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:
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:
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!
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 |
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.
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