Chess Femme News!

From The New York Times
Chess
At Title Event, Asian Women Pursue World Domination
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: December 25, 2010
The Women’s World Chess Championship has provided more evidence of a shift in the balance of power in the women’s game to Asia from Eastern Europe.

When the tournament began early this month in southern Turkey, 24 of the 64 players in the field were from Eastern Europe, which has long dominated women’s chess. By the quarterfinals, only one of the Eastern Europeans, Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine, was left in the competition.

Four of the quarterfinalists were from China, and two were from India. The last quarterfinalist, Almira Skripchenko, is French, although she was born in Moldova.

Lahno and Skripchenko were eliminated in the quarterfinals, and the semifinalists were three Chinese players and Humpy Koneru of India. . . .

2010 Arab Women's Chess Classic
December 22 - 30, 2010
Organized by the Royal Jordan Chess Federation
 7 Rounds - here are the standings after R6

Rank after Round 6

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WIM	Mezioud Amina	ALG	2029	4,5	1,5	15,0	15,75
2	WCM	Latreche Khadidja	ALG	1855	4,5	0,5	13,5	15,00
3	WGM	Mona Khaled	EGY	2093	4,5	0,0	12,5	12,75
4	WFM	Jalloul Maya M	LIB	1879	4,0	0,0	16,0	15,25
5	WIM	Mouradian Knarik	LIB	2218	3,5	0,0	14,0	9,75
6	WFM	Alattar Ghayda M	JOR	1900	3,5	0,0	12,0	8,75
7		Nouali Djouher	ALG	0	3,0	0,0	12,0	7,50
8	WIM	Algildah Nibal	SYR	1920	3,0	0,0	12,0	7,00
9	WFM	Al-Khelaifi Salama	QAT	1761	3,0	0,0	10,0	6,25
10		Al Khateeb Nagham	SYR	0	3,0	0,0	10,0	6,00
11		Dahdal Lougain	JOR	1868	2,5	0,0	14,5	6,75
12		Al-Khelaifi Kholoud	QAT	1493	2,5	0,0	14,0	5,75
13	WFM	Ghazala Zena Basil	IRQ	1791	2,0	0,5	10,0	2,75
14		Boshra Alshaeby	JOR	1807	2,0	0,5	9,5	3,00
15		Jaradat Shadia Z	PLE	0	1,5	0,0	9,5	3,00
16		Salem Amna	UAE	1705	1,0	0,0	9,5	1,75

Annotation:
Tie Break1: The results of the players in the same point group#results against
Tie Break2: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)
Tie Break3: Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break variable

Ruan Lufei Nearly Did It - With No Support from the Chinese Government

From The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
By Bob Bauder
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, December 25, 2010

Ruan Lufei, from official 2010 WWCC website

Lufei Ruan lost the woman's world chess championship Friday, but acquaintances in Pittsburgh say she gained international recognition for herself and the city with her remarkable climb to the tournament final.

"The whole chess world is stunned right now," said Alexander Shabalov, 47, a four-time U.S. chess champion from Squirrel Hill. "Basically, she jumped way over her head. She was pretty much a few moves away from becoming a world champion, which is every chess player's dream. I'm sure it's just a heartbreaker for her."

Ruan, 23, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, lost the title in a tie-breaker to chess prodigy Hou Yifan, 16. Both played for the Chinese team in the tournament held in Hatay, Turkey.

In an e-mail, Ruan said she was happy to have performed well but exhausted after playing for nearly a month with one day's rest.

"I think there are three reasons why she beat me," Ruan said. "Firstly, she is really a good player, and unlike me, she plays chess every day. Secondly, I played tie-break in every round, so I have played for 20 days with only one day rest. Finally, she has two coaches here, but I'm fighting alone. My coach is in China."

Kevin Mo, 15, a chess master from Franklin Park, said Ruan mainly competed against professional players. He found it remarkable that she beat all but one. Mo lost a game to Ruan last month and said he followed her every move in the tournament through the Internet.

"For her to balance studying and playing in the tournament, and for her to get this far is quite impressive," said the 10th-grader at North Allegheny High School. "It's good for chess in Pittsburgh. We now have a world championship contender here in Pittsburgh."


Indeed, Ruan's run at the Championship is an incredible accomplishment and worthy of the greatest recognition and admiration.  Need I point out the incredible irony that this Chinese player (and don't we all love to hate China these days?) did so by utilizing a combination of mental toughness, courage, and true grit that we Americans admire so much and tout as our particular national perogative?

She nearly did it! She didn't have a coach, she didn't have financial support from the Chinese government or Chinese chess establishment, she was the neglected "other" of the Chinese chess team, presumably passed over at 23 as "too old" to amount to anything and headed toward a business career in any event -- and SHE - NEARLY - DID - IT!

You go, girl!  Good for you!  I take my hat off to you.  I would love to shake your hand in the hope that some of your "magic dust" would perhaps rub off on me :)  I don't know what your plans are once you earn your degree, but I hope you will stay here and go to work for a quintessential American - the Oracle of Omaha (and I don't mean Oral Roberts).

Chess Femme News!

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Record Set for World’s Youngest Chess Champion
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: December 24, 2010
Hou Yifan, a 16-year-old chess player from China, became the youngest world chess champion on Friday, toppling a record held since 1978. . . . 

Ms. Hou said that she received training and financial support from the Chinese government. She studies chess four to five hours a day, and also attends high school. She said that she sometimes fell behind in her work, but her teachers understood and tried to help her out.

[Last paragraph - note.  It's not a surprise that the Chinese government supports at least some of its promising chessplayers - they want to make a statement about the superiority of their "system" just like the Russians wanted to under their Communist leaders back in it's heyday.  People who underestimate the amount of and impact of this support are foolish.]

From The Assam Tribune
Mahasweta, Rituraj, Dipu bag school chess titles
Sports reporter GUWAHATI, Dec 24 – Mahasweta Kumar of Collegiate Higher Secondary School, Mangaldai clinched the title in the Queen Group of the All Assam School Chess which concluded at the Assam Jatiya Vidyalaya here today. In the Knight Group, Rituraj Borgohain of St Xavier’s School, Duliajan became winner while in the Pawn Group, Dipu Pradhan of St Peter School, Nazira won the crown.

The championship was organised by Guwahati Chess Academy where 142 players from 30 schools from all over the State took part.

Girls:  (Queen Group) Tina Choudhury, St Mary’s Convent (3½ pts), Pranati Acharjee, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Narangi (2½ pts).

(Knight Group) Ankita Hazarika, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kahanapara (5 pts), Natasha Dutta, Disneyland School, Guwahati (4½ pts).

(Pawn Group) Twinkle Patgiri, Do Bosco School, Tinsukia (4½ pts), Bidisha Sarma, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Rajgarh (4½ pts).

From Panarmenian.net
Lilit Mkrtchyan, Tigran Petrosyan win tournament dedicated to 50th anniversary of Henrik Kasparian chess school
December 25, 2010 - 17:42 AMT 13:42 GMT

From The Telegraph - Calcutta
Arpita is the first casualty
December 25, 2010
A STAFF REPORTER
Calcutta: Former Asian U-8 runner-up Arpita Mukherjee was the first casualty amongst the seeds, as she was upset by unrated Shaswat Chakraborty in the first round of the Mayor’s Cup Fide Rating Chess Tournament on Friday. Opting for the unambitious Colle System, Arpita lost a pawn early in the game and finally blundered a piece, which cost her the game.  . . .

Chessbase.com
2010 Women's World Championship – Hou Yifan is world champion!
24.12.2010 – Santa Claus could not have given her a better present. After being pushed into an unexpected tie-break, young Hou Yifan pulled herself together and won the 4-game rapid match with a convincing 3-1 score. The hitherto youngest finalist in history is now the youngest world champion ever, breaking Maia Chiburdanidze's 32-year-old record. Here is the final report.

And the New Women's World Chess Champion Is...

GM Hou Yifan of China.  From The Week in Chess:

Women's World Chess Championships 2010 (Final)

Mark Crowther (Fri Dec 24 14:06:00 2010)

The Women's World Chess Championships 2010 took place in Hatay, Turkey 2nd-24th December 2010. Losing finalist from 2008 Hou Yifan beat fellow countrywoman Ruan Lufei 3-1 in a rapid play-off in the final of this knockout tournament to take the title. The final itself was an error strewn nervy affair, Hou had already failed to hold a level position in game four of the normal time-rate games to win the match. Hou had by far the better of it in all the rapid playoff games too but she still had to play all 4 and hold herself together to take the title. She succeeds Alexandra Kosteniuk who was defeated in Round 3 and beat top seed Humpy Koneru in the semi-final and becomes the youngest women's champion at the age of 16. She vastly out-rated 23 year-old Ruan Lufei and the expectation of victory probably led to her nervy play, but in the end she showed herself to be clearly the better of the two. The play-off on 24th December saw four rapid games (25 minutes + 5 seconds per move). At least we were spared blitz (a pair of 5m + 10spm blitz games followed by (if needed) a final 5 minute to 4 minute sudden death game with 3 seconds per move after move 60 with black receiving draw odds.)

Additional coverage from The Week in Chess.

Susan Polgar's chess blog has been following the action since Day 1 - here are just a few of the most recent posts (she presented comprehensive coverage each day):

December 24, 2010 The New Chess Queen!
December 24, 2010 One Game Left for the Title and She Did It!
December 24, 2010 The Final Countdown

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog, some recent posts:

December 24, 2010 Congratulations to Hou Yifan for winning Women's World Chess Championship 2010
December 24, 2010 Women's World Chess Championship 2010 final - 4-game Match drawn, Hou, Lufei in playoff on Friday

Official website.

More current coverage at:

Chessdom
Chessvibes

In the coming days there will probably be many news articles and features on the Championship and Hou Yifan.  She is not the first Chinese champion but she is the youngest to win this title, which is still important in the eyes of millions of chess fans (female and male), despite FIDE's best efforts to degrade it over the years.  May Hou Yifan wear it proudly and do it justice.  She has a great tradition and the examples of many fine female champions to follow. 

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Final Between Hou and Ruan

Game 4 - Ruan wins.  Summary from official website:

Ruan Lufei won the fourth game of the final match and used her last chance to equalize the score! Playing with white pieces she chose an active continuation called Keres attack in Sicilian defense.

Tomorrow the last tie-break will be played at 12 a.m. It will consist of the 4 rapid games. 2 blitz games will follow if the score will be still equal. If it’s not enough to determine a World Champion the match will be decided in Armageddon. During the World Championship Ruan Lufei had already played in five tie-breaks while Hou Yifan had participated in only one (in the match with Zhu Chen).
Short (very short) interview with Ruan Lufei at official website:

“I have an opportunity which I got for free”

Anastasia Karlovich- Congratulations with your victory today. Please tell how did you manage to win? Did you feel any pressure during the game?

Lufei Ruan- Before the last game I thought I don’t have much chance and I thought she would win or maybe it would be a draw. I thought I only need to play, just to play it. If I have chance I’ll take it if I don’t have chance than just a joy of the game is ok. Anyway I’m satisfied with my result here now…  I’m satisfied even if I’m on the second place.

A.K- What about tomorrow tie-breaks. You won all previous matches in tie-breaks, so what is your feeling before the last one?

L.R- Hou Yifan is a very good rapid player, so she has good chances. I think she should have won the match today, so I still have options tomorrow. I have an opportunity which I get for free and I just want to play.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Final Between Hou and Ruan

Game 3 today - a draw.  Game 4 tomorrow.  Ruan needs a win to force rapid and, if necessary, blitz games to determine the title.  A draw tomorrow gives the title to Hou.

Here is the summary from the offical website:

The third game of the match was drawn, therefore Hou Yifan lost her chance to finish the match today. For the second time in the match Ruan Lufei, playing Black, chose Caro-Kann. She managed to win a pawn but could not implement it into more in the ending with the opposite color bishops and rooks. Then Black decided to transform the position into the ending with 3 pawns and a bishop against a pawn and a rook of White. Despite an advantage she didn`t succeed to win those ending and could not equalize the score in the match.  Tomorrow Ruan Lufei plays with white pieces. She needs to gain a full point in order to balance a score and let the match to be decided in tie-breaks.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Final Between Hou and Ruan

First game - draw.

Second game, Hou won with the black pieces.

Summary from the official website:  Hou Yifan won the second game of the final. Playing with black pieces, she defeated her compatriot Ruan Lufei. After the opening Ruan Lufei got comfortable position and could create some problems for the opponent. Instead she decided to enter the ending which was better for the Black. Hou Yifan got two extra pawns and didn’t give any chance for her opponent in the rook ending.  Tomorrow Hou Yifan has white pieces. The match will be finished in her favor If she wins the third game of the final. 

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - R5 Play-offs

From official website:

The second semi-final match was decided on tie-break today. Ruan Lufei joined Hou Yifan, who has promoted from the classical games, in the final. The first rapid game was drawn again but in the second one Ruan Lufei, playing with black pieces, defeated her compatriot Zhao Xue. "The result that I have now is just unbelievable! I had a back ticket on December, 13 because I thought I would be eliminated by Kosteniuk and go home”, said the second winner of the semi-final match. She also explained that she was not afraid to play tie-breaks, but it was not a strategy or intention to make draws in the main games on purpose.

After the rest day on 19 th of December the finalists Hou Yifan and Ruan Lufei will play four classical games from 20th till 23rd of December.

News coverage on the WWCC:

From The Times of India
Humpy leaves, paving way for a Chinese queen
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Dec 19, 2010, 01.03am IST

CHENNAI: There will be a Chinese queen in the women's World Chess Championship at Hatay. As Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy left the stage in the semi, losing to 16-year-old Hou Yifan 0.5-1.5, the final will now be a Chinese affair.

Yifan, who is a step away from creating a record for becoming the youngest women's (or open) world champion, will meet either Zhao Xue or Lufei Ruan, in the four-game final from Monday.

For Humpy, it was a second successive defeat in the semifinals of the World Championship and what must hurt her is the fact that both of them were inflicted by Yifan. Humpy has a good record against all the women GMs but against Yifan, she seems to have problems.

From the Hindustan Times.com
Humpy out of World Championship
Press Trust Of India
Hatay, Turkey, December 18, 2010

Koneru Humpy crashed out of the World Women's chess championship after drawing the second game of the semifinal match against nemesis Yifan Hao of China. Having lost the first game of the semis, Humpy needed a victory in the return game to stay afloat in the championship but, missing out on her chances, the Indian could only manage a draw translating in to a 0.5-1.5 defeat for her.

In the last World Championship at Nalchik in Russia too, Humpy had suffered a similar defeat in the semis at the hands of the same opponent.

The ouster of Humpy means end of the road for the Indians in the Championship and it will now be an all Chinese affair for the first time in the history of World Championships.

The other semifinal between Chinese duo of Zhao Xue and Ruan Lufei, meanwhile, was stretched to the tiebreaker following another quick draw between the two.

Humpy had troubles negotiating the first phase of the match against Yifan who certainly appeared to be better prepared than Humpy. It was Berling defense by Humpy that cost her the full point in the first game and in the second, it was a Sicilian through transposition that the Indian has not quite been facing lately.

Yifan had to pause for quite sometime when Humpy went for the Torre attack with white pieces after opening with the queen pawn and in fact it worked out fine when the Chinese was able to transpose to a Sicilian defense in a few moves time. The set up chosen by Humpy was a mixture of Najdorf and Classical variation and Yifan felt the heat after she decided to part with a couple of pawns to initiate an attack against the king.

Humpy, and the chess pundits, believed that she had real chances with her extra material but as things unfolded, Yifan was able to muster just the right kind of counter-play to liquidate to a rook and pawns endgame where only white could be worse. Humpy made the right decision to take the draw in 45 moves.

Full article.

U.S. Chess Federation Website
All-Chinese Final at the Women's World Championships
December 17, 2010
(Includes Game 1 that can be played through)

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Koneru Humpy Knocked Out of Running

Koneru v. Hou, R5 G2.  From official website.

GM Koneru Humpy could manage only a draw against GM Hou Yifan today in their second game of R5, and Koneru is out of the tournament, falling to Hou Yifan 0.5 to 1.5.  The other two Chinese players who - slap me for saying so - just aren't very important - drew their second game and go into tie-breaks tomorrow.  So what?  The finale of this event will only be news if Hou Yifan somehow manages not to win it.  Do I think that's possible?  I just made a most unladylike snorting sound, similar to the sound I made last Sunday when the Packers managed to lose against the Detroit Lions. 

Here is a summary from the official website:

The first finalist was determined today after the second game in semifinal matches. Hou Yifan, playing black, drew the second game against Humpy Koneru and promoted to the final. A Chinese player sacrificed 2 pawns but received a good compensation. In order to protect her king Humpy Koneru had to give the extra material back. The Indian player had already lost her match to Chinese prodigy two years ago during the World Championship in Nalchik. At that time she also lost the first game of the semifinal match but succeeded to equalize the score and, unlike today, the match was decided only on tie-break. Zhao Xue and Ruan Lufei drew the second game today and decided to try their luck in tie-breaks tomorrow.

The official site has an interview with IM Harika Dronavalli, who was eliminated in the last round by one of the Chinese players.  As always, she was very gracious.

Round 5

Name

FED

T

Rtg

G1

G2

Rp1

Rp2

Bz1

Bz2

SD

Total

Round 5 Match 01

Ruan, Lufei

CHN

WGM

2480

½

½

1

Zhao, Xue

CHN

GM

2474

½

½

1

Round 5 Match 02

Koneru, Humpy

IND

GM

2600

0

½

½

Hou, Yifan

CHN

GM

2591

1

½

1½

I feel absolutely awful for Koneru Humpy.  She is, I believe, the better chess player.  But, let's face it, India doesn't exactly drown their star chessplayers in funds for training and seconds.  It's well known that the All India Chess Federation (which is being challenged by an "upstart" chess federation with some success, evidently) wants to direct Koneru's chess career, while Koneru wants to direct her own chess career.  This has led to clashes and a loss of crucial support as "punishment" for Koneru being an uppity woman.

On the bright side, perhaps now Hou Yifan will be able to afford to go to a decent hairdresser and get something - anything - done with that awful hairstyle she's been wearing since she game out of the womb.  Some new clothes would not be amiss either, with some much-needed advice from a stylist as to age-appropriate cool fashions for a 16 year old who is Women's World Chess Championship.  I will pray to the Goddess for this to happen, please!.  Perhaps Yifan could consult with the stylish Skripchenko and Cmilyte, or the more avant-garde Paetz.  But perhaps "Mother Hou" has a reason for wanting to keep Yifan looking like an overgrown 7-year old.  Aww shucks, now I'm being mean.

Koneru and Hou will perhaps face off against each other again at the 2011 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, scheduled for January 24 - February 3, 2011.  They are both on the accepted list of the top female players in the world.  BOTH Kosintseva sisters will be playing in Gibraltar, too.  In fact, the female line-up for that event is the most impressive - ever!  Wow.  That's going to be some event.  It merits its own post. 

Early coverage after Koneru's exit from the WWCC from around the net:

Susan Polgar - Despite Koneru's "valiant effort" there will be a new Chinese "Chess Queen"

And on yesterday's Koneru loss:

The Hindu:  Humpy Loses First Game
The Times of India: Humpy Slips with Black

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Semi-Finals G1

Humpy lost today behind the black pieces to Hou Yifan.  The other two Chinese players drew their game (of course they did).

Chess Femme News!

Women's World Chess Championship
Chessbase R3 Report (always worthwhile for the photos and they do sometimes provide valid analysis, too)
December 12, 2010

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was not successful in defending her Women's World Chess Champion title in the 2010 knock-out event, will once again be conducting a Christmas charity goodwill simul - somewhere.  We don't know where yet!  She is considering requests.  Her first simul, last year, was conducted in Tucson, Arizona, for 9 Queens. 

From the official website for the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship, some interviews:

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
IM Yelena Dembo (may have already posted this)

Coverage of the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship at europe-echecs.com (in French):
1/4 de finale
Rounds 2 - 3

From The Times of India
Humpy faces Chinese hurdle
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Dec 16, 2010, 01.41am IST

From The Hindustan Times
Koneru Humpy of India reaches semifinals of the World Women's Chess Championship
Press Trust Of India
Hatay, December 15, 2010

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - R4 Playoff Results

Dronavalli is out.  It's three Chinese players and Koneru Humpy of India.  Koneru will play against the highest rated of the Chinese players, Hou Yifan, tomorrow.

World Chess Championship Women 2010 (Antakya) TUR Thur 2nd Dec 2010 - Sun 24th Dec 2010 Round 4 Results:
Name	FED	T	Rtg	G1	G2	Rp1	Rp2	Bz1	Bz2	SD	Total
Round 4 Match 01
Ruan, Lufei	CHN	WGM	2480	½	½	1	½				2½
Harika, Dronavalli	IND	IM	2525	½	½	0	½				1½

Summary from official website.

There is no day off until this coming Sunday, before the final four games start between the last two women standing.

Mig Greengard at the Daily Dirt Chessblog has a valid take on what happens to promising female players who end up in the female ratings ghetto by playing in women-only events.  ELO suffers, and development suffers too.  I don't necessarily agree, though, that talented players like Lahno and others who are in their late teens/early 20's are over the hill and can no longer develop.  But they have to stay away from women's only events and that is difficult when competing in those events promises a paycheck whereas playing in Opens against 2600-plus ELO GMs promises probably a lot of empty pocketbooks for their efforts.  Women are very rational creatures when it comes down to it.  They will play in events that promise a pay-off.  And I can't say they are wrong for doing so.  And, keep in mind that even Judit Polgar competed on female teams for Hungary in the Chess Olympiad.

I like reading the comments.  Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of them.  Dudes just are not interested in some women playing what they consider second-rate chess (unless it's to bitch about women earning money for playing that chess).  They pretend, instead, to understand the chess of Carlsen, et al.  Yeah, right, LOL! The macho man mystique lives on :)

More coverage and more comments at Chessvibes. 

Chessbase as per usual has a report on the first part of R4 with lots of photos of the pretty ladies. 

Chess Femme News!

From The New York Times, Dylan Loeb McClain's chess blog:
December 14, 2010, 5:50 pm
Asian Players Fill Semifinal Slots at Women’s World Chess Championship
Three of the four semifinalists for the Women’s World Championship tournament are set. Humpy Koneru of India and Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue of China won their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday.

The other quarterfinal match between Dronavalli Harika of India and Ruan Lufei, another Chinese player, will be decided by tie-breaker games on Wednesday.

Koneru will play Hou in one semifinal, regardless of the outcome of the undecided match. That will be a reprise of their 2008 semifinal, which Hou won. It is an unfortunate pairing as Koneru is the highest-ranked player in the field and Hou is the second highest. If the tournament’s seedings had not been skewed to make Alexandra Kosteniuk, the defending champion, the No. 1 seed, then Koneru and Hou might have met in the final, which would have been an ideal match-up. Now the winner of their semifinal match will be a clear favorite as the winner of the other semifinal will be a much lower ranked opponent.  [ More...]

[And this is exactly what I have been bitching about -- how knock-out events skew outcomes, so that the best players don't necessarily make it to the games they should be playing.  Not a single Russian or Georgian player made it to the semi-finals, and yet they are among the best players in the world.  There is something not right here.  Was a fix in? Is this a resounding arivedecchi from Kirsan to the Russians, who kicked him out of the much more lucrative post of President of Kalmykia but fixed the election so he'd get the FIDE Presidency as a consolation prize?  Heh heh heh.  The final will be China v. India or if you want to be more politically correct about it, India v. China, the two rising future "super-powers."  How fortuitous.]

Susan Polgar and SPICE In the News
From myfoxlubbock.com
Texas Tech, LISD look to add chess to UIL
December 14, 2010 Last Update: 9:12 am
Texas Tech and the Lubbock Independent School District are plotting to pilot a new statewide UIL competition.

The program was proposed by Texas Tech's Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, known as "SPICE." Now it's a UIL competition.

Next year , Lubbock elementary and middle school students will be given 30 minutes to solve 20 chess puzzles designed by Grandmaster Polgar.

Vice President for Institutional Diversity at Texas Tech, Juan Munoz, said, "It teaches critical thinking, planning, strategizing. It teaches patience, focus, mathematical computation. One has to estimate the number of moves to achieve a certain objective. So there are a number of academically transferable skills in chess."

Munoz says Chess has such wide appeal because anyone can play anywhere, adding that he hopes the UIL level competition will spark students' interest in Texas Tech.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - R4, G2

Three of the four players going into the semi-final have been decided!  Oh no. Oh yes!  Summary from the official website:

After the second game 3 participants of semi-final matches were determined. Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru will meet at the board in semi-final as it happened in Nalchik in 2008. Both of them confidently drew their games today and thus won their matches against Katerina Lahno and Ju Wenjun accordingly. Almira Skripchenko was eliminated today by Zhao Xue. The French player simply blundered a piece in a good position. She was playing for 11 days without any pause and won three previous matches on tie-breaks. Her opponent Chinese Zhao Xue will meet with the winner of the match Harika – Ruan which will be determined on tie-breaks tomorrow. The classic part of Indian-Chinese encounter ended with two draws. Both participants proved to be good rapid players and it`s not easy to give prognoses.

GM Kateryna Lahno: wife, mother, World Blitz Chess Champion (Women's).
Against GM Hou Yifan, couldn't pull out a win today to force a play-off.



Round 4

Name

FED

T

Rtg

G1

G2

Rp1

Rp2

Bz1

Bz2

SD

Total

Round 4 Match 01

Ruan, Lufei

CHN

WGM

2480

½

½

1

Harika, Dronavalli

IND

IM

2525

½

½

1

Round 4 Match 02

Koneru, Humpy

IND

GM

2600

1

½

1½

Semi Final

Ju, Wenjun

CHN

WGM

2524

0

½

½

Round 4 Match 03

Hou, Yifan

CHN

GM

2591

1

½

1½

Semi Final

Lahno, Kateryna

UKR

GM

2522

0

½

½

Round 4 Match 04

Zhao, Xue

CHN

GM

2474

½

1

1½

Semi Final

Skripchenko, Almira

FRA

IM

2460

½

0

½

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Round 4, Game 1

Summary from the official website:


Almira Skripchenko and Zhao Xue

 Only 8 participants are left in the World Championship. Hou Yifan, playing with black pieces, won against Katerina Lahno. Ukrainian player had a little advantage due to the extra pawn but the bishops of the opponent were very strong. Instead of making accurate draw, Katerina Lahno was probably trying to play for more and lost the game.

Humpy Koneru received a position with an advantage and managed to win a pawn. Her opponent Ju Wenjun created some counter play on the king’s side and provoked a mistake from the Indian player. Achieved a comfortable equalization, Ju Wenjun blundered both pawn and game as her position immediately collapsed. Two games, Zhao - Skripchenko and Harika - Ruan, were drawn. In the first game French player Almira Skripchenko grabbed a pawn in a middle game but it was not enough to make a full point. Harika Dronavalli got a position with two bishops in the endgame but, due to accurate play of her opponent Ruan Lufei, didn’t manage to win a game.

Round 4

Name

FED

T

Rtg

G1

G2

Rp1

Rp2

Bz1

Bz2

SD

Total

Round 4 Match 01

Ruan, Lufei

CHN

WGM

2480

½

½

Harika, Dronavalli

IND

IM

2525

½

½

Round 4 Match 02

Koneru, Humpy

IND

GM

2600

1

1

Ju, Wenjun

CHN

WGM

2524

0

0

Round 4 Match 03

Hou, Yifan

CHN

GM

2591

1

1

Lahno, Kateryna

UKR

GM

2522

0

0

Round 4 Match 04

Zhao, Xue

CHN

GM

2474

½

½

Skripchenko, Almira

FRA

IM

2460

½

½