Goddesschess News: GChess Sponsorships; Final Results:Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee), Tradewise Gibraltar

Hola darlings!  I have news to catch-up for you, mea culpa.  

Goddesschess is once again sponsoring prizes for female chessplayers in the upcoming 2015 Grand Pacific Open.  This year's event (the 9th), will be held April 3 - 6, 2015 at the gorgeous Grand Pacific Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia.  It has been a multi-year pleasure working with the organizers of this fine event.  I think next year we'll increase the prizes in the hope of attracting more female players.

Goddesschess is also providing sponsorship for the 2015 Montreal Open Chess Championnat that is once again being shepherded by Bernard Ouimet and the Ahuntsic Chess Club. This was one of Mr. Don's favorite events and he loved attending the tournament to take photos and videos and interview players.  This year's event will take place September 11 - 13, 2015 in Montreal, Quebec at college Jean-de-Bre'beuf, an absolutely beautiful playing venue where the event has been hosted many times before.  My Goddesschess goal this year was to provide sponsorship to the top female players in Canada to come out and play at the Championnat in addition to providing prizes to the top-finishing female players, and invitations were sent out by the organizers.  I am happy to report that WIM Natalia Khoudgarian  (2294 CFC) accepted the invitation. The remaining invitees were not available due to prior commitments (college classes, other tournaments, personal matters).  The website has to be updated with respect to the Goddesschess prize structure, which shows the prizes we sponsored for the 2014 Championnat, that should be taken care of soon.  

On to a couple of big money Marquee international events:

2015 Tata Steel a/k/a Wijk aan Zee (I shall always think of it that way) is completed and I'm like two months late with the news - duh!  Well, I've been busy doing nothing since my retirement at the end of January, darlings :)


Okay, so in the Big Event (the Masters), GM Hou Yifan (CHN 2673), the lone female representative, acquitted herself well enough, although she did not achieve 50% -- achieving a total score of 5.0 in 13 games -- 8 of which were draws!  Holy Hathor!  Eight (8) draws.  GM Wesley So (2762), who has temporarily switched his allegience to the USA while playing on Susan Polgar's chess team at Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri (big bucks for chess in St. Louis thanks to the Sinquefields), had an excellent tournament.  Here is the final table from the ever-excellent The Week in Chess coverage:

77th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee (NED), 9-25 i 2015																cat. XX (2746)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2862	*	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	0	1	1	½	1	1	9	2877
2.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2757	½	*	1	½	1	0	1	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	8½	2854
3.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2784	½	0	*	1	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	8½	2852
4.	So, Wesley	g	USA	2762	½	½	0	*	½	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	8½	2854
5.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2732	½	0	0	½	*	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	8½	2856
6.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2715	½	1	½	0	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	7½	2805
7.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2820	0	0	½	½	1	½	*	½	0	½	½	1	1	1	7	2769
8.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2734	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	*	1	½	½	1	½	0	6	2717
9.	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2744	1	½	½	½	0	½	1	0	*	½	½	0	½	0	5½	2688
10.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2797	0	½	½	0	0	½	½	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	5½	2684
11.	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2673	0	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	*	½	0	1	5	2664
12.	Saric, Ivan	g	CRO	2666	½	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	1	½	½	*	½	1	4½	2641
13.	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2667	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	1	½	*	½	4	2610
14.	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	2727	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	½	*	3	2536

In the Challengers' Event, two American players each performed well -- GM Sam Shankland (USA 2652) finished in 3rd place overall with a great score of 9.0/13 - no losses! - and nudged his ELO up a bit.  Shankland also had eight (8!) draws; the rest of his games were wins. GM Samuel Sevian (USA 2511) finished in 6th place overall with a score of 7.5/13 with a very nice performance rating 111 points above his current rating that is sure to bump up his ELO.  Two chess femmes participated in the Challengers:  GM Valentina Gunina (RUS 2538) finished in 9th place overall with 5.0/13 and her PR was below her ELO.  WIM Anne Haast (NED 2352) finished in 12th place overall with 4.0/13 and her PF was above her ELO.  Here's the final table from the Challengers:

77th Tata Steel GpB Wijk aan Zee (NED), 10-25 i 2015																cat. XIII (2561)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2675	*	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	½	1	10.5	2803
2.	Navara, David	g	CZE	2729	½	*	½	1	1	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	10.0	2759
3.	Shankland, Samuel L	g	USA	2652	½	½	*	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	½	½	9.0	2695
4.	Van Kampen, Robin	g	NED	2615	½	0	0	*	0	1	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	1	8.5	2667
5.	Salem, A.R. Saleh	g	UAE	2603	½	0	½	1	*	½	½	0	0	1	1	½	1	1	7.5	2615
6.	Sevian, Samuel	g	USA	2511	0	½	½	0	½	*	1	½	1	0	1	1	½	1	7.5	2622
7.	Potkin, Vladimir	g	RUS	2608	0	½	½	0	½	0	*	½	1	½	1	1	½	1	7.0	2586
8.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2613	0	½	0	½	1	½	½	*	0	1	½	½	1	½	6.5	2557
9.	Gunina, Valentina	g	RUS	2538	0	½	½	0	1	0	0	1	*	½	0	0	½	1	5.0	2476
10.	Michiels, Bart	g	BEL	2563	0	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	½	*	0	1	1	½	4.5	2451
11.	Klein, David	g	NED	2517	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	½	1	1	*	½	½	½	4.5	2454
12.	Haast, Anne	wm	NED	2352	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	1	0	½	*	½	1	4.0	2436
13.	Dale, Ari	m	AUS	2291	½	0	½	0	0	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	*	0	3.5	2407
14.	Timman, Jan H	g	NED	2593	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	½	0	1	*	3.0	2348

I totally missed the 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar International Chess Festival.  Gibraltar has made a favorable reputation for attracting top female players with excellent conditions and prizes, and this year was no exception.  This tournament has also consistently attracted some of the best chess talent, bar none, from around the world, and the chess femmes go head to head with them -- there is no separate "women only" chess ghetto!  

GM Hou Yifan (see above, she also played at Wijk aan Zee), whom I'm pleased as punch to see has developed a grown-up sense of style (well, the teenage years are tough on us all, aren't they...) had a great event.  Here's the final standings from The Week in Chess -- there were 257 players and these days I don't have the patience to be scrolling through the list of names trying to pick out all of the chess femmes, you'll have to be happy with the top 50 players as highlighted at The Week in Chess and I've highlighted the chess femmes in red and my American players (all dudes) in blue.  Special kudos to India's Padmini Rout -- she started out ranked 101st and finished 28th overall - HOLY HATHOR!

Gibraltar Masters 2015 Caleta ENG Tue 27th Jan 2015 - Thu 5th Feb 2015 Leading Final Round 10 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1
1	2	Nakamura Hikaru	USA	2776	8.5	2919
2	15	Howell David W L	ENG	2670	8.0	2818
3	13	Hou Yifan	CHN	2673	7.5	2772
4	4	Vitiugov Nikita	RUS	2735	7.5	2770
5	1	Topalov Veselin	BUL	2800	7.5	2767
6	65	Wagner Dennis	GER	2501	7.5	2759
7	12	Wei Yi	CHN	2675	7.5	2754
8	21	Adhiban B.	IND	2630	7.5	2750
9	7	Harikrishna P.	IND	2723	7.5	2748
10	22	Bachmann Axel	PAR	2629	7.5	2722
11	9	Matlakov Maxim	RUS	2695	7.5	2667
12	3	Svidler Peter	RUS	2739	7.0	2719
13	6	Yu Yangyi	CHN	2724	7.0	2707
14	5	Jakovenko Dmitry	RUS	2733	7.0	2700
15	26	Naroditsky Daniel	USA	2622	7.0	2698
16	8	Rapport Richard	HUN	2716	7.0	2677
17	36	Nabaty Tamir	ISR	2579	7.0	2615
18	19	Sutovsky Emil	ISR	2637	7.0	2605
19	41	Bok Benjamin	NED	2572	7.0	2582
20	43	Sengupta Deep	IND	2569	7.0	2574
21	39	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2574	7.0	2526
22	11	Rodshtein Maxim	ISR	2680	6.5	2642
23	51	Lalith Babu M.R.	IND	2537	6.5	2637
24	28	Lenderman Aleksandr	USA	2614	6.5	2626
25	45	Oparin Grigoriy	RUS	2551	6.5	2621
	47	Ju Wenjun	CHN	2547	6.5	2621
27	10	Cheparinov Ivan	BUL	2681	6.5	2619
28	101	Padmini Rout	IND	2388	6.5	2608
29	23	Salgado Lopez Ivan	ESP	2628	6.5	2607
30	92	Nakar Eylon	ISR	2419	6.5	2604
31	99	Kuipers Stefan	NED	2390	6.5	2599
32	48	Muzychuk Anna	UKR	2544	6.5	2595
33	27	Anton Guijarro David	ESP	2617	6.5	2580
34	29	Bologan Viktor	MDA	2608	6.5	2576
35	35	Mareco Sandro	ARG	2583	6.5	2574
36	18	Edouard Romain	FRA	2638	6.5	2570
37	30	Salem A.R. Saleh	UAE	2603	6.5	2565
38	17	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	VEN	2649	6.5	2557
39	62	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2515	6.5	2556
40	16	Motylev Alexander	RUS	2665	6.5	2544
41	55	Popilski Gil	ISR	2522	6.5	2543
42	37	Felgaer Ruben	ARG	2575	6.5	2539
43	63	Donchenko Alexander	GER	2511	6.5	2534
44	54	Xu Jun	CHN	2523	6.5	2531
45	20	Bartel Mateusz	POL	2631	6.5	2524
46	53	Rasmussen Allan Stig	DEN	2526	6.5	2519
	121	Salomon Johan	NOR	2319	6.5	2519
48	38	Hansen Eric	CAN	2574	6.5	2497
49	49	Troff Kayden W	USA	2541	6.5	2448
50	95	Santiago Yago De Moura	BRA	2406	6.5	2416
257 players

The Battle of the Sexes was one of the "relaxing, fun" events scheduled this year. Ha!  I do have to say that the ladies are drop-dead gorgeous. The men - meh :
 The female participants in the Battle of the Sexes (above) did not, alas, prevail against the chess dudes; final score was 2.5 dudes (a scruffy-looking lot - please dudes, learn how to shave and dress properly, heh) and 0.5 beautiful femmes.  The ladies win on style points and overall presentation, alone, geez!

There is tons of press coverage at the official 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar website; online press coverage this year was anchored by IM Tania Sachdev of India (she's the beautiful lady on the far right in the photo, above), and certainly not beautiful Chess Festival Director Stuart Conquest.  Please check it out.  

MORE CHESS NEWS TOMORROW, PINKY FINGER SWEAR.  Right now, in Milwaukee, it's 5:03 p.m. and time for a glass of wine.