2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship R6 and R7

Match-ups for R6 on August 8, 2012:

6. Ronde le 2012/08/08 à 16:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Résultat		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	1490		MA Indy			ZHOU Qiyu	1836	8
2	9	1824		SERBANESCU Natasa		WCM	LIU Jiaxin	1666	7
3	1	1925		AGBABISHVILI Lali		WCM	PENG Jackie	2009	6
4	2	1362		SHI Ling Yun			ROY Myriam	1982	5

Updated Wednesday evening, August 8, 2012:

Hola darlings!  Home from work and finally off the email and telephone with Mr. Don.  Frankly, at this point, I have NO IDEA WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON with the Women's Championship.  This is what I found tonight at Chess-Results.com:

6. Ronde le 2012/08/08 à 16:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Résultat		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	1490		MA Indy	½ - ½		ZHOU Qiyu	1836	8
2	9	1824		SERBANESCU Natasa	- - -	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	1666	7
3	1	1925		AGBABISHVILI Lali	1 - 0	WCM	PENG Jackie	2009	6
4	2	1362		SHI Ling Yun	0 - 1		ROY Myriam	1982	5
5	3	2158	WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia	1 - 0		YUN Chang	1886	4

I have NO IDEA what "- - -" means under the Result for Serbanescu and Liu.  What's more, RESULTS have already been entered for rounds that haven't even been played yet! Take a look:

7. Ronde le 2012/08/09 à 16:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Résultat		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	1886		YUN Chang			MA Indy	1490	10
2	5	1982		ROY Myriam		WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia	2158	3
3	6	2009	WCM	PENG Jackie			SHI Ling Yun	1362	2
4	7	1666	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	½ - ½		AGBABISHVILI Lali	1925	1
5	8	1836		ZHOU Qiyu	- - -		SERBANESCU Natasa	1824	9
8. Ronde le 2012/08/10 à 16:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Résultat		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	1490		MA Indy	- - -		SERBANESCU Natasa	1824	9
2	1	1925		AGBABISHVILI Lali			ZHOU Qiyu	1836	8
3	2	1362		SHI Ling Yun	½ - ½	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	1666	7
4	3	2158	WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia		WCM	PENG Jackie	2009	6
5	4	1886		YUN Chang			ROY Myriam	1982	5
9. Ronde le 2012/08/11 à 13:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Résultat		Name	Rtg	No.
1	5	1982		ROY Myriam			MA Indy	1490	10
2	6	2009	WCM	PENG Jackie			YUN Chang	1886	4
3	7	1666	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	0 - 1	WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia	2158	3
4	8	1836		ZHOU Qiyu			SHI Ling Yun	1362	2
5	9	1824		SERBANESCU Natasa	- - -		AGBABISHVILI Lali	1925	1

I do not understand what is going on.  I have never seen this kind of thing before.  Has Liu withdrawn? Has Serbanescu withdrawn?  If so, why are scores recorded for Liu but not for Serbanescu?

Wouldn't you think the organizers would communicate what is going on with the sponsor whose name is attached to the Women's Tournament???

WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING. 

Guess who is rather - er - upset (to say the least) at this latest turn of events.  Yeah, ME. MOI. 

Now, take a look at the "current" standings after R6:

Grille américaine après la ronde 9

Rg.		Name	ELO	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.
1	WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia	2158	CAN	*	1		1	1	1		1	1	1	7.0
2		AGBABISHVILI Lali	1925	CAN	0	*	½	1		1	1	½	1	-	5.0
		ROY Myriam	1982	CAN		½	*		½	1	1	1		1	5.0
4		YUN Chang	1886	CAN	0	0		*	½	1		1		1	3.5
		ZHOU Qiyu	1836	CAN	0		½	½	*		1	1	½	-	3.5
6		SHI Ling Yun	1362	CAN	0	0	0	0		*		½	½	+	2.0
	WCM	PENG Jackie	2009	CAN		0	0		0		*	1	1	-	2.0
	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	1666	CAN	0	½	0	0	0	½	0	*	1	-	2.0
9		MA Indy	1490	CAN	0	0			½	½	0	0	*	-	1.0
10		SERBANESCU Natasa	1824	CAN	0	-	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	*	0.0

Have you noticed what is going on?  It does indeed appear that Serbanescu has withdrawn.  WE HAVE NOT BEEN INFORMED OF THIS.  I have no idea what is going on with Liu who, according to the purported results shown above, has draws already recorded for Rounds 7 and 8 and a loss in Round 9.  Why was she entitled to have scores entered for her, and how were those scores concocted, when Serbanescu receives nothing but dashes?  WE HAVE NOT BEEN INFORMED OF THIS.

Updated August 9, 2012:

Sadly, it has been confirmed that Natasa Serbanescu has withdrawn from the tournament.  And also, today, evidently, rising star Jackie Peng has also withdrawn.  A forfeit was recorded in her round today.  A player ordinarily does not allow that to happen.  Another fine player lost.

I was also informed that, with the agreement of the players involved (Rounds 7-9), Liu Jiaxin was allowed to play those three games I was so puzzled about yesterday at different times other than what would normally be scheduled, because she will not be available to complete the entire tournament in it's normal schedule.  The results that were recorded at Chess-Results.com for Liu were from those games.  If the results of her games, by round, had been reported as if they had been played during the actual round, I would never have known; but as they were reported (see above, my comments from last night and my puzzlement how games could be played when rounds had not yet occurred) all at once before the rounds were played, I had questions!  The information I present here this evening is what I was told in response to my inquiries.

Here are the results for R7:

7. Ronde le 2012/08/09 à 16:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Résultat		Name	Rtg	No.
1	4	1886		YUN Chang	1 - 0		MA Indy	1490	10
2	5	1982		ROY Myriam	½ - ½	WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia	2158	3
3	6	2009	WCM	PENG Jackie	- - +		SHI Ling Yun	1362	2
4	7	1666	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	½ - ½		AGBABISHVILI Lali	1925	1
5	8	1836		ZHOU Qiyu	- - -		SERBANESCU Natasa	1824	9

Here are the standings after R7:

Grille américaine après la ronde 97

Rg.		Name	ELO	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.
1	WIM	KHOUDGARIAN Natalia	2158	CAN	*	1	½	1	1	1	+	1	1	1	8.5
2		YUN Chang	1886	CAN	0	*		0	½	1	+	1	1	1	5.5
		ROY Myriam	1982	CAN	½		*	½	½	1	1	1		1	5.5
4		AGBABISHVILI Lali	1925	CAN	0	1	½	*		1	1	½	1	-	5.0
5		ZHOU Qiyu	1836	CAN	0	½	½		*		1	1	½	-	3.5
6		SHI Ling Yun	1362	CAN	0	0	0	0		*	+	½	½	+	3.0
7	WCM	PENG Jackie	2009	CAN	-	-	0	0	0	-	*	1	1	-	2.0
	WCM	LIU Jiaxin	1666	CAN	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	*	1	-	2.0
9		MA Indy	1490	CAN	0	0		0	½	½	0	0	*	-	1.0
10		SERBANESCU Natasa	1824	CAN	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	0.0

As you can see, WIM Khoudgarian has completed her play because of that "pre-arranged" game with Liu Jiaxin and the withdrawal of -- well, hell if I can figure it out!  Anway, she has successfully defended her title of Canadian Women's Champion.  None of the other players can catch her in the games left to play.  Congratulations to WIM Khoudgarian for her repeat!

I do not mean to imply that the title was "gifted" to Khoudgarian.  She is not responsible for the withdrawal of the other players. Khoudgarian played good chess and won 7 games of 9 (not including today's draw or the forfeit point). 

The battle now is for second and third place.

Keep in mind that wherever you see a "+" sign, that is a full point awarded by default.  Shi Ling Yun is the beneficiary of two such points.  Her score otherwise is - 1.0 - with one game left for her to play.  Can she muster an actual win by over the board play???

Are you now thoroughly confused?  I sure am.  The cross-table should NOT be reporting results ahead of the actual round for which the "pre-played games" were meant to be inserted OR the results of withdrawing players before the round has been completed!  You're screwing everything up and confusing me, to be sure.  And since I'm writing this blog, I'm your most important reader at the moment.   Please make a note for future reference.  Thank you very much.