 0
2.3	WGM	Majdan Gajewska Joanna	2386	-	IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	½ - ½
2.4	WGM	Szczepkowska-H. Karina	2379	-	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2460	0 - 1
Bo.	3	Georgia	Rtg	-	11	Slovenia	Rtg	3½: ½
3.1	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	-	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	½ - ½
3.2	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2475	-	WGM	Krivec Jana	2291	1 - 0
3.3	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	-	WGM	Srebrnic Ana	2219	1 - 0
3.4	IM	Melia Salome	2392	-	WIM	Rozic Vesna	2263	1 - 0
Bo.	12	France	Rtg	-	14	Serbia	Rtg	3 : 1
4.1	IM	Milliet Sophie	2386	-	IM	Bojkovic Natasa	2396	1 - 0
4.2	WGM	Maisuradze Nino	2315	-	WGM	Chelushkina Irina	2276	1 - 0
4.3	WGM	Guichard Pauline	2305	-	WGM	Stojanovic Andjelija	2280	½ - ½
4.4	WGM	Leconte Maria	2282	-	WIM	Eric Jovana	2236	½ - ½
Bo.	8	Bulgaria	Rtg	-	7	Germany	Rtg	2½:1½
5.1	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2531	-	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	2457	1 - 0
5.2	WGM	Videnova Iva	2297	-	WGM	Michna Marta	2382	0 - 1
5.3	WGM	Djingarova Emilia	2309	-	WIM	Ohme Melanie	2361	½ - ½
5.4	WGM	Nikolova Adriana	2286	-	WIM	Hoolt Sarah	2286	1 - 0
Bo.	17	Azerbaijan	Rtg	-	18	Czech Rep.	Rtg	1 : 3
6.1	WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	2314	-	WGM	Kulovana Eva	2297	0 - 1
6.2	WIM	Kazimova Narmin	2241	-	WGM	Nemcova Katerina	2276	½ - ½
6.3	WIM	Mammadova Gulnar	2290	-	WIM	Havlikova Kristyna	2285	½ - ½
6.4	WIM	Umudova Nargiz	2210	-	WIM	Olsarova Tereza	2232	0 - 1
Bo.	13	Netherlands	Rtg	-	6	Hungary	Rtg	1½:2½
7.1	GM	Peng Zhaoqin	2379	-	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	2446	½ - ½
7.2	IM	Lanchava Tea	2320	-	IM	Madl Ildiko	2399	½ - ½
7.3	WIM	Bensdorp Marlies	2242	-	WGM	Rudolf Anna	2347	½ - ½
7.4	WIM	Haast Anne	2268	-	IM	Gara Anita	2340	0 - 1
Bo.	9	Romania	Rtg	-	20	Latvia	Rtg	2½:1½
8.1	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2418	-	WGM	Reizniece-Ozola Dana	2281	1 - 0
8.2	WGM	L'ami Alina	2364	-	WGM	Berzina Ilze	2320	0 - 1
8.3	WIM	Bulmaga Irina	2334	-	WIM	Skinke Katrina	2227	1 - 0
8.4	WGM	Voicu Jagodzinsky Carmen	2300	-	WFM	Ungure Liga	2066	½ - ½
Bo.	10	Spain	Rtg	-	21	Austria	Rtg	1½:2½
9.1	WGM	Vega Gutierrez Sabrina	2327	-	IM	Moser Eva	2448	0 - 1
9.2	WGM	Calzetta Ruiz Monica	2301	-	WFM	Exler Veronika	2124	½ - ½
9.3	WIM	Hernandez Estevez Yudania	2284	-	WIM	Kopinits Anna-Christina	2276	1 - 0
9.4	WFM	Pascual Palomo Lucia	2104	-	WFM	Newrkla Katharina	2131	0 - 1
Bo.	27	Turkey	Rtg	-	15	Israel	Rtg	1½:2½
10.1	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2301	-	IM	Klinova Masha	2316	½ - ½
10.2	WIM	Ozturk Kubra	2239	-	WIM	Porat Maya	2299	0 - 1
10.3		Cemhan Kardelen	1881	-	WIM	Efroimski Marsel	2230	1 - 0
10.4		Menzi Nezihe Ezgi	1911	-	WIM	Vasiliev Olga	2305	0 - 1
Bo.	19	Croatia	Rtg	-	23	Italy	Rtg	2½:1½
11.1	WGM	Golubenko Valentina	2293	-	IM	Zimina Olga	2338	½ - ½
11.2	WGM	Medic Mirjana	2236	-	WIM	Brunello Marina	2221	0 - 1
11.3	WIM	Saric Kristina	2255	-		Messina Roberta	1964	1 - 0
11.4	WIM	Jelica Mara	2234	-		Panella Fiammetta	2014	1 - 0
Bo.	22	England	Rtg	-	16	Greece	Rtg	2 : 2
12.1	IM	Houska Jovanka	2415	-	IM	Dembo Yelena	2468	0 - 1
12.2	IM	Ciuksyte Dagne	2327	-	WGM	Botsari Anna-Maria	2313	1 - 0
12.3	WFM	Yurenok Maria S	2106	-	WGM	Makropoulou Marina	2201	1 - 0
12.4	WFM	Hegarty Sarah N	2060	-	WIM	Fakhiridou Ekaterini	2180	0 - 1
Bo.	25	Switzerland	Rtg	-	26	Lithuania	Rtg	2 : 2
13.1	WIM	Seps Monika	2198	-	WGM	Daulyte Deimante	2238	½ - ½
13.2	WIM	Heinatz Dr Gundula	2205	-	WIM	Zaksaite Salomeja	2200	½ - ½
13.3		De Seroux Camille	2056	-		Batkovskyte Dominyka	2102	1 - 0
13.4		Stoeri Laura	1939	-		Vanagaite Giedre	1958	0 - 1
Bo.	24	Montenegro	Rtg	-	28	Norway	Rtg	2½:1½
14.1	WGM	Vojinovic Jovana	2346	-	WFM	Johnsen Sylvia	2028	1 - 0
14.2	WFM	Milovic Aleksandra	2171	-		Reppen Ellisiv	1949	1 - 0
14.3	WFM	Stojanovic Marija R	2095	-		Carlsen Ellen Oen	1931	½ - ½
14.4		Blagojevic Tijana	1925	-		Hansen Erle Andrea Marki	1762	0 - 1

xxxxx

Mary Ann Gomes Arrives!

From The Times of India:

Mary arrives on the big stage
Hari Hara NandananHari Hara Nandanan, TNN | Nov 9, 2011, 09.11PM IST

CHENNAI: For 12 years, Mary Ann Gomes played and won chess tournaments of different levels. On Wednesday, her career reached a new road which will put the 22-year-old on par with the few stalwarts of Indian women's chess. Her first Premier national women's title will give Mary Ann a ticket to the Indian team's journey to the biennial Olympiad next year but more that what the Kolkata girl would be pleased about her performance in Chennai in the last two weeks is the way she methodically achieved her targets.

"I was not looking at the title when I started," said Mary Ann, who first won a national title (under-10) in 1999. "I had made two IM norms (men's) and I was happy that I could add the third (and the title) in the penultimate round," she added. India has only two (men's) Grandmasters among women in Koneru Humpy and D Harika and only four IMs in the fairer sex, though there are many Women's Grandmasters.

To her credit, Mary Ann, who is on a contract with AAI, has achieved everything without much help from outside. "I used to train with GM Dibyendu Barua but now I am on my own," says the new champion proudly. Of course, women's chess in India is at a crossroads with even the likes of Humpy and Harika not able to get the right coaches to further their career.

However, Mary Ann, at the moment, is not bugged by this. "When I started, I liked chess and so I did not think about anything else. I did not set any goals for me," she said as she held the trophy closely. "Dad (Charles Gomes) used to play chess. Maybe, when I played in the Ahmedabad age-group national when I was 9, I thought I should set goals for myself."

She achieved two of the goals in Chennai in the last fortnight (IM title and Premier national trophy) but Mary Ann knows her journey has just started and not reached anywhere. "I have a long way to go," she looked afar and muttered, maybe to herself. She will add some 30 Elo points from the Chennai meet and could move closer to the rating requirement for IM title (2400 points). Mary Ann knows that she will be going to the Olympiad but then she has already got enough experience in that area.

"I played in the Olympiad in 2006 (Turin) and 2008 (Dresden). The last time, I won a silver medal on the reserve board," recalled Mary of her Dresden performance. The new champion's next goal should be to emulate Humpy and Harika and belong to the men's field completely.

38th Indian Women's National Chess Championship

OHMYGODDESS!  Mary Ann Gomes wins the title!

From The Times of India.

Mary Ann Gomes bags maiden national title
TNN | Nov 9, 2011, 04.07PM IST

CHENNAI: Finally, the Premier national women's chess title was decided on tiebreak. Mary Ann Gomes of Airport Authority of India, who drew her last-round game against Kiran Manisha Mohanty of Orissa and Eesha Karavade of Maharashtra, who got the better of Padmini Rout of Orissa on Wednesday tied for first place with eight points each but the former's tiebreak (average of opponents' score) stood her in good stead in the end.

The Kolkata girl, who won the winner's purse of Rs 75000, said she was delighted to take her maiden national senior women's title. "When I think of it, I feel great joy. I dedicate this title to my mother Freda Gomes," said the 22-year-old IM-elect.

International Master Eesha Karavade scoring a surprisingly quick final round victory over Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout. The Grunfeld game saw white wresting the advantage early, and a rook for minor piece sacrifice by Padmini did not improve her position. Eesha's queen and double rooks decided the issue in 32 moves. The Pune girl has always been in the top bracket ever since she started playing in the senior women's national 10 years ago at the age of 14 in Lucknow.

By far, this has been Eesha's best performance. "I train with Raju at Hyderabad (with D Harika's coach) and I am right now focused on playing chess, taking it as a profession," said Eesha, who scored 5.5 points in the last six rounds. Experienced Tania Sachdev of Air India secured the third spot with an energetic victory over Woman International Master Sai Meera of Indian Bank.

Final Placings :

 

1-2 Mary Ann Gomes (AAI), Eesha Karavade (Mah) 8.0,

3 Tania Sachdev (AI) 7.5,

4-5 Nisha Mohota (PSPB), Padmini Rout (Ori) 7.0,

6-10 Pratyusha Bodda (AP), Meenakshi Subbaraman (IA), Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB), Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori), P Michelle Catherina (TN) 6.5 pts

 

Results (Round 11):

 

Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) 8 drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori) 6.5,

Eesha Karavade (Mah) 8 bt Padmini Rout (Ori) 7,

Tania Sachdev (AI) 7.5 bt Sai Meera (IB) 6,

Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 7 bt Chandika Divyasree (AP) 6.0,

Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB) 6.5 bt A G Nimmy (Ker) 5.5,

Meenakshi Subbaraman (AI) 6.5 bt R Bharathi (TN) 5.5,

P Michelle Catherina (TN) 6.5 bt Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 5.5,

Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 6.5 bt S Harini (TN) 5,

Swati Ghate (LIC) 6 bt Cholleti Sahajasri (AP) 4.5,

Swati Mohota (WB) 5 drew with Pon N Krithika (AICF) 5.5,

A Akshaya (TN) 5 drew with P Bala Kannamma (TN) 5,

Aarthie Ramaswamy (AI) 5 drew with P V Nandhidhaa (TN) 4.5,

Madhurima Shekhar (Del) 2.5 lost to J Saranya (TN) 5.5,

Shweta Gole (Mah) 5 bt Supriya Joshi (Mah) 2,

M Mahalakshmi (TN) 4 bye.

Final Ranking after 11 Rounds

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2325	WB	8.0	2261	2272	2285
2	IM	Karavade Eesha	IND	2348	MAH	8.0	2205	2202	2196
3	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2419	Air Ind	7.5	2241	2244	2254
4	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2320	PSPB	7.0	2235	2241	2248
5	WGM	Padmini Rout	IND	2356	ORI	7.0	2212	2215	2214
6		Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2062	AP	6.5	2263	2271	2291
7	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2297	Air Ind	6.5	2239	2242	2251
8	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2318	PSPB	6.5	2132	2125	2113
9	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2213	ORI	6.5	2123	2113	2088
10		Michelle Catherina P	IND	2088	TN	6.5	2093	2088	2075
11		Chandika Divyasree	IND	2129	AP	6.0	2203	2213	2222
12	WIM	Meera Sai	IND	2117	IB	6.0	2195	2201	2205
13	WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2278	LIC	6.0	2132	2118	2094
14	WFM	Saranya J	IND	2106	TN	5.5	2180	2185	2202
15		Nimmy A G	IND	2252	KER	5.5	2164	2162	2154
16	WFM	Pon Nkrithika	IND	2044	AICF	5.5	2127	2135	2138
17	WFM	Bharathi R	IND	2112	TN	5.5	2123	2122	2113
18	WIM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2289	GOA	5.5	2120	2109	2085
19		Harini S	IND	2055	TN	5.0	2183	2196	2203
20	WFM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	1954	TN	5.0	2132	2130	2129
21		Shweta Gole	IND	1999	MAH	5.0	2098	2099	2107
22	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	IND	2209	Air Ind	5.0	2088	2071	2050
23		Bala Kannamma P	IND	1978	TN	5.0	2072	2077	2084
24	WFM	Swati Mohota	IND	2030	WB	5.0	2063	2064	2067
25		A Akshaya	IND	1990	TN	5.0	2040	2035	2037
26		Cholleti Sahajasri	IND	2074	AP	4.5	2186	2196	2213
27		Nandhidhaa Pv	IND	2105	TN	4.5	2020	2009	2006
28		Madhurima Shekhar	IND	1906	DEL	2.5	2036	2044	2043
29		Supriya Joshi	IND	1904	MAH	2.0	2024	2029	2027
30	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2108	AICF	1.0	2059	0	0

Annotation:
Tie Break1: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)
Tie Break2: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)
Tie Break3: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)

Free Man In Paris

Tonight I want to write about a song Ive have in my head for MONTHS. It all started in some dream or other, something from one of my past lives, maybe.  Not sure I've had any, by the way, but I sure do dream about them often enough and I tend to be generous with myself when it comes to this sort of thing, so maybe it's actually true... 

The longer I've resisted writing about the particular 'thing,' the stronger and stronger Joni Mitchell has been insisting on singing this song full tilt inside my head!  No doubt there is a sound psychological reason for it - like I turned 60 this year, for instance, and I'm going through some sort of mental review of my past herstory.  Or I could just be - finally - losing my mind.  I don't think early onset Alzheimers exhibits this particular kind of symptom, which is a relief.  Sigh!  Then again...

ta...ta......ta....(harmonious blending of sounds from guitars, drums and horns in the background)...ta... ta...... ta....I am hearing those chords echoing in my brain from THAT SONG, all the time, and it's driving me mad, I tell you, MAD. Not that I wasn't already quite MAD before, but now I mean it.  I'm really, really MAD. 

Walking down to the bus stop in the morning, it's especially strong.  Somehow, my cadence always seems to match that song playing inside my brain, ta...ta......ta.... OH OH... time to call out the men in the white coats 'They're coming to take me away, aha! They're coming to take me away, ho ho!..."   Oh boy.

Okay, maybe it's work related.  Or weather related?  Seems the only time I'm going out at barely sunrise in the cold dark days of November, December, January, February, March is when I'm marching down to the bus stop to head to the office -- well, you get the picture.  And now, since so-called "Daylight Savings Time" has kicked in, I'm not only waking up to darkness in the morning, I'm also going home in the dark too.  And I do mean dark.  Tonight, in the storm, it was pitch black out there, couldn't even see a tree limb coming at me if my life depended upon it...  How does this damn cell phone work?  I got a new one about a month ago now, and it's been sitting inside a draw ever since because I haven't had time to figure out how it goes together and how to run the damn thing.  I purchased the subscription (or whatever it's called) through the office not to communicate with anyone other than 911, just in case I slip on some ice in the dark on the long walk home from the bus stop, or I happen to get smushed underneath a tree limb some dark, stormy night, like tonight...

FREE MAN IN PARIS - YEAH, I'M THE MAN. Or maybe I'm Joni Mitchell, in my next life...the way I see it... you just can't win it...