2015 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Well shit and shinola.  Just because I'm rooting for a certain player, she turns around and loses.  Darlings, now you know why I NEVER gamble when I visit Goddesschess co-founder Georgia in Las Vegas.  Sigh.

Okay, so the games I was keying in on yesterday were:

Nemcova with white (2279) v. Paikidze with black (2333)

Less than 100 points separate them -- NEMCOVA LOST.

Of course it was a foregone conclusion that Krush would crush Jennifer Yu -- 2477 with black versus 2180 with white.  I mean - come on, folks!  Was anyone expecting Yu to do anything else?  I sure wasn't.

Well, one disappointment, but my other girl, Viktorija Ni (2188 black) defeated Foisor (2235 white) to gain a full point yesterday and moved into 3/4 place.  I had my eye on Ni a few years back when she played in whatever year U.S. Women's CC it was (my memory is SO bad these days, and I'm too damn lazy to look it up right now, beautiful weather is calling me out to the patio to get some SUN).  I was watching the results and reading the commentary and following along with live commentary (unlike now), and wondering to myself Who IS this woman?  I still have no idea.  Yeah, I know, me bad.

So now the standings look like this after Round 10 -- and today (already started, I think, if I have my time zones correct), is the final round:

Cross table after round 10

Rank	Name	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Score
1	GM Krush, Irina	2477	x	0		1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	8.0
2	IM Paikidze, Nazi	2333	1	x	1	½	½	½	½		½	1	½	1	7.0
3	WGM Nemcova, Katerina	2279		0	x	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	7.0
4	WIM Ni, Viktorija	2188	0	½	½	x	½	0	½	1		1	1	1	6.0
5	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	2322	0	½	½	½	x	1		1	1	0	0	1	5.5
6	IM Goletiani, Rusudan	2311	0	½	½	1	0	x	0	1	1	½	1		5.5
7	WGM Sharevich, Anna	2267	½	½	0	½		1	x	0	½	1	½	1	5.5
8	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	2235	½		½	0	0	0	1	x	1	½	1	½	5.0
9	WCM Virkud, Apurva	2132	0	½	0		0	0	½	0	x	1	½	1	3.5
10	FM Melekhina, Alisa	2235	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	½	0	x		½	2.5
11	WIM Wang, Annie	1901	0	½	0	0	1	0	½	0	½		x	0	2.5
12	WFM Yu, Jennifer R	2180	0	0	0	0	0		0	½	0	½	1	x	2.0

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows on 11-04-2015 at 18:33

Final pairings are rather interesting:

Pairings round 11 

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	WIM Ni, Viktorija	6.0	2188	WCM Virkud, Apurva	3.5	2132
2	IM Paikidze, Nazi	7.0	2333	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	5.0	2235
3	GM Krush, Irina	8.0	2477	WGM Nemcova, Katerina	7.0	2279
4	IM Goletiani, Rusudan	5.5	2311	WFM Yu, Jennifer R	2.0	2180
5	WGM Sharevich, Anna	5.5	2267	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	5.5	2322
6	WIM Wang, Annie	2.5	1901	FM Melekhina, Alisa	2.5	2235

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows on 11-04-2015 at 18:33

But really -- all Krush needs at this point is a draw and she's golden.

Okay, I'm headed out to the patio to soak up some sunshine into these old bones.  Think I'll take the laptop with me and listen to the live commentary :)