2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival

Here are the top female players after R4 (247 players in the Masters).  For comparison, have also included the top male players, who are tied for first place with 4.0:

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	Rp	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2705	4.0	3255	3233	4	3.17	0.83	10	8.3
2	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	RUS	2694	4.0	3246	3223	4	3.16	0.84	10	8.4
3	GM	Swiercz Dariusz	POL	2627	4.0	3234	3219	4	2.86	1.14	10	11.4
4	GM	Iturrizaga Eduardo	VEN	2650	4.0	3225	3207	4	3.07	0.93	10	9.3

18

IM

Melia Salome

GEO

2403

3.5

2658

2658

3.5

2.26

1.24

10

12.4

22

GM

Stefanova Antoaneta

BUL

2516

3.0

2660

2660

3

2.16

0.84

10

8.4

29

GM

Dzagnidze Nana

GEO

2555

3.0

2577

2576

3

2.77

0.23

10

2.3

34

IM

Zatonskih Anna

USA

2491

3.0

2528

2528

3

2.71

0.29

10

2.9

36

IM

Paehtz Elisabeth

GER

2482

3.0

2514

2514

3

2.74

0.26

10

2.6

40

GM

Hoang Thanh Trang

HUN

2469

3.0

2496

2492

3

2.75

0.25

10

2.5

49

IM

Tania Sachdev

IND

2403

3.0

2396

2376

3

2.84

0.16

10

1.6

52

GM

Cramling Pia

SWE

2518

3.0

2381

2357

3

3.47

-0.47

10

-4.7

As you can see, many of the ladies are, at present keeping up pretty right and tight with the male players, who are interspersed in and around them with 3.5 and 3.0 points. 

I am SO happy to see Salome Melia as the top female after 4 rounds!  After having had a very good year in 2009, her play leveled off -- guess she was busy being romanced because she got married a few years ago :)  I have seen her name showing up in more events during the latter part of 2012.  Keeping my fingers crossed she has a great showing at Gibraltar!  The female competition will be fierce, because the first price will not be shared (all other prizes below will be totaled and split up among players with tied scores):

Open to all Women
1st Prize	£12,000
2nd Prize	£8,000
3rd Prize	£5,000
4th Prize	£3,500
5th Prize	£2,500
6th Prize	£2,000
7th Prize	£1,500
8th Prize	£1,000
9th Prize	£600
10th Prize	£400

Yesterday in R3, Stefanova showed her mettle by defeating GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL 2723).  Way to go, Girl! 

No reports from today at the official website yet -- but I see at Chess-Results.com that Stefanova was black today against USA's Gata Kamsky, who took the full point, moving his score to 3.5 and it looks like all of the ladies playing the higher rated players fell to defeat today.  Boooooo!