FIDE Women's Grand Prix - Doha

It's over!  And the winner is ---- KONERU HUMPY of India.

WOOOO WOOOO!  I am very happy for Humpy.  Now she will  have to get over her yips when playing Hou Yifan and beat that girl's butt! (SEE earlier post below).

See Koneru ties for first with Danielian in Doha and qualifies for World Title Match , Mark Crowther - Saturday 5th March 2011, for further details (among many sites reporting).

Danielian went for the easy draw with Stefanova and (as Mark Crowthers had suggested yesterday), thereby guaranteed herself a share of first place. Sebag, who was at 7.0, battled hard for a win, but could not pull one out against Munguntuul Batkhuyag (a formidable player who has not had much exposure in chess press).  That left the door open for Humpy, who HAD to score a win against GM Zhu Chen, a former Women's World Chess Championship, who was in crappy form for this event, in order to top out on points over Nana Dzagnidze in the overall Women's GP standings.  If I understand this correctly (still not sure I do), if GM Sebag had won her game and therefore tied for first place with Danielian and Koneru (sorry, I keep calling her Humpy, her first name), Koneru would have lost out on overall Grand Prix points against Nana Dzagnidze.

Good news for Humpy - but not an easy game.  Nonetheless, Humpy proved her mettle over the last half of the tournament and I give her whoop-whoop arm pumps for doing so.  Goddess, how exhausting this must have been!

Here is a table showing the overall Women's GP points for this cycle with Doha's points added --? -- not sure what to call this table, since there is no guarantee another Women's Grand Prix cycle will ever take place:

FIDE Women's Grand Prix - Doha

Another dramatic day of play, setting up the ultimate in pressure for the leading players and suspense for the fans tomorrow!

Wily veteran GM Pia Cramling defeated wily veteran GM Elina Danielian, who stayed therefore at 7.5.  However, Humpy won her game against Mkrtchian to gain a point, and GM Marie Sebag and GM Maia Chiburdanidze drew their game.  The top 3 could all lose their games tomorrow and the next closest player, Pia Cramling, can't touch them even if she wins her game.  Mark Crowther at The Week in Chess pointed out that Danielian could opt for a quick draw with Stefanova to guarantee herself a share of first place; if Humpy and Sebag win their respective games tomorrow, all three would then be tied with 8.0.  Danielian isn't under any pressure - she isn't playing for a spot in the matches that will ultimately yield up a challenger for the Women's World Chess Champion title currently held by GM Hou Yifan of China. 

That is - if such challenger matches and a new championship match actually take place!  One of the Women's Grand Prix events on the 2011 schedule is still blank and there was nothing on the FIDE calendar last night about a new Women's Championship! 

FIDE Women's Grand Prix - Doha

What is this I just read at The Week in Chess about " the battle between Dzagnidze and Humpy Koneru for the right to play Hou Yifan later in the year for the Women's World Chess Championship."  What?  When did this happen?  Hou Yifan just won her title only a few months ago!  Now FIDE has dreamed up a NEW FORMAT for the Women's title after giving them dog-feed for years with a knock-out format?  And a "match" is going to happen this year?  Say what?  Goddess!  If I were Hou Yifan, I'd be mightily pissed off.

I don't claim to be the best informed chess fan in the world but this - I don't recall reading a single word about anything like this being in the works!  I'm going to have to scout around and see if I can find out anything about how and when this happened.  It's shocking news to me, that's for sure.

Anyway, the Doha version of the Grand Prix (FIDE calls it the 6th Women's Grand Prix) will wrap up play on March 5th.  Here are the current standings:

There are two more rounds to go! This is getting very exciting! Here are the match-ups for tomorrow and Saturday:

Can anyone catch Danielian?  Good for her, by the way.  I'm happy to see a veteran of many years on the chess circuit doing so well in Doha!  Viva la mature femmes! 

FIDE Women's Grand Prix - Doha

We've got results for Rs 2 and 3:

Round 2 on 2011/02/23 at 15:00
SNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg SNo.
12 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 1 - 0 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 7
8 GM Danielian Elina 2454 1 - 0 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 6
9 GM Xu Yuhua 2484 0 - 1 GM Sebag Marie 2489 5
10 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 0 - 1 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 4
11 GM Zhu Chen 2495 ½ - ½ GM Cramling Pia 2516 3
1 GM Koneru Humpy 2607 1 - 0 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 2

Round 3 on 2011/02/24 at 15:00
SNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg SNo.
2 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 1 - 0 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 12
3 GM Cramling Pia 2516 ½ - ½ GM Koneru Humpy 2607 1
4 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 0 - 1 GM Zhu Chen 2495 11
5 GM Sebag Marie 2489 ½ - ½ IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 10
6 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 1 - 0 GM Xu Yuhua 2484 9
7 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 0 - 1 GM Danielian Elina 2454 8

Rank after round 3

Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Res. SB
1 8 GM Danielian Elina 2454 ARM * 1 1 1 3 0 3.50
2 2 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2363 ECU * 1 0 1 2 1 3.50
3 12 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2550 GEO 0 * 1 1 2 0 2.50
4 3 GM Cramling Pia 2516 SWE * ½ ½ ½ 1½ 1 2.00
5 1 GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND 1 0 ½ * 1½ ½ 2.75
6 11 GM Zhu Chen 2495 QAT 0 ½ * 1 1½ ½ 1.75
7 5 GM Sebag Marie 2489 FRA 0 * 1 ½ 1½ 0 1.50
8 4 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2546 BUL 0 * 0 1 1 1 1.00
6 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2502 GEO 0 * 0 1 1 1 1.00
7 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 MGL 0 0 1 * 1 1 1.00
9 GM Xu Yuhua 2484 CHN 0 1 0 * 1 1 1.00
12 10 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2475 ARM ½ ½ 0 * 1 0 1.50

Round 2 report from official website.

Sebag's victory (black pieces) over Yuhua in R2, from Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog.

Susan Polgar's coverage R3, Round 3 games.