Kosteniuk "Not Just a Chess Kournikova"

By Dylan Loeb McClain at The International Herald Tribune: Dylan Loeb McClain: Chess Published: September 19, 2008 Alexandra Kosteniuk can no longer be called the Anna Kournikova of chess. For years, Kournikova, the tennis player, was more noted for her looks than her accomplishments on the court. Like Kournikova, the 24-year-old Kosteniuk, a Russian grandmaster, has traded on her looks, modeling for magazines like the European editions of Vogue and Marie Claire, and selling bikini-clad images of herself through her Web site. Kosteniuk, however, bristles at comparisons with Kournikova. "I think I've won enough chess competitions not to be compared to her," Kosteniuk said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. Her argument is now beyond doubt. That interview took place barely an hour after she became the 14th women's world champion by winning a tournament in Russia. Kosteniuk's victory was a bit of a surprise. She had not played much since giving birth to a daughter two years ago. "I wanted to have some time," she said. Once she decided to return to tournament play, Kosteniuk found it difficult to regain her competitive form. But, she began working intentively with four grandmasters, and the work paid off. Kosteniuk, who is ranked No. 10 among active women players, played exceptionally well during the championship, beating Pia Cramling of Sweden, No. 6, in the semifinals and Hou Yifan of China, No. 4, in the final. Kosteniuk said Hou will dominate women's competitions in a few years. Hou certainly learned some valuable lessons in her match with Kosteniuk, who had the upper hand in every game. Still, she only managed to win the first, while the other three ended in draws. In that first game, Hou played 8 a3 to avoid the Marshall Attack, which arises after 8 c3 d5. The position was fairly balanced until Hou lashed out with 17 g4, an impetuous move; 17 Ng3 was more circumspect. Kosteniuk immediately took advantage, launching an attack with 17 ... h5. Hou managed to hold on until Kosteniuk broke through, first with 33...Nd3 and then 36 ... Nf3 and 37 ... Bg4. The point was that White could not play 38 Qg4 because of 38 ... Qg4 39 Ng4 d1/Q, while 38 Ng4 would lose to 38 ... Qf3 39 Kf3 d1/Q. Hou resigned after 48 ... fg because she faced certain checkmate.

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

I did a Google news search tonight under Hou Yifan's name to see if any English-translated newspapers are picking up on her battle for the WWCC in Nalchik (where?) - and didn't find a damn thing! Chessbase reports, The Hindu reports, The Daily News and Analysis (India) reports, even USCF reports - but nothing in Xinhua showed up. See the Game 3 report from Chessbase on the final between Hou (white) and Kosteniuk (black) that took place earlier today: Nalchik Final: Kosteniuk leads 2:1, needs just a draw17.09.2008 – The third game of the Women's World Championship Final was a tough, 72-move draw. That left Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in the lead with 2:1 points. On Wednesday the 14-year-old Chinese has to win with black in the last game to force a tiebreak. Kosteniuk can pick up the title with a draw. The game starts at 15:00h local time (GMT +3). You can watch it on the Playchess server. Photo: Final, Kosteniuk behind the black pieces on move 12.

Koneru Out of 2008 Women's World Chess Championship: The Aftermath

From dnaindia.com Humpy Dumpty had a big fall… Rajesh Pansare Monday, September 15, 2008 04:16 IST MUMBAI: During an interview last year, Grand Master Koneru Humpy tipped Chinese sensation Yifan Hou to match the heights reached by Judith Polgar, the first women’s Grand Master and the highest-rated women’s player. At the Women’s World Championship in Nalchik, Russia, we came to know why Humpy spoke so highly of the 14-year-old Hou. The Chinese denied the top-rated Indian player a place in the final. Humpy has never won the World championship and this time it was Hou who came in the way. Humpy is the best thing going around in women’s chess. She has an ELO rating of 2,622 but Hou is not a walkover. Hou has the fourth-best rating among women (2,557). But what titled the game in favour of the Chinese? Experts believe Humpy has the tendency to choke under pressure, especially when she is a favourite at a tournament. Grand Master Abhijit Kunte said, “Humpy puts a lot of pressure on herself to win the World championship and though she won the early rounds with ease, she buckled under pressure against her Chinese opponent in the first game. Though she won the second game, she never played her normal game from there on.” After being knocked out in 2004 in the semis and 2006 in the second round, Humpy had trained all her energies towards clinching the World title, the only trophy missing from her cabinet. But like in the previous editions, she failed to deliver. She even withdrew her name from the Indian squad to take part in the Olympiad, to can concentrate on this event. And though, she had achieved her peak rating in July this year, she was not in the best of form going in this tournament. Dronacharya awardee and chess coach Raghunandan Gokhale has an interesting take. “Humpy likes to take part in the men’s tournament because she is an underdog with no pressure on herself. But that’s not the case in the women’s tournament, where everyone expects her to win. Being the highest rated women’s player automatically puts a lot of pressure on her. As a result she doesn’t perform to the best of her ability.” Humpy’s loss means India were denied the distinction of having reigning champions in all the major categories. She could have joined the list of other champions like men’s world champion in Viswanathan Anand, men’s world junior champion in Abhijeet Gupta and the women’s U-20 champion in Dronavalli Harika. So how can Humpy crack the code? “Maybe change her coach,” Gokhale felt. “She has been coached by her father (Koneru Ashok) for a long time, who is a good coach, but if she has to improve her game further, she has to train with a foreign coach, maybe a Russian. She has to change her outlook towards the game.” But Abhijit Kunte has a complete different take on Humpy’s game. “She is a pretty strong player and will bounce back from this loss. It’s just a one-off game. She doesn’t have to make any drastic change. She just has to be mentally more strong,” Kunte said.

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

An interesting development! Susan Polgar's blog reports that Hou lost behind the White pieces to Kosteniuk in Game 1 of the WWCC finals (4 games total, plus play-offs if needed). Chessdom has lost interest in reporting currently on the WWCC - wonder why, when they were doing such a good job the first several rounds? Did all of their favorites go home too? The official website isn't any better - no current news, although supposedly you can follow the games there live (I haven't tried it). Instead, it features an article by GM Sergey Shipov (September 14, 2008) stuffed full of sexist stereotypes. Geez! He also included comprehensive analysis of the four semi-final games played between Kosteniuk-Cramling, and Hou-Koneru, so he partially redeemed himself from being a total schmuck.

A Disappointing Loss for Koneru

There was plenty of game by game coverage in the Indian press during the Women's World Chess Championship as several Indian players participated in the knock-out event. The highest rated player at the WWCC and the second highest-rated female player in the world (behind only Judit Polgar), GM Koneru Humpy, lost during a second round of play-off games to 14 year old GM-elect Hou Yifan of China:

• Humpy out of world championship (9/12/08) - Grandmaster Koneru Humpy bowed out of the World Women Chess Championship succumbing to 14-year old Yifan Hao of China in the blitz tiebreak games of the semi-finals
• Yifan in final (9/13/08) - Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan inflicted a heart-breaking twin-defeat on second seed K. Humpy in the two five-minute blitz games for a 4-2 victory in the semifinals of the Women’s World chess championship...

It seems probable at this point that Hou will overtake Koneru on the women's ratings list by the end of 2008 and will storm toward 2700, much as another teen "prodigy" has - Magnus Carlsen (now storming toward 2800). Will Hou be unstoppable? If she wins the women's title, will she gun for the "men's" title? Hey Topalov, Aronian, Carlsen, Anand, et al., watch out boys!

Well, okay, maybe not. I don't think Hou is the best female player in the world - she's still extremely unseasoned and she hasn't had enough experience playing against higher-rated male players. Her results over the past couple of years have been highly inconsistent. Let's see what happens over the next three years or so.

Friday Night Miscellany

Hola! Ohmygoddess! Humpy lost the second game of the second set of play-off games today in Nalchik (where?) and has been eliminated from the Women's World Chess Championship by 14 year old Hou Yifan. So, it's Hou Yifan v. Alexandria Kosteniuk for the final. Now that every last one of my favorite players is out of the championship, I've totally lost interest. But I must - I simply must - suck it up and report on it at Chess Femme News. And I will - I swear. I will.

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There's a long involved story about how I decided to set up a wireless computer network at home - I should have done it LONG ago! But, being technologically challenged I finally did not get serious about the idea until Sunday, when I purchased a new laptop computer. I'd been pricing them and doing comparison shopping for months, and finally pulled the trigger on a nice Toshiba for a great price. That got me thinking about how I'd be using this laptop at home. One modem - one desktop connected to modem, connected to the one and only phone jack upstairs. Where would I connect the laptop to the internet? Oops! Time to go wireless, Jan. And so I did some research online and it looked like a relatively simple procedure to hook it up, I just had to get the right components (wireless router and, for the desktop which I purchased in 2003 without wireless capability, a USB wireless adaptor). Purchasing the stuff was the easy part - I had a list of my top 3 picks and went to the OfficeMax in the mall on my lunch hour Wednesday. Ta da, less than an hour later, I had the top picks on my list for under $100 (tax included). The procedure for hooking everything up sounded easy enough too, reading it online. Hmmm....well, it's a lesson worth learning all over again. NEVER trust any directions about how to do something you read on the internet! NEVER! Soooo, I get my wireless components home Wednesday night and set things up in less than an hour. WRONGO! When I tried to go online last night, I had no internet connection! LOL! After trying various remedies and the SBC diagnostic tool (which told me I had no internet connection, duh), in desperation I re-connected the network cable that I had removed the night before from the back of the router to the computer ethernet port and voila! The internet connection was restored. However, that cable isn't supposed to be there! Obviously I'd done something wrong, but I was too tired to putz with it. The USB wireless adaptor wasn't able to connect to the router, either. Oh crap! I checked and double-checked the settings and the instructions on the DVD that came along with the little thingy (it looks like a zip drive) and thought I'd done everything a-okay, but obviously - NOT! So, today is one of my last day offs before the official end of summer (September 21) and I tackled the re-install of the router and adaptor before 9 this morning. What a comedy of errors! Trying to be "smart" (I should know better by now, wouldn't you think?) I thought "I must delete the prior installation information and start from scratch." So, I pull up my programs, and I can't find the router stuff anywhere. I did delete something - it turned out to be my ethernet drivers - but I didn't discover that until later on. Much later on... Two tries later I'm practically in tears (why is it that women start to cry when we get frustrated? Well, at least this woman does). I know I must do the dreaded call to "tech support" and speak to someone with an accent so heavy I won't be able to understand what he is saying. I pick up the telephone and dial. A mere 30 minutes later I have successfully manuevered myself past never-ending menus and mechanical voices and reach "Danny" who was either from India, Bangladesh or Pakistan judging by the accent; it wasn't as heavy as some tech support helpers I've talked to in the past, I could understand him and only had to ask him to repeat himself about half a dozen times during our 30 minutes on the telephone. Success! Danny got my ethernet drivers restored (all it finally took was a reboot of the machine, geez!) so I could get back on the internet and figure out how to "restore default settings" to my router. Arrrgggghhhh. After several attempts I was able to finally restore the default settings to my router and after that, I got it installed! (I hoped it was successfully installed, but I wouldn't know until I reinstalled the USB wireless adaptor if it really worked). Then I tackled the USB wireless adaptor. Oh my. I put in the DVD and follow the directions, but then in the middle of everything up pops this screen that says I have to download this other Linksys program - and although I tried and tried I couldn't get out of the screen; when I exited out of the DVD and tried re-running it, the same thing happened again at the same point in the installation. So, 45 minutes later, after this program had finished installing itself, I was able to complete the installation of the adaptor. Only - it didn't work! After several fruitless tries, it was sheer luck that led me to use the same password for the adaptor that I had selected as my "security key" for the router and it worked! Instantly there was the connection - all the little green lights on the modem and router were glowing! To make sure I had it right (finally), I cut the front lawn in a soft rain, took a long nap, and then I disconnected the network cable and powered everything up again. It all worked!

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The Chinese are at it again. It wasn't bad enough that they killed thousands of Americans' beloved pets with pet food poisoned with melamine. Nope - now they're poisoning their own children with baby formula adulterated with melamine. The Chinese officials are "investigating." So they'll chop off the heads of a few peasant farmers and confiscate their land, and that will be the end of that. Geez.

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Mother Nature flexes her muscles. New Orleans emptied out (good thing, actually), in the face of Hurricane Gustav; now Galveston is in the sights of Hurricane Ike. I LIKE the fact that these two devastating storms are named after guys. Ha ha. But I sure don't like the devastation that this storm is sure to bring, not to mention a big jump in gasoline prices. That affects me even though I don't own a car. It seems, unfortunately, that about 90,000 people were stupid and stayed behind on Galveston Island. Geez!

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A tart that is sweet - yet savory. Hmmm....

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Fascinating - the White Priestess of Yoruban Black Magic.

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The appearance of The Goddess (in the form of the Virgin Mary) at Lourdes celebrates its 150th anniversary. Is the Pope still holding secret revelations that Bernadette gave him prior to her death???

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

Humpy Koneru won with white today against Hou, forcing a play-off tomorrow. Pia Cramling wasn't as fortunate, only managing a draw against Kosteniuk, who now advances to the final. So, who's it going to be tomorrow - Humpy or Hou? I've got off tomorrow, so I'll be able to watch the games live! Yippee!

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

Dylan McClain reported on the final four of the WWCC. Today was the first game of the semi-final. Both Koneru and Cramling lost with the black pieces, so tomorrow they MUST win with the white pieces in order to force play-off games against, respectively, Hou and Kosteniuk. Unfortunately, Chessdom.com stopped doing blog-by-blog reporting, which I thought was very exciting. Susan Polgar has picked up the resulting slack and today did a periodically updated analysis blow-by-blow of the Hou-Koneru game. My personal thoughts - not necessarily reflective of any kind of logic!!!!

• I think Hou is far too young to win this title, I don't care how "good at chess" she is; she's not ready to handle it.
• I don't think that Kosteniuk deserves to win this year, having sat out too many events and not performing all that well in the ones she played in! It seems she did some kind of MONDO prep and training for this event, which is all fine and good. But does being the champion only mean that you train like hell for six weeks before the event and sluff off before and after? I think being a champion requires more commitment than Kosteniuk is willing to give.
• I have followed Koneru's career since 1999, nearly 10 years! For the first several years of my advent onto the internet and into chess and the women who play the game at this level, Pia Cramling was absent. I did not see her name start to crop up in chess tournaments again until 2004 and then, it was very sporadic. It's only since 2006 that she's really started playing again (more events each year), the way she used to do in the "old days" - before marriage and children. I'm really torn as to whom I'm rooting for at this point (since my American players have been eliminated). On the one hand, I really want Koneru to win; on the other hand, I think it would be absolutely fabulous for Cramling to win the title so many years after earning her GM title and showing that yes, a 45 year old mom CAN do this.
• By expressing these thoughts I don't mean to take anything away from Hou and Kosteniuk as chessplayers; I'm trying to balance competing emotions and preferences honed over the course of many more years than any of the final four can boast, so I'm leaning toward the player who have shown the most commitment to the process (Koneru) and the player who has the most overall experience (Cramling).

What will happen tomorrow? I've no idea, darlings! Stay tuned!

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

And then there were four... Kosteniuk defeats Ushenina and Cramling draws with Stefanova. Both Ushenina and Stefanova have been playing excellent chess all year (I have to say, though, so has Cramling). Kosteniuk and Cramling in the final four, this has shaped up to be one excellent world championship, despite the absence of 20% of the invited players. That is a dirty rotten shame - a shame on FIDE, and I will continue to remark upon it as long as I write about women's chess. Here are the final four and their match-ups tomorrow: GM P. Cramling (2544) - GM A. Kosteniuk (2510) GM H. Koneru (2622) - GM-elect Y. Hou (2557) I have no idea what will happen when these players face-off tomorrow. Could Susan Polgar be right, thinking that perhaps this is finally the veteran Cramling's year to win it all? At 45, she is (and was) the oldest player in the entire field - she's been a GM since 1992 and, like Koneru and now, Hou, she earned her GM the hard way - playing against men. Here are the results from the second game of Round 4: GM Cramling (2544) 1/2 - GM Stefanova (2550) 1/2 GM-elect Hou (2557) 1 - IM_Mkrtchian (2436) 0 WGM Shen (2445) 0 - GM Koneru (2622) 1 WGM Ushenina (2476) 0 - GM Kosteniuk (2510) 1

Humpy crushes Shen Yang; semis beckon

Another enthusiastic article title from the Indian press which, according to reports at the official website of the WWCC, turned out in force at Nalchik to report on the Indian chess femmes who went to the WWCC. Only Humpy is left, and she carries the hopes and aspirations of more than a billion people on her shoulders in this Championship, being the only Indian player to have survived the previous rounds. It actually contains a report on all of the others games from Round 4 Game 1, too. From Press Trust of India Sunday, September 7, 2008 (Nalchik (Russia)) Grandmaster Koneru Humpy on Sunday outclassed Shen Yang of China with some brilliant manoeuvres in the first game of the quarterfinals and now needs just a draw in the second game to advance to the semifinals of the world women's chess championship, underway here. The highest rated player of the event, Humpy displayed some excellent attacking chess well compiled with fine positional ideas and Yang was outdone in all departments of the game. The victory gave Humpy a crucial 1-0 lead in the two games mini-match of this knockout championship. It was a Slav defense by Yang that spelt doom for her. Going for a not-so-popular variation the Chinese was in troubles right in to the early middle game when Humpy unleashed a king side attack.Yang is considered to be a fine talent from the Chinese factory but Sunday turned out to be a bad day in office as she just could not produce any counter play with black pieces. Humpy to her credit, played some positional moves before uncorking a piece sacrifice on the 21st and black's position collapsed in quick time thereafter. Yang lost her extra material a few moves later but her king's position had become vulnerable. On the 27th move, Humpy came up with another knight sacrifice and it was curtains for the Chinese four moves later. In the other games of the quarterfinals former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova suffered a major setback when she was beaten by Pia Cramling of Sweden. Stefanova also faced a Slav defense but failed to produce the magic of Humpy with white pieces. Cramling gained ground in the middle game and knocked down a pawn, won an exchange in late stages of the middle game and thereafter salvaged a desperate onslaught by Stefanova to emerge a winner after 54 moves. Cramling now needs a draw with white pieces in the return game. Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia was quite content taking a draw against Yifan Hao of China who played black. The Nimzo Indian by Yifan led to a balanced queen-less middle game wherein Yifan went for some regulation exchanges to spilt the point. The other game of the quarterfinals between Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia and Anna Ushenina of Ukraine was apparently heading for a draw at the time of going to press. Results quarterfinal game 1: Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Shen Yang (Chn); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) lost to Pia Cramling (Swe); Lilit Mkrtchian (Arm) drew with Yifan Hao (Chn); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) playing Anna Ushenina (Ukr).

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

Humpy Koneru is cruising along, as is Pia Cramling. Who will win the championship title this year? I don't have a clue! Here is Round 4 Game 1 action from official website: Two wins, two drawsSeptember 7, 2008 In the first day, quarter final matches brought long battles as predicted here and only two ended with victories. Koneru (India) played her quiet, positional style and gradually has overcome her opponent. Once again, the opponent was deprived of the counter play opportunities and had to resign. Cramling (Sweden) played with Black against former World Champion Stefanova (Bulgaria) and achieved a good position at the end of the opening. But thereafter as she told us in the press conference, somehow she let the opponent to regain territory and nearly to equalize the game. Then again, she could strengthen her game and went with a substantial advantage into the Queen/Rook against Queen/Bishop endgame with even a pawn plus. Move by move, she increased the pressure on the White, gained more advantage and won the game at move 54th. Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) started the game very well, had a slight advantage after the opening but gradually she lost it and had to cope with a little bit worse position in the endgame. The agreement of the players on the draw came at move 57th. Hou Yifan (China) reached a draw quite early (29th move) against Mrktchian (Armenia) in a Queen Indian with Black. RUS Kosteniuk, Aleksandra 2510 ½/ UKR Ushenina, Anna 2476 ½ IND Koneru, Humpy 2622 1/ CHN Shen, Yang 2445 0 ARM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2436 ½/ CHN Hou, Yifan 2557 ½ BUL Stefanova, Antoaneta 2550 0/ SWE Cramling, Pia 2544 1

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

Round 3 play-offs from Chessdom.com 13:10 CET Welcome to the live coverage of the World Women Chess Championship on Chessdom.com! Elena Sedina of Italy shocked the Chinese prodigy Yifan Hou in the yesterday's game to even up the score and proceed to tiebreaks. Today, in the rapid game one, Sedina attempted to use the poisonous Qxd4 again, but Yifan avoided the pin with an early a6. 13:20 CET Meanwhile, Shen Yang and Nadezda Kosintseva are testing the Nimzo-Indian once again, only this time Kosintseva deviated from the earlier game and played the "mainstream" 6...b6. Sister Tatiana, who was eliminated by Alexandra Kosteniuk, is in the playing hall to give moral support to Nadezda. 14:00 CET Yifan Hou wins the first rapid game with Black pieces! The devastating 36...Rb1! proved that Black was faster in the mutual pawn race. The second game will start 10 minutes after Shen-Kosintseva finishes. 14:10 CET The dominating Black Knight on f4 must have caused a strong headache to Shen Yang. She couldn't solve all the problems and Nadezda Kosintseva wins the first game with a checkmate on g5. Stay tuned for the 2nd rapid tiebreak! 14:35 CET The second tiebreak game is ongoing. In spite of the lead, Yifan Hou goes sharp against Sedina's French defence, using the once-favorite line of Alekhine and Fischer. 14:40 CET Nadezda Kosintseva is taking a cautious route with Ruy Lopez Exchange variation. Still, we have to remember that Antoaneta Stefanova won the other day with Black in this same Qf6 line. 15:30 CET Shen Yang strikes back! The two will now proceed with blitz games. Ruy Lopez Exchange didn't score well for White thus far. 15:35 CET Yifan Hou wins the second rapid game as well and qualifies for the Quarterfinals. 15:55 CET Severe time trouble in the first blitz game between Yang and Kosintseva! Both players are down to 30 seconds (there is increment). Kosintseva played the beautiful 35...Ne4!!, with idea 36. fxe4 Rd2 (and White's own e4 pawn covers Bc2 diagonal), but the problem was that Yang is not forced to take. 16:05 CET Excellent endgame technique by Shen Yang, who is now leading 1-0. Kosintseva has to win the next game in order to reach the Armageddon. 16:50 CET After the long struggle, the second blitz game ended in a draw and Shen Yang advances to the next round! Both Chinese players have survived the tiebreaks. Results: Elena Sedina - Yifan Hou 0-1, 0-1 Shen Yang - Nadezda Kosintseva 0-1, 1-0, 1-0, draw Quarterfinal pairings: Anna Ushenina - Alexandra Kosteniuk Humpy Koneru - Shen Yang Yifan Hou - Lilit Mkrtchian Antoaneta Stefanova - Pia Cramling

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

From Chessdom.com, Round 3, Game 2: 11:25 CET The trend from the previous days continues - Stefanova, Yifan Hou, and Pia Cramling have not lost a single game. What's more, Yifan Hou has a perfect score until now, not letting any chance to her opponents. Many wonder how she reached this high performance level in the past months. The key is surely in the multiple tournaments she is playing. Especially valuable was the World Junior Chess Championship, where she played in the junior section. 14:25 CET Very untypical situation in the game Sedina - Hou Yifan. Sedina has always been in time trouble during this tournament. However, now she has 1 hour and 11 minutes, for only 37 minutes of Yifan Hou. Can this game be the surprise of the day? 15:30 CET Harika and Mkrtchian have opposite color bishops on the board. However, Mkrtchian is 2 healthy pawns up, andd adding the rooks into the picture Harika might have chances for saving the game. 15:50 CET As Harika's king got blocked, there was no way to stop the white pawns. Mkrtchian qualifies for the next round! Harika played very well and she will surely be an important factor in women chess in the next years. 16:15 CET Koneru has launched a dangerous attack against the king of Hoang Thanh Trang. 16:24 CET Opposite color bishops draw in Ruan Lufei - Pia Cramling. Cramling has qualified to the next round! Good performance by Ruan Lufei as well. 16:25 CET No way to stop Koneru's attack and India will have a representative in the next round! Good games by the Hungarian player as well. 16:30 CET 3P + Queen for Hou Yifan vs 5P + Queen for Elena Sedina. 16:47 CET The "b" pawn is unstoppable and Kosteniuk qualifies to the next round by winning the Russian derby. 17:00 CET Stefanova wins against Gaponenko and with full 2-0 progresses to the next round. 17:03 CET Elena Sedina brings the surprise of the day! The much lower rated Italian player scores a full point and goes to tiebreaks with Yifan Hou. 17:15 CET Very heavy battling in Ushenina - Mateeva and N. Kosintseva - Shen Yang. 17:25 CET Anna Ushenina wins convincingly the match 2-0 and goes on to the next round. At the same time Shen Yang and Naddezhda Kosintseva draw again and will see each other in tomorrow's tiebreaks. 17:50 CET Tomorrow's tiebreak: Yifan Hou - Elena Sedina and Shen Yang - Nadezhda Kosintseva. Live results Anna Ushenina - Svetlana Matveeva 1-0 - Ushenina advances Humpy Koneru - Hoang Than Trang 1-0 - Koneru advances Elena Sedina - Hou Yifan 1-0 - tie breaks Antoaneta Stefanova - Inna Gaponenko * - Stefanova advances Ruan Lufei - Pia Cramling 1/2 -1/2 - Cramling advances Lilit Mkrtchian - Harika Dronavalli 1-0 - Mkrtchian advances Nadezhda Kosintseva - Shen Yang 1/2-1/2 - tie breaks Tatiana Kosintseva - Alexandra Kosteniuk 0-1 - Kosteniuk advances

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

Here are the pairings for Round 3 - now down to 16 players (photo from Chessdom.com this round): Svetlana Matveeva - Anna Ushenina Hoang Than Trang - Humpy Koneru Hou Yifan - Elena Sedina Inna Gaponenko - Antoaneta Stefanova Pia Cramling - Ruan Lufei Harika Dronavalli - Lilit Mkrtchian Shen Yang - Nadezhda Kosintseva Alexandra Kosteniuk - Tatiana Kosintseva I'm just checking in at Chessdom.com to read the blog-by-blow action that is updated every 15 minutes or so: 15:50 CET We saw that coming, Hoang Thanh - Koneru draw. 16:25 CET Yifan Hou (playing Elena Sedina) and Antoaneta Stefanova (playing Inna Gaponenko) continue destroying the opposition at the World Women Chess Championship. Both won before the time control, proving the great form they are in. 16:50 CET IM Anna Ushenina (playing Svetlana Matveeva) scores important win with Black pieces! White position quickly collapsed after the tactical shot which earned Ushenina a pawn on the 23rd move. Updated at 12:52 my local time: 17:15 CET Shen Yang and Nadezda Kosintseva have agreed to a draw after reaching an endgame with reduced material. 17:25 CET Long time top female player Pia Cramling of Sweden wins the first game against Ruan Lufei of China. 17:40 CET Dronavalli - Mkrtchian draw. Excellent result for Armenian player, having in mind that she mixed the colors and prepared to be White today! 18:10 CET Alexandra Kosteniuk could not win the endgame with split pawns and the draw was agreed in the position that resembled the game of other Kosintseva - Nadezda. Results: Svetlana Matveeva - Anna Ushenina 0-1Hoang Than Trang - Humpy Koneru drawHou Yifan - Elena Sedina 1-0Inna Gaponenko - Antoaneta Stefanova 0-1Pia Cramling - Ruan Lufei 1-0Harika Dronavalli - Lilit Mkrtchian drawShen Yang - Nadezhda Kosintseva drawAlexandra Kosteniuk - Tatiana Kosintseva draw Round three, game two, is taking place on Friday at 7:00 EST/13:00 CET.

Harika Wins!

I love the enthusiasm of the Indian press when its reports on its chessplayers. The type size for the article title was even larger than what I can produce here! From Thaindianews.com Harika wins tie-break, enters pre-quarters of World Chess September 4th, 2008 - 5:07 pm ICT by IANS - Nalchik (Russia), Sep 4 (IANS) India’s Dronavalli Harika, the women’s world junior champion, eliminated Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia in the tie-breaker of the second round to move into the pre-quarter finals of the Women’s World championships here. Harika, who had shared points after the regulation matches, both of which ended in a draw, won with white pieces in the second tie-break game here Wednesday night. Earlier the two drew the first game. The 1.5-0.5 win carried Harika into the third round, which is the pre-quarter finals, where she meets Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia, rated 2436, as against Harika’s 2461. Harika said that she was very happy to win against Anna Muzychuk, as the Slovenian player was considered a dark horse in the tournament. Also Harika was playing a rapid tie-break at this level for the first time and she felt this would be a good exercise for future challenges. World No. 2 Koneru Humpy, who had a bye in the second round, meets Thanh Trang Hoang of Vietnam (rated 2487) in the third round. On ratings and current form, Humpy, rated at 2622, the highest in this tournament, should win comfortably. If Humpy wins, she will meet the winner of China’s Yang Shen and Russian Nadezhda Kosintseva, who beat Nisha Mohotoa in first round. Defending champion Xu Yuhua has already been knocked out of the tournament. The following are the pre-quarter final pairings: Svetlana Matveeva (Russia) vs. Anna Ushenina (Ukraine); Hoang Than Trang (Hungary) vs. Humpy Koneru (India); Hou Yifan (China) vs. Elena Sedina (Italy); Inna Gaponenkpo (Ukraine) vs. Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria); Pia Cramling (Sweden) vs. Ruan Lufei (China); Harika Dronavali (India) vs. Lilit Mcrtchian (Armenia); Shen Yang (China) vs. Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) vs. Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia).

Malcom Pein Comments on Women's World Chess Championship

From the Telegraph.co.uk: Georgia on their mind By Malcolm Pein Last Updated: 12:01am BST 03/09/2008 Six Georgian players have boycotted the Fide Women’s World Championship which got under way at Nalchik in the south western Russian province of Kabardino-Balkaria. Your correspondent does not turn down all expenses paid trips often but he made an exception in this case. A call came out of the blue from Fide offering a free trip at a time of my choosing but a little research made up my mind. The region has been somewhat unstable even before the Russian assault on Georgia and this also convinced the American Irina Krush and the French player Marie Sebag to cancel their participation. In all, eleven of the sixty four invitees did not play round one of the knockout competition.

Violence and Mayhem in Nalchik

Oh yes, Fearless Leader Kirsan and the Russian organizers of the Women's World Chess Championship assured the world that Nalchik is a safe and peaceful place. That's BULLSH*T. Fresh off the press at The New York Times: 2 Journalists Are Attacked in Russia By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: September 3, 2008 Filed at 8:51 a.m. ET ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) -- One journalist was shot and killed and another was left with a fractured skull after a beating in Russia's troubled North Caucasus, and police and co-workers said Wednesday the two men were likely targeted for their work. The attacks on an Islamic TV reporter and an opposition newspaper editor are the latest violence to renew fears about the safety of journalists in Russia. A third journalist was shot by police on Sunday -- a killing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said represented ''a further deterioration of media freedom in Russia.'' In the North Caucasus city of Makhachkala, Islamic TV reporter Telman Alishaev died at a hospital Wednesday morning, one day after being shot by two men as he sat in his car, Interior Ministry spokesman Mark Tolchinsky said. Alishaev, who hosted a religious-themed program in Dagestan, had produced documentaries and written extensively about Wahhabism -- a severe strain of Islam that is the main sect in Saudi Arabia, Shamil Guseinov, another Interior Ministry official, said. Meanwhile, police in the North Caucasus city of Nalchik said Wednesday that three people, one in a mask, assaulted Miloslav Bitokov outside his home Tuesday evening, along with another man. Bitokov was hospitalized with skull injuries. Colleagues at Bitokov's newspaper ''Gazeta Yuga'' said he had been threatened previously for publishing articles critical of local authorities. Both Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkariya, where Bitokov was killed, are located near violence-wracked Chechnya. Rights groups say authorities in both regions have stepped up pressure against opposition groups and independent media in recent years. Also targeted have been devout Muslims who practice outside of officially sanctioned mosques and are frequently labeled by authorities as being ''Wahhabis.'' Russia has long been considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. More than a dozen reporters have been slain in contract-style killings since 2000 including Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist killed in 2006 after winning acclaim for reporting on atrocities in Chechnya. On Sunday, the owner of an independent Web site in another Caucasus region, Ingushetia, was shot and killed by police and his body dumped by the side of the road, his colleague said. Magomed Yevloyev ran a Web site that was intensely critical of Ingush authorities. Hundreds of angry mourners gathered Monday in Ingushetia's main city of Nazran to mourn Yevloyev's death in a rally that turned into an anti-government demonstration. Prosecutors say Yevloyev was accidentally shot while sitting in a police car after he tried to take away a police officer's gun. [Yeah, right.] ^------ Associated Press Writer Arsen Mollayev contributed to this report from Makhachkala.

Chess News

I've updated my coverage of the Women's World Chess Championship at Chess Femme News. I've stuck my neck way out and made predictions about who I think will make it through the Round 2 play-offs to Round 3. Gulp. Goddesschess' latest edition of Random Round-up is also up and running for the next week. I sent off my September, 2008 edition of Chessville's L'echecs des Femmes yesterday, but it hasn't been published yet, maybe not until this weekend. Enjoy!

Dylan McClain Gets It

Georgia Conflict Resounds at Chess Championships By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN Published: August 30, 2008 Russia’s military action in Georgia this month is having repercussions in an unexpected realm: the world of chess. Nine of the 64 women who qualified for the women’s world championship, being held in the Russian city of Nalchik in the Caucasus, did not appear at the start of the tournament on Thursday in protest of the war. The nine, including six from Georgia, were disqualified. In an Aug. 12 letter to the World Chess Federation, the Georgian women, including Maya Chiburdanidze, a former world champion, asked the federation to move the tournament to a different location, saying that Georgia was in a “state of war.” A day later, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the federation, who is also president of Kalmykia, a Russian republic on the Caspian Sea, responded in a letter that the championship could not be moved for logistical reasons. He wrote that the war was “a terrible tragedy,” but that “in the current situation I appeal to all not to mix politics and sport.” He added, “All the issues should be settled at a chess board, and not beyond its limits.” In addition to the six Georgian women, three others who signed their letter — Marie Sebag of France, Irina Krush of the United States and Tea Lanchava of the Netherlands — are boycotting the tournament. Ms. Sebag is ranked No. 7 in the world among women, Ms. Krush is No. 24 and Ms. Lanchava is No. 99. Five other women who signed the letter did show up and played their first matches. Karen Zapata of Peru and Ekaterina Korbut of Russia also were no-shows. No explanation was given for their forfeits. In a welcoming letter to the competitors posted on the tournament Web site, President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia spoke of the ways the championship could bring people together. “I am confident that the World Championship will become a festival for all admirers of this fascinating sport and contribute to the development and strengthening of international relations,” he wrote. This is not the first time that a world championship tournament has been embroiled in controversy. In 2004, the federation held the championship in Libya, and three Israelis, believing that they would not receive visas to enter the country — and concerned about their safety if they did — declined to play. A Swiss player who held an Israeli passport did not participate because, he said, he received his visa too late to make it to his first match. In solidarity and also out of security concerns, three American players, including Boris Gulko, a former dissident in the Soviet Union, refused their invitations, as did Viswanathan Anand of India, the [current] world champion.

2008 Women's World Chess Championship

News from Chessdom's coverage of the R1 playoffs: Katherine Rohonyan, playing for USA, is through to the second round, after having scored against Natalia Zhukova 1,5:0,5. Congratulations to Rohonyan, who joins Anna Zatonskih (USA) going through to Round 2 by default.