2013 FIDE Women's Grand Prix: Tashkent

GM Koneru Humpy (IND 2607) took clear first place with 8.0/11 -- and I'm very happy for her (I've been following her career since 2001, seems forever!)  Her compatriot, GM Harika Dronavalli (IND 2475) finished in 4th place with 7.5/11.  IM Bela Khotenashvili continues to impress, and I've been a fan of GM Kateryna Lahno (now they're spelling it Lagno) for a long time.  Here are the final standings:

FIDE WGP Tashkent Tashkent UZB (UZB), 18-30 ix 2013															cat. X (2479)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2607	*	0	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	½	1	1	8	2641
2.	Khotenashvili, Bela	m	GEO	2514	1	*	½	0	1	0	0	1	½	1	1	1	7	2577
3.	Lagno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2532	½	½	*	½	0	½	1	½	1	1	½	1	7	2575
4.	Harika, Dronavalli	g	IND	2475	½	1	½	*	0	½	0	1	1	½	1	½	6½	2543
5.	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2579	0	0	1	1	*	0	1	1	0	1	1	½	6½	2534
6.	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2535	0	1	½	½	1	*	½	½	½	1	0	½	6	2509
7.	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2495	0	1	0	1	0	½	*	0	½	½	1	1	5½	2477
8.	Girya, Olga	wg	RUS	2439	½	0	½	0	0	½	1	*	½	½	1	1	5½	2482
9.	Danielian, Elina	g	ARM	2470	0	½	0	0	1	½	½	½	*	½	½	1	5	2443
10.	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2496	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	½	*	1	1	4½	2411
11.	Muminova, Nafisa	wg	UZB	2293	0	0	½	0	0	1	0	0	½	0	*	1	3	2320
12.	Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan	wg	KAZ	2307	0	0	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	0	0	*	1½	2185

I got the information, above, from The Week in Chess. For round by round action, results, interviews, and lots of photographs, please visit the official website.

The 12th women's world chess champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, finished at 50%. Here she is looking splendiferous at the closing ceremonies:

 

GM Kosteniuk is now playing in the 63rd Russian Women's Championship in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) (October 5 - 14, 2013), with little time to travel from place to place and rest up in between events.

I really like the photo below -- two players, including the winner GM Koneru Humpy, showed up in jeans -- she looks good in jeans.  The chess femmes, as always, range from very attractive to stunningly beautiful.  Check out GM Kateryna Lahno's red heels!  GM Antoaneta Stefanova showed a lot of leg in a dress vaguely resembling a Greek toga.  (Stefanova is scheduled to play in the 3rd Indonesia Open Chess Championship October 9 - 18, 2013 in Jakarta). I was most impressed, though, by GM Elina Danielian in her perfectly fitted and styled "little black dress."  She is looking trimmer and toned and fabulous.

So, what's next on the Women's Grand Prix agenda?

2013 play is finished.  There are three scheduled events in 2014, and in Grand Prix tournaments 3 and 4, GM Koneru Humpy and GM Hou Yifan will once again compete against each other.  Check out the events table below:

Women's Grand Prix Series 2013-2014

Monday, 01 July 2013

Each invitee selects 4 events, and her best three scores are totaled to determine the final rankings for the cycle.  The next event is Khanty Masiysk (I never spell it correctly, I think of it as Kamsky Mansky).