2012 ACP Women's Cup

The results are in, darlings!  From The Week in Chess:

Mark Crowther - Tuesday 21st February 2012
The ACP Women Cup Rapid took place in Tbilisi, Georgia, 17th-21st February 2012. Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lahno and Nadezhda Kosintseva were the top seeds in this 12 player all-play-all. Pia Cramling and Nana Dzagnidze finished on 8/11. Nana Dzagnidze won a play off.

Final Ranking crosstable after 11 Rounds

Rk.			Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pts.
1		GM	Cramling Pia	2491	SWE	*	1	½	1	½	1	½	1	½	½	½	1	8.0
		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	GEO	0	*	½	0	1	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	8.0
3		GM	Lahno Kateryna	2557	UKR	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	½	1	7.5
4		GM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	SLO	0	1	½	*	½	0	1	½	1	1	½	1	7.0
5		GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	2500	GEO	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	0	1	½	1	1	6.0
6		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2513	RUS	0	0	½	1	½	*	0	1	½	0	1	1	5.5
		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2448	RUS	½	0	0	0	½	1	*	½	1	0	1	1	5.5
8		GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2523	BUL	0	0	0	½	1	0	½	*	1	1	1	0	5.0
9		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2537	RUS	½	½	½	0	0	½	0	0	*	½	1	1	4.5
		IM	Zatonskih Anna	2506	USA	½	0	0	0	½	1	1	0	½	*	0	1	4.5
11		GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	2503	LTU	½	0	½	½	0	0	0	0	0	1	*	1	3.5
12		WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	2318	AZE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	*	1.0

2012 ACP Women's Cup

Rank after Round 8

Rk.			Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1		GM	Lahno Kateryna	UKR	2557	6.0
		GM	Cramling Pia	SWE	2491	6.0
3		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	GEO	2535	5.5
4		GM	Muzychuk Anna	SLO	2580	5.0
5		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	RUS	2537	4.0
		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	RUS	2513	4.0
		GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	GEO	2500	4.0
8		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2448	3.5
		GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2523	3.5
		IM	Zatonskih Anna	USA	2506	3.5
11		GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	LTU	2503	3.0
12		WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	AZE	2318	0.0

Website.  Rounds 9 through 12 and tie-breaks, if necessary, on February 21, 2012. 

Interview with 12th Women's World Chess Champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk:

2012 ACP Women's Cup

Tbilisi, Georgia.  The Georgian Chess Federation and the ACP are hosting the event, starting February 17 and ending February 22, 2012!  The "ACP" is the Association of Chess Professionals and, frankly, darlings, I thought it had gone defunct!  Shows how much I know, har :)  I think this is the official website - in English (but don't quote me on that).

There will be 10 rounds of play plus a tie-break, if necessary.  The rounds are spaced closely together, so this isn't traditional chess, or even chess using the new and improved FIDE time controlled that were put into place some years ago in order to "speed up" the game. 

Here is an alphabetical list of the invitees:

No.			Name	FED	Rtg
1		GM	Chiburdanidze Maia	GEO	2500
2		GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	LTU	2503
3		GM	Cramling Pia	SWE	2491
4		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	GEO	2535
5		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	RUS	2537
6		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	RUS	2513
7		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2448
8		GM	Lahno Kateryna	UKR	2557
9		WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	AZE	2318
10		IM	Muzychuk Anna	SLO	2580
11		GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2523
12		IM	Zatonskih Anna	USA	2506

Goddess! U.S. Women's Champion IM Anna Zatonskih has been extremely active in Europe lately. Good for her.  She is one of the professional female players who is balancing a family life while trying to pursue (and improve in the game) a career in chess.  Of the women invitees, I know that Pia Cramling, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Kateryna Lahno and Anna Zatonskih all have young children. It could be that some of the other players could also have children, but I just haven't read about it. 

It's a damn tough life, travelling for months at a time, being constantly away from your loved ones, particularly your small children.  There is something out of whack with an economic system that forces people to make such excruciating choices in order to try and make a living.  I don't care what the sex of the chessplayer (or worker) is; surely it is as hard on fathers to be constantly away from their families, too.  But, you know the drill - Macho Man and all that baloney.  Sigh. 

The ladies, on the other hand, are usually very frank and open in interviews about how much they miss their husbands and children.  In Anna Zatonskih's and GM Pia Cramling's cases, they are both married to chessplayers, which means that both parents are often on the road (sometimes together, but often apart), playing the Euro chess circuit and playing hit-or-miss in other invitationals around the world, as well as in the big Opens (but the chance to win big money in a popular Open that attracts other equally financially hungry players is much less).

It's brutal.  I cannot imagine what such a life would be like.  I cannot even manage to find some hours a week to do a one-hour chess lesson.  I have to try and squeeze it in on a weekend - impossible!  Or try to do it after a 12-hour day at the office.  Try to focus!  Neither is a good choice and, for the time being, I'm given up trying.  I just have too many other things to do, and while I love chess and I would like to improve my playing skills, on the rank of items from 1 to 10, that is down about number 20. 

Anyway, I wish all of these wonderfull talented players a lot of luck, and of course, being a USA gal myself, I'm rooting for Anna Zatonskih, with a close second for Florida resident GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, the 12th Women's World Chess Champion.

The matches start on February 18, 2012.  Here are the pairings for Round 1:

Bo.	No.			Name	Result		Name		No.
1	1		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda		GM	Dzagnidze Nana		12
2	2		IM	Muzychuk Anna		IM	Zatonskih Anna		11
3	3		WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab		GM	Chiburdanidze Maia		10
4	4		GM	Cmilyte Viktorija		GM	Stefanova Antoaneta		9
5	5		GM	Lahno Kateryna		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra		8
6	6		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana		GM	Cramling Pia		7