2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship

Interview with Canadian Women's Champion WIM Natalia Khoudgarian:




Interview with Qiyu Zhu and Linda Shi:

2012 Canadian Zonals

Some photographs from Mr. Don, at yesterday's closing ceremonies/party:

The Champions:  GM Bator Sambuev (left) and WIM Natalia Khoudgarian (Women's) (right).

Not sure how the prizes were divied up in the Zonal where all the guys played -- there were four players each of
whom finished with 6.0.  Also, I do not know who is who, except for Bator Sambuev, whom I recognize from
his playing in the City of Montreal Championships. 

3

IM

NORITSYN Nikolay

2472

CAN

27b1

17w1

11b1

1w0

15b0

14w1

8b1

2b0

10w1

6.0

4

IM

GERZHOY Leonid

2448

CAN

6w1

26b1

8w½

2b0

12w½

16b½

17w1

15b1

1b½

6.0

5

FM

WANG Richard

2338

CAN

21b0

22w1

14b1

7w½

18b1

15w½

10w½

16b1

2w½

6.0

6

CM

GUSEV Nikita

2117

CAN

4b0

25w1

17b½

30w1

26b½

8w0

24b1

14w1

12b1

6.0

Here's a future champion:



Sambuev, Jr.

How can I tell he's a future champion?  Because he is already trying to take the trophy from Dad:

More pics later!

2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship

Hola, darlings!

First round action has come and gone!  You can find the latest news on the Women's Championship at dedicated pages -- see the links on the top of the left hand margin that will take you to round by round reports!  Coverage includes results, standings, games in PGN, photos and video.

Here are the standings for the Canadian zonal after R1:

Classement après la ronde 1

Rg.		Name	FED	ELO	Club/Ville	Pts.
1	GM	SAMBUEV Bator	CAN	2523	QC	1.0
	IM	NORITSYN Nikolay	CAN	2472	ON	1.0
	IM	GERZHOY Leonid	CAN	2448	ON	1.0
	IM	HEBERT Jean	CAN	2410	QC	1.0
	IM	PANJWANI Raja	CAN	2394	ON	1.0
	FM	JIANG Louie	CAN	2337	QC	1.0
	FM	PECHENKIN Vladimir	CAN	2334	AB	1.0
	FM	HAMILTON Robert	CAN	2305	ON	1.0
	FM	MILICEVIC Goran	CAN	2287	ON	1.0
	FM	KHASSANOV Marat	CAN	2273	QC	1.0
		CHABOT Roland	CAN	2231	QC	1.0
		KRAIOUCHKINE Nikita	CAN	2204	QC	1.0
		QIN Zi Yi (joey)	CAN	2198	ON	1.0
		HUMPHREYS Michael	CAN	2179	ON	1.0
		ROBICHAUD Louis	CAN	2100	QC	1.0
		OUSSEDIK Elias	CAN	2005	NB	1.0
17	GM	KOVALYOV Anton	CAN	2605	QC	0.5
		MASSE Hugues	CAN	2232	QC	0.5
		SONG Michael	CAN	2154	ON	0.5
		UPPER John	CAN	2036	QC	0.5
21	FM	WANG Richard	CAN	2338	AB	0.0
		BOLDUC Steve	CAN	2229	QC	0.0
		CARRIER Claude	CAN	2154	QC	0.0
		LAROCHELLE Martial	CAN	2153	QC	0.0
	CM	GUSEV Nikita	CAN	2117	ON	0.0
		BER Yves	CAN	2114	QC	0.0
		CHIKU-RATTE Olivier Kenta	CAN	2107	QC	0.0
		DERRAUGH Geordie	CAN	2097	ON	0.0
		FILIPOVICH David	CAN	2091	ON	0.0
		PREOTU Razvan	CAN	2080	ON	0.0
		ANASTASOVSKI Nikola	CAN	2070	QC	0.0
		ITKIN David	CAN	2058	ON	0.0
		ZHU Hong Rui	CAN	2029	QC	0.0
		LUO Zhao Yang	CAN	1991	QC	0.0
		LEUTSCHAFT Martin	CAN	2143	QC	0.0
		CARDIN Guillaume	CAN	1790	QC	0.0

2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship

The 2012 Goddessschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship starts August 4th! 

The playing venue is the Olympic Stadium Regroupment Loisir Quebec,4, 545 Pierre-de-Coubertin, Montréal. 

Schedule :
Saturday, 3:30 pm, opening ceremony
Rd 1: Saturday, 4pm
Rd 2: Sunday, 10 am
Rd 3: Sunday, 4 pm
Rd 4: Monday, 4 pm
Rd 5: Tuesday, 4 pm
Rd 6: Wednesday, 4 pm
Rd 7: Thursday, 4 pm
Rd 8: Friday, 4 pm
Rd 9: Saturday, 1 pm
Playoffs and closing ceremony: as soon as possible after round 9.

Guaranteed prize fund:1- Travel to the Women’s world championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia (1000$) + 200$
2- 150$
3- 100$
100$ added to the prize fund for each player over 12 (66% 2nd prize, 33% 3rd prize). Free accommodation for 2011 Women’s champion.

Time Control: 40/90, G/30 + 30 seconds from move one.

Here are the final standings of the 2011 Canadian Women's Chess Championship (from Wikipedia):

CAN-ch (Women) Toronto 2011

	Player	Rating	Points
1	Natalia Khoudgarian (CAN)	2468	5½
2	Iulia Lacau-Rodean (CAN)	2426	4½
3	Yelizaveta Orlova (CAN)	2321	4
4	Jackie Peng (CAN)	2353	3½
5	Chang Yun (CAN)	2288	3½
6	Jiaxin Liu (CAN)	2211	3½
7	Daniela Belc (CAN)	2218	3
8	Qiyu Zhou (CAN)	2322	3
9	Rebecca Giblon (CAN)	2145	3
10	Melissa Lee (CAN)	2309	3
11	Myriam Roy (CAN)	2217	2½
12	Olya Chichkina (CAN)	2231	2½
13	Melissa Giblon (CAN)	2249	2½
14	Jessica Danti (CAN)	2139	2
15	Rachel Tao (CAN)	2127	1
16	Taylor Zhang (CAN)	2160	0

You will recognize many of these names among the players registered for the 2012 Goddesschess Champiuonship. 

Here are bios of the players -- on some players there is not much information available on the internet (at least, I could not easily locate it!)

This promises to be a very exciting Championship, and I can't wait for play to start!  I love the mix of experience and youth, although even the youngest players have been tested in various championship settings!  I am impressed. 

WIM Natalia Khoudgarian (2278 CFC)(2158 FIDE)
Current Canadian Women's Champion, born 1975 in Moscow, Russia.  Married and has two daughters. 
Bio information at Wikipedia 
Some of her games (at Chess Games.com)
FIDE Chess Profile
Profile at Chess Federation of Canada
More biographical information (source of photo, below)
Natalia won the 2007 Canadian Women's Chess Championship

WIM Natalia Khoudgarian

Jackie Peng (2121 CFC)(1998 FIDE)
In 8th grade and 14 (at the time of the article from which the photo, below, was taken)
Some of her games (at Chess Games.com)
FIDE Chess Profile
Profile at Chess Federation of Canada
Jackie Peng, 14, becomes second youngest player ever on Canada’s national chess team
July 12, 2012
Jackie Peng Will Represent Canada Proudly, May 29, 2012

Jackie Peng

Myriam Roy (2093 FQE)(1979 CFC)(1951 FIDE)
Born 1995 (Age 17)
Bio
Some of her games (at Chess Games.com); also at 365 Chess.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Some information available at David Cohen's Canadian Chess Biographies 

Myriam Roy (2093 FQE)(right), with WGM Alina L'Ami at the 2011
City of Montreal Open Chess Championships, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Lali Agbabshvili (2018 CFC)(1952 FIDE)
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada


Chang Yun (1988 FQE)(1873 CFC)(1886 FIDE)
Born 1996 (Age 16)
Some of her Games (at Chess Tempo.com)
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada

Chang Yun, Canadian player at
 2011 FIDE World Youth Chess Championships
(Girls U-16)

Qiyu Zhou (1953 CFC)(1813 FIDE)
Born 2000 (Age 12)
Some of her Games (at Chess Games.com); also at 365 Chess.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent Tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada

Zhou Qiyu 2011 World Youth Chess Championship, U-12

Natasa Serbanescu (1869 CFC)(1824 FIDE)
Some of her Games (at Chess Games.com); also at Chess 365.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Natasa played in the 2007 Canadian Women's Chess Championship

WCM Jiaxin (Dora) Liu (1722 CFC)(1669 FIDE)
born 2001 (Age 11)
Bio
Some of her Games (at Chess Tempo.com)
A few games at Chess Games.com
FIDE Chess Profile
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Liu Jiaxin (Dora) finished first in her group (G 5) at the 2012 Ontario Girls' Chess Championship

Photo from FIDE profile

From the 2010 Canadian Open, courtesy of  GM Kevin Spraggett's blog

Indy Ma (1698 FQE) (1490 CFC)
Born 1996 (Age 16)
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada

Ling Yun Shi (1633 FQE)
Ling Yun Shi is in 6th grade (per the 2012 Canadian Chess Challenge) and so I estimate she is 11 or Born 1999 (Age 12)
Recent tournaments at Chess Federation of Canada
Recent tournaments at Quebec Chess Federation (Federation Quebecoise des echecs)

2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship

The Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship is the women's Canadian zonal this year and will determine who qualifies for the FIDE Women's Chess Championship to be held later this year in Khanty Masiysk, Russia.

It's getting closer and closer!  We're pleased to be able to provide sponsorship and we'll keenly be following the action.

Participants:

Women's closed / Championnat féminin
WIM Natalia Khoudgarian (2278 CFC) - Current Champion / Championne Actuelle
Jackie Peng (2121 CFC)
Myriam Roy (2093 FQE)
Chang Yun (1988 FQE)
Qiyu Zhu (1953 CFC)
Natasa Serbanescu (1869 CFC)
Jiaxin Liu (1722 CFC)
Indy Ma (1698 FQE)
Ling Yun Shi (1633 FQE)

Guaranteed prize fund:

1- Travel to the Women’s world championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia (1000$) + 200$
2- 150$
3- 100$
100$ added to the prize fund for each player over 12 (66% 2nd prize, 33% 3rd prize). Free accommodation for 2011 Women’s champion.

Format: 9 Round Swiss, FQE, CFC and FIDE rated
Time Control: 40/90, G/30 + 30 seconds from move one.
Venue: Olympic Stadium, Regroupement Loisir Québec, 4545 Pierre-de-Coubertin, Montréal, QC
Eligibility: Women with a CFC rating over 1700 or with a FIDE/FQE rating over 1600. Provincial Women champion (see Handbook, section 11).

Schedule : 

Saturday, 3:30 pm, opening ceremony
Rd 1: Saturday, 4pm
Rd 2: Sunday, 10 am
Rd 3: Sunday, 4 pm
Rd 4: Monday, 4 pm
Rd 5: Tuesday, 4 pm
Rd 6: Wednesday, 4 pm
Rd 7: Thursday, 4 pm
Rd 8: Friday, 4 pm
Rd 9: Saturday, 1 pm
Playoffs and closing ceremony: as soon as possible after round 9.

Jackie Peng Will Represent Canada Proudly

From yorkregion.com
Richmond Hill chess champ representing Canada

Adam McLean
May 29, 2012 - 12:08 PM

Age or lack thereof won’t be an intimidating factor for chess champion Jackie Peng, when she takes on some of the world’s best this summer.

At 14, the Grade 8 student will be the second youngest player to ever represent Canada at the Women’s Chess Olympiad and the youngest over the past 16 years. This year’s event will be held in Istanbul, Turkey and 125 countries are registered to compete.

Last year, Ms Peng won the Canadian Junior Girls championship and followed that up with a Canadian Amateur title. Her stellar results culminated with the Richmond Hill resident receiving an invitation to join Team Canada for the world’s largest team chess tournament.

While her teammates range in age from 20s to 40s, being one of the younger competitors in a tournament has become normal for Ms Peng. “I’m really excited for the Olympiad, because I get to represent Canada on a team and usually I just represent myself,” said Ms Peng.

“Even though I may be against some of the best in the world, I don’t think age of the player really matters when you are playing chess. A physical sport, then sure, but with chess you can be strong at any age,” she added.

Ms. Peng’s strong play has already taken her talents around the world for tournaments in such far flung places as Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia and Greece to test her skills against the world’s best.
Just two years ago, she finished 12th in the world under-12 championships.

She practises her chess skills nearly every day and, not surprisingly, Ms Peng calls math her favourite school subject, as it’s “easy”. Still, she manages to find time to hang out with friends, enjoys jogging and playing piano.

To help pay for some of Ms Peng’s trip to Turkey in August, a fundraiser will be held at the Oriole Community Centre, 2975 Don Mills Rd W., Toronto, June 17 from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 and participants will have the opportunity to play against Ms Peng and other Canadian team members. For more information, visit ogcc2003.ca

**********************************************************

The FIDE World Chess Olympiad will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, August 27 - September 10, 2012. 

Goddesschess is hoping that fabulous young Canadian female players like Jackie Peng will choose to participate in the 2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship in Montreal, Quebec, August 4 - 11, 2012 for a chance to represent Canada at the 2012 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship event to be held later this year in Russia.  Expenses will be paid and in addition, modest cash prizes are available for the 1-3 finishers in this year's Goddesschess Canadian Women's Closed (a zonal event).

Goddesschess 2012 Canadian Women's Chess Championship

The winner will have expenses paid to represent Canada at the FIDE Women's World Championship, in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, November 10 - December 3, 2012.  I do not know what the prize structure will be for the 2012 championship, but in the 2010 knock-out event, players who were eliminated in the first round earned $3,750.00. 

In the 2010 WWCC, WIM Dina Kagramanov (CAN 2101) represented Canada.

Goddesschess in Echec Magazine

The saga of Goddesschess continues in the Ma-June, 2012 (No. 203) print edition of Echec magazine, published by the Quebec Chess Federation.

Hmmmm, not very legible.  It's in French, too.  I don't know about you, but my French skills aren't too keen these days.  Here it is in English:

Goddesschess and Those Fabulous Las Vegas Show Girls!

by Janet Newton

At the time, there was no way to know that the articles written by Those Fabulous Las Vegas Show Girls would prove to be enduringly popular and among the best-visited pages at the Goddesschess website.(1) From the first article written in 2000 to the most recent article (with a cliff-hanger ending) written in 2008 during the World Chess Championship between GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Vladimir Kramnik, the Show Girls' articles have consistently received a high number of page views every month.

Perhaps it was our individual flights to freedom and our spirit of following our dreams on not much more than a wing and a prayer that led to the Show Girls finding us. I had earned a degree in law and practiced for some years before giving it up for a much more mundane 9 to 5 existence, at much lower pay but a great deal more free time to do the things I wanted to do. Partner Don McLean acts as our webmaster, creates all of the graphics for Goddesschess and its sponsorships, and is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to doing an interview, getting photographs and video action of the City of Montreal Open Chess Championships, of which we have been a sponsor since 2009. In his earlier life he started out in retail business after earning his degree and worked up the ranks, only to leave to pursue a career in counselling troubled youths. He later retired from counselling and went into the freelance world of what was then the Wild Wild West of the Emerging Internet in 1999. Partner Georgia Albert, a true Renaissance woman, made a living playing pool, owned an antiques business for awhile, and spent twenty-five years in the casino industry in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In July 2000 the Las Vegas Show Girls duo of Bambi Darlin and Candi Kane sent their very first article to The International Chessoid. That article was passed along to Goddesschess partner Georgia Albert as not being "original" enough to be suitable "Chessoid" material. Georgia, in turn, passed the article along to me. I thought it was very clever and funny and so we published it at Goddesschess.(2) Unfortunately, I do not remember what tournament the Show Girls were writing about -- as they neglected to mention the name of the tournament in their article! All I know is that the Show Girls thought that GM Alexander Khalifman and GM Michael Adams were very "hot." And because Candi Kane was wearing stilleto heels, she couldn't walk very fast and the Girls were very late, missing the beginning (and perhaps most) of the action in the "final round."

Perhaps one of you can help identify the tournament that the Show Girls visited? At the time the article was written, GM Alexander Khalifman was the reigning FIDE World Chess Champion (he won that title in September, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada), and GM Michael Adams' hair had not yet turned grey. This was during the time after Kasparov split with FIDE and there were two "World Chess Champions" for many years afterward.

From the beginning, the Girls had minds of their own, and very definite opinions about the world of professional chess. The Girls traveled the world, and sometimes they agreed to cover chess events for us. However, reporting on chess events was not what the Girls wanted to do for Goddesschess. No. They wanted to become researchers into the deepest mysteries of chess and its most ancient origins! In other words, they wanted to be - us!

Because we at Goddesschess believe in exploring new possibilities into the origins of ancient games, the Show Girls found a home with us. We were not going to say that they did not have something valuable to add to the conversation, just because they did not have "degrees" in archaeology, anthropology, or ancient history.

At irregular intervals, indicative of the lives of the busy women that they are, the Show Girls would email articles to me (I'm the de facto "editor" of Goddesschess) and after correcting for punctuation and some spelling errors, the articles were published at Goddesschess. If you would like to take some interesting journeys along the road to discovering the deeper mysteries arising out of the origins of chess, I definitely recommend that you read the Show Girls' articles.(3) To say they are "mind-bending" is an understatement.

The Show Girls are not just Show Girls, of course! They are, first and foremost, businesswomen. The life of a Las Vegas show girl can be very short-lived, although there have been many successful show girls who have had careers of 20 years and longer. But eventually, time catches up with all of us. Today, Bambi and Candi are retired from their g-strings onstage, but are active in producing some of the most popular shows in casinos around the world. The Girls continue to make their home in the mountains surrounding the valley that is Las Vegas and have no desire to leave the valley. Over the years, the Girls tried their hand at designing their own clothing lines and achieved some minor success under fictitious names, but ultimately wisely invested in the early careers of several now very successful designers, wisely realizing that despite men's fascination with tassles and g-strings, it is women who ultimately spends thousands of dollars a year buying their own clothes.

You may be surprised to learn that it was those Las Vegas Show Girls, Bambi and Candi, that led Goddesschess into its very first sponsorship in a chess tournament -- in the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship. However, the Girls have always passionately supported promoting more females to play in chess tournaments of all kinds and at all levels. One of the Girls' favorite sayings is "From a small acorn the mighty oak grows..."

Over the years, many people have inquired as to whether Bambi Darlin and Candi Kane are REAL people. All I am authorized to tell you is that - what happens in 'Vegas stays in 'Vegas...

Goddesschess is very happy to be a sponsor of the 2012 Canadian Women's Closed Chess Championship. In our next article, you will learn just how it was that those Las Vegas Show Girls led us to our first sponsorship in a tournament, and how things blossomed forth from that "First Time."

Notes:

(1) www.goddesschess.com

(2) This is the url to the Show Girls' very first Goddesschess article: http://goddesschess.com/lasvegasshowgirls/vegaschicks.html

(3) This is the url to the Show Girls' entire index of Goddesschess articles: http://goddesschess.com/lasvegasshowgirls/vegaschickstoc.html

Goddesschess in 'Echec Magazine, by FQE

Hola Everyone!

It was hard to leave the beautiful city of Madrid and it's equally beautiful weather and kind people, but I won't lie, it's good to be back home in my own soft bed with my own soft down pillows and down blanket! 

Both Mr. Don and I are attempting to fight off some kind of viral invasion affecting our throats and sinuses.  Ach!  And I was so careful this trip, too, to wash my hands frequently, tried not to touch my face and used hand disinfectant and the little hand towels that come with the meals on the airplane...

Oh well.

It is now time to take down the Christmas decorations.  Tomorrow the ladies of the investment club are coming over and I have no doubt we will spend the entire time drinking coffee and looking at the photographs and videos that I and Mr. D took of Madrid and Toledo!  So beautiful!

But chess - and life - go on.  We have not been standing still.  Even while in Madrid, emails were flying back and forth.  Tonight I emailed off the second article in a series of articles about Goddesschess for 'Echec, a chess magazine published by the (in English) Quebec Chess Federation.  The website is www.fqechecs.qc.ca.  Normally the Federation does not publish articles from the magazine at the website.  However, the August, 2012 calendar is in place and the 2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship is on it - from August 4 - 11, 2012.  Yippee!

There is a dedicated website where you can find out more about the 2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Chess Championship.   We are hoping to see a good turnout of female chessplayers for this great event, the winner of which will earn an expenses paid trip to the 2012 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship as Canada's female representative. 

Our sponsorship for this event is in its infancy.  We are hoping for a great turnout of female players and to grow our sponsorship and this championship in the years to come.

I scanned the first article about Goddesschess from the January-February, 2012 edition of 'Echec.  It was meticulously translated into French from English by Felix Dumont.  I believe the second article will appear in the March-April, 2012 edition of 'Echec. 

Trying to attach the article as a PDF didn't work.  Let's see if the photo scans of the 2-page article works.  Hopefully, you will be able to click on them to enlarge them to readable size and, if you can read Canadian French, you can read all about the beginnings of Goddesschess!