2012 FIDE Women's Grand Prix - Kazan

Here's another FIDE Women's Grand Prix snuck up on me -- well, my mind is on other things these days, and chess has taken a back seat.

Here are the standings after R3:

Ranking crosstable after Round 3
Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	12	GM	Anna Muzychuk	2598	SLO	*	½			1			½					2	0.5	3.25	0
2	1	GM	Elina Danielian	2484	ARM	½	*						½			1		2	0.5	2.75	0
3	5	GM	Viktorija Cmilyte	2508	LTU			*			½	0			1			1.5	1.5	2.25	0
	6	GM	Nadezhda Kosintseva	2528	RUS				*	0	½	1						1.5	1.5	2.25	0
	7	GM	Antoaneta Stefanova	2518	BUL	0			1	*	½							1.5	1.5	2.25	0
	8	GM	Keteryana Lahno	2546	UKR			½	½	½	*							1.5	1.5	2.25	0
7	9	GM	Alexandra Kosteniuk	2457	RUS			1	0			*					½	1.5	1	2	0
8	2	GM	Humpy Koneru	2589	IND	½	½						*	½				1.5	0.5	2.75	0
9	11	GM	Hou Yifan	2623	CHN								½	*		0	1	1.5	0.5	1.75	0
10	10	IM	Alisa Galliamova	2484	RUS			0							*	1	½	1.5	0	1.5	0
11	3	WGM	Betul Cemre Yildiz	2333	TUR		0							1	0	*		1	0	1.5	0
	4	GM	Tatiana Kosintseva	2532	RUS							½		0	½		*	1	0	1.5	0

As you can see, darlings, it is another star-studded event! There's still lots of chess to be played.  It's an 11-round event and as we've seen before, anything can and sometimes does happen!

What I find striking about this tournament is that no player has jumped out with 3.0, or even 2.5!  Wow!  It seems that in recent memory, the mark of the eventual winner (or runner-up) has been jumping out to a commanding early lead.  Well, we'll see what develops. 

In this particular event, I'm rooting for Kosteniuk and Koneru.

Here's the official website.  The Republic of Tatarstan?  What the hell is THAT?  Did a revolution occur that I slept through? (probably won't be the first time or last. Just wake me up when the decimated American middle class decides to say FU to the top 1% slave masters.  I don't want to miss that revolution.)