2017 U.S. Women's Chess Championship - Final Results (Very Late - Sorry, Darlings!)

Mea culpa!  I totally lost track of the U.S.'s premiere female chess event, held in St. Louis, Missouri in the beautiful (but small!) Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

Without further ado (as if you didn't know!), the winner is:

WGM SABINA-FRANCESCA FOISOR (2272).

Foisor took clear first place with a score of 8.0/11.  Well done, and congratulations.

Here is a dramatic description of the final game, which took place less than three months after WGM Foisor's mother, IM Cristina Foisor (five-time Romanian women's chess champion) in January, 2017.  Tensions mounted as Foisor and her fiance' watched in the downstairs commentary room and waited for the results of IM Nazi Pakidze's game to see if there would be a play-off.

Cross-table (final) with results/standings:

Cross table after round 11

Rank	Name	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Score
1	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	2272	x	½	0	1	1	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	8.0
2	IM Paikidze, Nazi	2369	½	x	1	0	½	0	½	1	1	1	1	½	7.0
3	GM Krush, Irina	2444	1	0	x	½	½	0	½	1	½	1	½	1	6.5
4	IM Zatonskih, Anna	2451	0	1	½	x	½	0	1	½	½	1	0	1	6.0
5	WGM Sharevich, Anna	2257	0	½	½	½	x	1	½	½	½	0	1	1	6.0
6	WIM Yu, Jennifer R	2196	½	1	1	1	0	x	0	½	½	0	½	1	6.0
7	WCM Feng, Maggie	2162	1	½	½	0	½	1	x	0	½	½	½	1	6.0
8	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	2364	0	0	0	½	½	½	1	x	½	1	½	1	5.5
9	WGM Nemcova, Katerina	2359	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	x	1	1	½	5.5
10	WFM Virkud, Apurva	2262	0	0	0	0	1	1	½	0	0	x	1	1	4.5
11	WFM Yip, Carissa	2234	0	0	½	1	0	½	½	½	0	0	x	1	4.0
12	WIM Nguyen, Emily	2173	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	x	1.0

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows on 09-04-2017 at 17:43

It was a tough outing for WFM Carissa Yip, the player I chose to eyeball this year to see how she'd do.  No doubt lack of age and experience, despite her extensive (and impressive) record of play, had a lot to do with her overall performance.  She is only eleven, after all.  At eleven, I was dancing to the Four Seasons and Bobby Rydell on the radio and experimenting with Annette Funicello hairstyles, har!  I also was skinny and cute (but had awful hair!), and sassy as all get out, and had my first serious boyfriend, Jimmy Celeste (sigh, so Italian and so handsome),  just so you know.  My games were cribbage and five card stud, deuces wild, with Grandpa Newton.

The chess baton seems to have been passed to a younger generation of players, most of whom do not have the kind of international experience necessary to really get their ELOs "up there," if you know what I mean.  Sadly, I see a decline in the overall quality of female chessplayers on our national scene, not an improvement.  We lose too many to the practicalities of life - such as - MAKING A LIVING and RAISING FAMILIES!  Drives me INSANE, this drift backwards, not forward.

Okay, end of my angst session.