European Individual Women's Chess Championship 2013

From The Week in Chess and the official website (check it out - lots of photographs of the action and interviews with the chess femmes, among other things). 

169 players.  Here are the top finishers only (see The Week in Chess for full table):

ch-EUR Ind w 2013 Belgrade SRB Tue 23rd Jul 2013 - Sat 3rd Aug 2013 Leading Final Round 11 Standings:
Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Hoang Thanh Trang	GM	HUN	2467	9.0	2421	73.0	79.0
2	Melia Salome	IM	GEO	2428	8.0	2452	72.5	77.0
3	Mkrtchian Lilit	IM	ARM	2454	8.0	2404	70.5	75.5
4	Cmilyte Viktorija	GM	LTU	2497	8.0	2393	68.5	73.5
5	Kosteniuk Alexandra	GM	RUS	2489	8.0	2393	67.0	71.5
6	Khotenashvili Bela	IM	GEO	2512	8.0	2388	69.0	74.5
7	Socko Monika	GM	POL	2435	8.0	2360	65.0	69.5
8	Kashlinskaya Alina	WGM	RUS	2334	7.5	2433	69.5	73.0
9	Arabidze Meri	WGM	GEO	2320	7.5	2432	73.5	77.5
10	Pogonina Natalija	WGM	RUS	2478	7.5	2407	68.0	72.5
11	Kovanova Baira	WGM	RUS	2371	7.5	2398	70.0	74.5
12	Muzychuk Anna	GM	SLO	2594	7.5	2393	69.0	73.5
13	Girya Olga	WGM	RUS	2437	7.5	2391	69.5	75.0
14	Stefanova Antoaneta	GM	BUL	2497	7.5	2362	65.0	70.0
15	Ozturk Kubra	WGM	TUR	2293	7.5	2360	65.0	69.0
16	Cramling Pia	GM	SWE	2523	7.5	2356	64.5	70.0
17	Javakhishvili Lela	IM	GEO	2465	7.5	2324	59.0	63.5
18	Atalik Ekaterina	IM	EUR	2430	7.5	2319	59.0	63.5
19	Milliet Sophie	IM	FRA	2396	7.5	2298	60.5	65.0
20	Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan	GM	SCO	2385	7.5	2280	59.0	63.5

Good to see IM Salome Melia doing so well - and she looks fabulous too!  Melia was a WGM at the time we brought her from Europe to participate in the 2009 City of Montreal Chess Championships, and a city fell in love with her.  Best of all, she earned a second GM norm, whoop whoop! 

It seems like yesterday when Hoang Thanh Trang was a shy teenager with a bad haircut and thick glasses.  She was always a good chessplayer, and has maintained her high level of play.  Lilit Mkrtchian from Armenia (the place where the eight-spoke chariot wheel was first invented in the 19th century BCE, which revolutionized warfare and is, perhaps, memorialized in ancient chess pieces as the 'ruhkh' [often depicted as a horse-drawn war chariot]) has been near the top ranks of female players since her breakthrough performance a few years back in one of FIDE's knock-out format Women's World Chess Chamionships where, I believe (working from my badly leaking memory) she made it all the way into the quarter-finals.  Here's a pic from the official website of the top three finishers:

Salome Melia left, Hoang Thanh Trang center, Lilit Mkrtchian right.

Congratulations to the winners and also to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk who tied with 6 players with 8.0/11 (including Melia and Mrktchian).