2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

Hola darlings!

Sorry I haven't been posting much the past few days.  We switched to "daylight savings time" last week (the week before?) -- I don't remember exactly when.  I'm having a hard time adjusting, just like I had a hard time in the spring this year when we "leaped ahead" an hour.  Yeah, I supposedly gained an hour of sleep one Saturday night, but honestly, I've been heading to bed at 9 p.m. or shortly after, because my body is telling me it is actually 10 p.m. or after!  I just cannot win!

This year's European Team Chess Championships are now herstory.  The top three women's teams were:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1		Russia	RUS	9	8	1	0	17	25.5	177.0	165.50	137.5
2	5		Poland	POL	9	6	2	1	14	23.0	178.0	133.25	138.5
3	3		Georgia	GEO	9	7	0	2	14	22.5	181.0	134.00	139.0

I have my favorite players that I follow when I see them listed in events.  In this year's ETCC-Women, I had 10 players I was following, and I lost track of some of them, because they were alternating with other players on their teams and weren't playing every single game.  I won't go into all the details of their performances here, but I would like to point out some things.

First of all, I was following the 12th Women's World Chess Champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.  She had some very tough tournaments earlier this year where she did not perform well.  But - the important thing - she never gave up.  She kept playing, she kept fighting.  Event after event, a very full schedule for this mother away from her husband and young daughter for so long!  Now, I don't follow gossip on line or participate in message boards or post messages at blogs the way I used to years ago, so I don't know for a fact that some people may have been saying that Alexadra was no longer a top-tier female player - but I'll bet such things were said and/or implied. 

Anyone who would say or snidely imply such things just doesn't know this woman or understand how women work, in general!  I don't claim a great acquaintance with Alexandra, but after exchanging correspondence over the years, I did meet her (finally) in person in September in St. Louis, while she was there to participate in the Kings v. Queens Tournament at the St. Louis Chess Club.  I know that Alexandra has a great heart and a great spirit, like all the women's chess champions do.  One simply cannot achieve that peak of success as a chessplayer without having such heart and spirit.  I will never, ever count Alexandra down and out!

And Alexandra proved that she still has what it takes to win!  In addition to winning a Gold Medal for her part in her Team's performance, Alexandra also won an individual Gold Medal for her performance on Board 4.  A well-deserved medal, I might add.  She was great!

You can check out her numbers performance (statistics measuring lots of different performances) at chess-results.com (tournament)  and also at chessqueen.com (story).  We've been invited to share the photos posted there - great photos -- you can check them out in more detail:

A happy Russian Women's Team - and rightfully so.  Anyone who thinks chess is a game of nerds hasn't seen these women, that's for sure! 

Alexandra wrote at chessqueen.com:

All the players in our team had a great result. I got 5.5 out of 7 (4 wins and 3 draws) and got the highest rating performance of my team, 2575 ELO. Our team’s average rating performance was 2523, even higher than our starting average rating of 2509, which was the highest team average at the start of the championship. Out of the 9 x 4 = 36 games played by our team, we only lost 3 individual games, but never lost a single match.

As for individual performances, everyone in our team did great! Apart from everyone in our Russian women’s team getting a team Gold medal, I got an individual Gold medal on the 4th board, as did Tatiana Kosintseva on board 2 and Natalija Pogonina on board 5. Valentina Gunina got an individual Bronze medal on board 3, and Nadezhda Kosintseva barely missed a medal with her 4th place on the 1st board, which is still a great performance. In all our 5-person team got 9 medals (8 Gold, 1 Bronze), almost the maximum!

Of 124 female players, Alexandra's performance ranked 4th overall (top 10 only shown, below):

The best players sorted according Rp,Pts,games,%,board (Final Ranking after 9 Rounds)

No.			Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	Pts.	Games	%	Bo.
1		IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	Slovenia	2782	8.5	9	94.4	1
2		GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	Ukraine	2632	5.0	7	71.4	1
3		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	Georgia	2593	5.0	8	62.5	1
4		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	Russia	2575	5.5	7	78.6	3
5		IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	Georgia	2573	6.5	8	81.3	3
6		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	Russia	2559	6.0	8	75.0	2
7		IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	Ukraine	2538	6.0	8	75.0	2
8		WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	Poland	2524	5.5	8	68.8	2
9		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	Russia	2524	5.5	9	61.1	1
10		WIM	Ohme Melanie	2361	Germany	2521	6.5	8	81.3	2

Another Goddesschess friend, IM Salome Melia, (who married in early summer this year) playing on the Georgian Women's Team, also won two medals:  A Team Bronze Medal and an Individual Bronze Medal for her performance on Board 5:

Board 5
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %
1 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2451 RUS 2518 2278 4 5 80.0
2 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2460 UKR 2468 2327 5,5 8 68.8
3 IM Melia, Salome 2392 GEO 2460 2302 5 7 71.4
Come on, Salome!  I have faith that you can earn a GM title. 

GM Kateryna Lahno did well for her team and for herself.  While the Ukrainian Women's Team finished out of contention for a Team Medal, Lahno won an individual Silver Medal for her excellent performance on Board 1:

Board 1
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %
1 IM Muzychuk, Anna 2557 SLO 2782 2338 8,5 9 94.4
2 GM Lahno, Kateryna 2549 UKR 2632 2474 5 7 71.43 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2516 GEO 2593 2498 5 8 62.5

Performance wise, here is how the women I was following placed (of 124 female players):

No.

Name

Rtg

Team

Rp

Pts.

Games

%

Bo.

2

GM

Lahno Kateryna

2549

Ukraine

2632

5.0

7

71.4

1

4

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2439

Russia

2575

5.5

7

78.6

3

20 IM Melia Salome 2392 Georgia 2460 5.0 7 71.4 4
21 IM Dembo Yelena 2468 Greece 2459 5.5 9 61.1 1

50

WGM

Reizniece-Ozola Dana

2281

Latvia

2344

5.0

9

55.6

1

61

WGM

L’ami Alina

2364

Romania

2308

3.0

7

42.9

1

68

WGM

Rudolf Anna

2347

Hungary

2286

3.5

7

50.0

2

70

WGM

Calzetta Ruiz Monica

2301

Spain

2284

4.5

7

64.3

2

73

WIM

Kazimova Narmin

2241

Azerbaijan

2278

3.5

7

50.0

2

87

IM

Houska Jovanka

2415

England

2221

2.5

8

31.3

1

 So, it looks like Kateryna Lahno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Melia Salome, Dana Reizniece-Ozola and Narmin Kazimova will gain some ratings points as a result of their performances at the 2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women.  Congratulations!

Chess Miscellany

Wow - I just saw one of those "TODAY IN HISTORY" things that today, November 5:  In 1992, U.S. chess legend Bobby Fischer clinched a $5 million chess match against Russian Boris Spassky, marking a triumphant return after 20 years in self-imposed obscurity.

Was it this match that led to the sad end of Robert James Fischer? He died a permanent exile who did not even attend the funeral of his only sibling, his older sister, Joan Targ.  Perhaps they had been estranged for many years at the time.  With Fischer, one never knew.  When Fischer died in 2008 without a Will, a big fight ensued over what was left of his "fortune" - I suspect a very large junk of it was eaten up in legal fees!  The Filippino lady who claimed that her daughter was Fischer's lost her claim when DNA testing excluded Fischer as the child's father.  A Japanese woman, Miyoko Watai, a pharmacist and the president of the Japan Chess Association, produced documentary evidence of a 2004 marriage to Fischer to the satisfaction of the Court in Iceland that was probating the Estate, was determined her to be Fischer's legal heir.   I suppose I'm a sap, but I do hope that in his final years Robert James Fischer found some happiness with a female companion. 

Visiting some of the chess femme blogs:

At GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog, she posted an obituary/article for former chessplayer Andrija Fuderer (of the former Yugoslavia, later moved to Spain).  One can only wonder - what might have been if he had continued to play chess as a full-time career...

GM Kosteniuk is playing on the Russian Women's Team (Board 4, alternating with WGM Natalia Pogonina) in the European Team Chess Championships currently taking place in Greece.  So far, she is 2 for 2!  You Go Girl!

At GM Susan Polgar's blog, I am thinking about putting her in my Will after she published this photograph of an absolutely smoking hot Vassily Ivanchuk from 1991.  OHMYGODDESS!  Be still, oh my heart.  The game wasn't bad either...  Come to think of it, I was probably pretty hot back in 1991 too.  Oh time, time, time, what you have done to us?  Thicker around the middle and, at least in Ivanchuk's case, much greyer hair too.  Hmmm, actually I've probably aged fairly well.  Okay, enough ego talk.  I owe it all to my sister Yvonne's L'Bri products.  Miracles in little jars and bottles...

A great way to help kids and chess - contribute a chess set and board!  This article Mr. Solomon's Chess Gifts posted at SP's blog - what can I say?  Inspirational, wonderful, awesome!

Visting favorite person Elizabeth Vicary's chess blog, she has posted several "snapshots" of board positions of her chess kids from a recent match and I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THEM.  Oh my, my new chess coach is certainly going to face a daunting uphill battle - I'm hopeless!  And he thought I was joking when I warned him about battle pay in an email.  Hmmm...  The photographs of the kids - how can anyone not fall in love with these kids?  Oh, those faces!  They make me want to cry - tears of happiness, tears of empathy.  Gee, I really am getting sentimental in my later years.  I've never been particularly fond of children, but they do seem to be particularly fond of me.  Perverse. 

This photo brought a smile to my face:  It's Elizabeth Vicary analyzing with Michael Yu.  I gave my very own second chess lesson to a co-worker yesterday, and I swear I had that exact intense look on my face, and that exact same body position - uncanny!  Will the right answer out of him, Lizzy!  Maybe it's a sort of universal position for coaches - except for the dorky yet fashionable hat, I aint gonna wear one of those, at my age I'd look like a bag lady.

Anyway, she - I mean my pupil - did very well.  She remembered the names of most of the pieces and their respective moves even though we weren't able to have a lesson last week Friday.  She confused the Rook and the Bishop but that's probably my fault, I should not have gone into that little bit of chess herstory about how the Rooks and the Bishops switched places back in ancient times, or how the game is said to have been invented in India, but everyone really knows it was the Persians who did it... I shouldn't ramble on so, but she seems fascinated by the ancientness of it all, and you should hear her say "Ja'doube"!  She loves the word!  She loves the concept!  Oh my, I've got a captive audience and I'm playing the Ham to the Hilt.  Sigh.  Yesterday I explained to her how the Persian "ruhkh" became the "rook."  What possible relevance this has to moving the pieces around on the board - NONE. 

After our review, we went through some simple moves and I also attempted to explain "castling" and how to do it Queenside and Kingside.  Her head didn't explode so I think she's okay.  Next lesson we're actually going to start playing and move by move we will question each and every move.  I may actually learn something myself.

Oh, the exquisite irony.  Here I am, acting as a chess coach ("acting" is the key word in this sentence), and I don't know a damn thing about how to actually to play the game, but I do know a lot about it's ancient beginnings; and there I will be on the 14th of the month, sitting across from my own chess coach for the very first time, gulping and wishing with all my might that I won't make an absolute fool of myself.  But, I probably will.  Such is life, darlings! 

But back to Elizabeth Vicary and the school where she teaches, IS 318 in Brooklyn, New York USA.  A film crew who has filmed massive amounts of chess stuff with the IS 318 kids and is hoping to prune it all down to an award-winning documentary (like producer Lynn Hamrick's "Chess Kids") are looking to raise some money so they can refine a final product and tout it around all the various places that such films have to be touted in order to get enough recognition to be put on the list of nominees for film awards, etc. etc.  Sounds absolutely exhausting!  Why would anyone undertake such a project, Ms. Not-So-Innocent (me, darlings) asks?  I saw the information/request for contributions at both Alexandra's blog and Susan's blog, so here's some more information.  I think it's a great cause because it involves (1) chess and (2) kids and (3) IS 318 (but IS 318 could be any school in the country that has a great chess program). 

You know what - since I lost my three faithful canine companions, Tasha being the last to die, she went to The Happy Hunting Grounds in 2004, I've become absolutely fanatical about chess.  Am I substituting chess for not having had children, replacing children with dogs, and now that I no longer wish to have official pets (my assorted backyard wildlife faithfully fed for the past 21 years do not count as pets) replacing dogs with chess?  What would Freud say?  Okay, I can't say what I really want to say about Freud without a lot of profanity and vulgarity, so nix that thought...

WGM Alina L'Ami's blog always has such fascinating articles at her blog.  If you come back to Montreal in 2012, Alina, to defend your title as Female Champion of the City of Montreal Open, I hope to meet you.  I'm planning on being there.  Just how I'm going to manage that, I don't know; if I make an appearance at every event we're sponsoring in 2012 I'll be on the road A LOT.  Oh my poor pocketbook!  In hindsight, I really should have married that millionaire back in 1974.  Oh well.  My life may not have taken a chessly turn if I had...

Alina has words of wisdom about losing in chess and Lady Luck, and her words could not be more timely as I am going from bad to worse in my online games with Shira Evans Sanford.  Shira, I HATE YOU.  I love you, but I HATE YOU.  Hmmm, maybe I need some new medication.  I'm definitely sounding more and more schizoid these days.

Alina also wrote about Chess Design.  I absolutely adore this Chess Theme Bedroom - like WOW!  I have yet to finish my black/cream/red country French-themed bedroom -- too busy writing here, darlings.  It's been lingering and dying a slow death ever since Kevin painted out the room in 2009 from the dreadful pink I'd had since 1990 when I moved in - well, I did like it once.  To be truthful, these days the house looks like crap.  The only time I clean now is when I'm expecting company, but I sort of miss the days when I used to have House Beautiful.  And it was a Beautiful House.  No dust, no odd smells emanating out of the odd corner or from behind (or underneath) furniture, cleaned carpets, sparkling windows.  Now it looks like the Castle of Sleeping Beauty, that hasn't been touched in (fill in your own number here) years.  Cobwebs and spiders in the corners - I'm not kidding. WHERE THE HELL DO THEY COME FROM? 

Oy, I see the shade has already overtaken the front lawn and I've got to move my large pot of three white geraniums back into a sheltered spot.  We've been getting hard freezes here at night, but so far, thanks to draping them nightly in a big black towel and uncovering them when I hit the road at 7:15 a.m., those geraniums are not only blooming, they are setting more blooms!  I may have another miracle set of geraniums like the ones I had some years back that lasted well into December. Time to move on to other projects - like laundry and baking that apple pie I picked up the ingredients for earlier today during the weekly Saturday trek to the Pick and Save supermarket.  Cortland apples were on sale at only 0.98 USD a pound!  I couldn't resist. They are such beautiful apples, and perfect for baking.  I have a complaint though.  Pick and Save did not have the ready-made roll-out pie crusts prominently displayed.  I went through that damn gigantic store's dairy/cold and frozen aisles three times before I finally found them!  Geez Louise!  And how dare they try to foist off on me two ready-to-bake pie shells in cheap tin-foil pie plates for $4.99?  I mean, PLEASE!  I may have to finally resort to making my own.  EEK.  Double EEK.  Oh well, how hard can it be?  Certainly easier than learning how to play a sound chess game!

Speaking of which - one last word about me as chess coach:  Yes, darlings, I did actually talk about controlling the center of the board, why that is beneficial, how it's supposed to be done (hello, Ruy Lopez - never thought I'd ever say that and that sure isn't the way I play), and never ever making an intentional move, unless you wish to sacrifice a piece, without making sure the piece is both simultaneously attacking and protected from attack from the enemy forces.  Gee, I hate the way that sounds.  Maybe that's why I'm not so good at playing.  I don't like the premise.

WGM Alina L'Ami Writes of the Montreal Championnat

I had previously posted to a Chessbase article that WGM Alina L'Ami did for Chessbase that was published in Spanish.  Here is the English version of her photo essay.  She sure did pack a lot of travelling and sight-seeing into her week in Quebec!

Alina L'Ami sight-seeing in Quebec City.

2011 City of Montreal Open Chess Championships: Interview with WGM Alina L'Ami

A post-Championnat interview with WGM L'Ami.

Photos and Videos from 2011 City of Montreal Open Chess Championships

Posted at Photobucket. 

More videos, including this interview with the charming Allison Tsypin and her Dad.  Allison was going to have her 8th birthday the day after the interview - during the Championnat (I don't know the exact date -- the Championnat ran from September 9 - 11, 2011).  Near the middle of this video, Allison and her Dad are talking about the chess lessons she has been taken and some of the tools and resources she has used to improve her chess play.  She mentions several authors by name, including GM Susan Polgar, who have helped her.  I sincerely hope that Allison continues to play chess into that "gap" of ages she mentioned - between 25 and 65 - where there are so few players at local tournaments.  I would like to see her play on one of the Canadian Chess Olympiad Teams!  Go, Allison, Go!  Allison completed the Championnat in the D Section with 2 wins and 3 losses.

This photo gives an idea of the diversity of the players:

Here is a photo of WGM Alina L'Ami and Emile Trottier (Round 3 action - Alina defeated Emile):

2011 Montreal Open Chess Championships

A nice photo sent by Mr. Don in Montreal - it's WGM Alina L'Ami and two fans (?) at the Championnat (I don't have their names and I don't know if they are participants - they look like they're wearing school uniforms of some sort, sorry).

Final tally on registraton:  235 players per an email from Mr. Don. 

Link to blog entries and a video - just checked and its through Round 3.  Rounds 4 and 5 will be held today.  A tough schedule.
You can find Group A standings here - L'Ami is confirmed in first place after the R3 with 3.0, ahead of two other players also with 3.0 on the basis of tie-breaks.  Excellent!

Chess Femme News!

Lots of news out of Lubbock, Texas this past week, thanks to the 2011 Susan Polgar Invitational.  It is great to see press and t.v. coverage of some of the players' stories and the wonderful things that happen to make it possible for many of them to attend this fantastic event. And so --

Saturday, July 30, 2011
Savanna Naccarato places 9th out of 46 at the 2011 Susan Polgar Girls Invitational

Saturday, July 30, 2011
If we can impact one girl, it’s worth it

Saturday, July 30, 2011
Vanita is on her way

Friday, July 29, 2011
A must see video: The impact of chess for one girl

Saturday, July 30, 2011
FOX news: Changing lives, one girl at a time

World Teams Chess Championship (Ningbo, China)
July 16  27, 2011

8th World Teams Ningbo CHN Sun 17th Jul 2011 - Wed 27th Jul 2011 Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Armenia	*	2½	2	2	2½	2	2	2½	3½	3½	14	22.5	0
2	China	1½	*	2½	2½	2½	3½	2	3	1½	3½	13	22.5	0
3	Ukraine	2	1½	*	2	1½	2½	2½	2½	2½	2½	12	19.5	0
4	Russia	2	1½	2	*	3	3	1	1½	4	3	10	21.0	0
5	Hungary	1½	1½	2½	1	*	2	2½	2	3½	3	10	19.5	0
6	USA	2	½	1½	1	2	*	2½	3	2½	3½	10	18.5	0
7	Azerbaijan	2	2	1½	3	1½	1½	*	3	2	2½	9	19.0	0
8	India	1½	1	1½	2½	2	1	1	*	2½	2½	7	15.5	0
9	Israel	½	2½	1½	0	½	1½	2	1½	*	3	5	13.0	0
10	Egypt	½	½	1½	1	1	½	1½	1½	1	*	0	9.0	0

The USA had a respectable showing.  The lone female, GM Judit Polgar, played on the Hungarian team.  She had a very good performance overall, finishing in 16th place overall out of 50 players (total for all teams), and take a look at how she compared with the players right around her in the final rankings (rather august company, I'd say!):

14	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2768	Ukraine	5.0	9	55.6	1
15	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2760	Azerbaijan	5.0	9	55.6	2
16	GM	Polgar Judit	2699	Hungary	5.0	9	55.6	3
17	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2765	Azerbaijan	5.0	9	55.6	3

I am greatly looking forward to the opportunity to once again see Judit Polgar play chess in person in St. Louis in September. The first and only time I've seen her play in person thus far was in Las Vegas in August, 1999 in the FIDE World Chess Championship (Knock-Out). As I've written about elsewhere in the blog, Judit is one of five female chessplayers who will be facing off against five male chessplayers in the Kings v. Queens Chess Tournament to be held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis beginning September 9, 2011 (play begins September 10th). As far as possible, the respective teams have been matched ELO wise. To further mix things up, Fischer random chess will be played for one all-play-all, and rapid-chess will be played for the second all-play-all! Exciting stuff - no six hours games (ouch, my sore butt - I still remember those from Las Vegas in '99).

Dutch Open 2011
July 19 - 28, 2011
IM Irina Turova and WGM Alina L'Ami mixed it up with the men in a field of 63 players in this year's Dutch Open. WGM L'Ami will be playing in the 2011 City of Montreal Open Chess Championships (sponsored by Goddesschess) September 9 - 11, 2011!

The event was won (on tie-breaks) by GM Maxim Turov with 7.0/9.  The ladies placed relatively well:

18	GM Timman, Jan	5.0	M	2575	2428	-1.60	48.0	25.25	1	½	1	½	0	½	½	1	0
19	IM Vishnu Prasanna	5.0	M	2340	2434	+1.14	47.5	23.25	1	0	1	½	1	0	½	1	0
20	FM Ikeda, Junta	5.0	M	2349	2371	+0.27	46.5	23.0	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	1
21	IM Turova, Irina	5.0	F	2413	2405	-0.02	46.0	21.75	1	0	1	1	½	0	½	1	0
22	IM Hendriks, Willy	5.0	M	2415	2365	-0.34	43.0	22.0	½	1	0	1	1	0	1	½	0
23	IM Brown, Andrew	5.0	M	2202	2277	+0.66	42.5	20.5	½	0	½	1	1	0	1	1	0
24	WGM L'Ami, Alina	5.0	F	2312	2348	+0.53	41.5	22.0	0	1	1	1	½	0	½	0	1
25	FM Sowray, Peter	5.0	M	2350	2300	-0.53	41.0	20.0	1	0	1	½	0	0	1	½	1
26	GM Deepan Chakkravarthy	5.0	M	2470	2323	-1.57	41.0	19.25	1	1	0	½	0	1	½	0	1

L'Ami's husband, GM Erwin L'Ami, finished in 4th place with 6.5/9.

Politiken Cup 2011
(Copenhagen Chess Festival)
July 30 - August 7, 2011
For the past several years the organizers have made a push to attract female players and have been, in general, successful.  This event is a favorite of GM Viktorija Cmilyte, for instance.  I've tried to pick out the names of the chess femmes from the current standings - no guarantee I've got them all and I may have a male or two in the list by mistake because I thought the name sounded like a femme, in both cases my apologies!  This year there are 311 players.

Here are the top female players after 2 rounds:

12 72. Dara Akdag (BMS Skak) 2179 2201 2
23 54. Kristen Schmidt (Skakklubben K41) 2279 2289 2
43 43. FM Kassa Korley (Marshall, n.y. usa) 0 2326 2
51 21. GM Viktorija Cmilyte (Skanderborg Skakklub) 0 2528 2
62 60. Sandi Stojanovski (Skakklubben K41) 2237 2254 1½
67 70. Kari Rauramaa (Matinkylän Shakkikerho) 0 2217 1½
78 23. WGM Anna Zatonskih () 0 2522 1½
86 134. Carina Jørgensen (Taastrup Skakforening) 1993 2030 1½
90 80. WFM Evgenia Pavlovskaia (Eslövs SK) 0 2175 1½

2011 Montreal Open Chess Championships

The Championnat will be held in beautiful Montreal, Quebec September 9 - 11, 2011.  This is our third year of sponsorship for the venerable event!  Information (in English).  More information and a short video showing off the beautiful playing venue and opening action from the 2010 Championnat. 

It is a pleasure to work with the organizers of this great event.  Since our initial involvement (2009) they have demonstrated a constant dedication and fervor to making each year's Championnat the best it can be.  Indeed, planning for the next Championnat begins almost immediately after the conclusion of the last!

This year, Section A action is FIDE rated! The playing venue is once again the beautiful hall at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, 3200 Chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine (on the campus of the University of Montreal).  The guaranteed prize fund has been increased to $6000 (Canadian) this year.  What's not to love?

Alina L'Ami at Barbera del Valles 2011

This year Goddesschess is again providing class prizes for female chess players in the B, C and D section and we are very pleased to sponsor the appearance of WGM Alina L'Ami (ROM 2312), who will be competing in the A Section! 

Among Alina's chessly accomplishments:

World Champion under 10 (in Brazil, 1995)
European Champion under 18 (in Spain, 2003)
Balkan Women Champion (in Turkey, 2003)

You can find out more about Alina at her website. She is married to GM Erwin L'Ami of the Netherlands.

Alina recently competed in and finished first in the Women's section of the CUCA International in Luanda, Angola.  Talk about an exotic location!  More about it in this Chessbase article.  Alina just finished a fine performance in the Barbera del Valles International Open (Group A) (July 4 - 12, 2011), in Spain, in 10th place overall with 6.0/9 and the top finishing female player.  Alina did a report on this event for Chessbase. 

Some of her chess games.  Alina at Facebook. 

Please join us in celebrating the 91st Montreal Open Chess Championships!