Chess Femme News

Some coverage on the recently concluded Girls U-20 World Chess Championship in Poland.  USA's Alisa Melekhina is mentioned for her top-10 finish (best by a US player since 1999)  but you wouldn't know it by reading the title of the article!
Chess: Dmitry Andreikin wins world junior title
Los Angeles Times
By Jack Peters, Special to the Los Angeles Times
August 22, 2010

The Russian Women's Team in the China v. Russia match gets mentioned in a New York Times article:  The Russian women beat the Chinese women, 64 to 61.  Yep, that's it.  The rest of the article is about the games of the second-string Russian Men's Team.  Go figure.
Chess
In Race for Global Dominance, China Is Gaining on Russia
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: August 22, 2010

A new column by GM Susan Polgar is available at Lubbock Online.  This week she pays tribute to the graduating members of the Knight Raiders Chess Team at Texas Tech and provides an indepth analysis of a game from the FIDE Women's Grand Prix at Jermuk held earlier this year, in which Nan Dzagnidze ran away with the tournament.  Antoaneta Stefanova – Nana Dzagnidze. 
Lubbock Online
(Lubbock Avalance Journal)
Polgar: A fond farewell to the graduating Texas Tech Knight Raiders
August 21, 2010

This next is not chess-femme related news, but it mentions a player I developed a fondness for way back in 1999 when FIDE staged a Knock-Out World Chess Championship in August in Las Vegas.  The ultimate winner was GM Alexander Khalifman.  Khalifman was mentioned today in Andy Solstis's column at the New York Post online:
Double blunder-itis
By ANDY SOLTIS
Last Updated: 8:05 AM, August 22, 2010
 
Does anyone remember the K-O Championship of 1999?  Probably not.
 
But I won't ever forget it, because it was the first and only chess tournament I've ever attended, and it was the one and only time I was within touching distance of chess stars like GM Judit Polgar, GM Alexei Shirov (who was very cute back them, but then, weren't we all!), GM Michael Adams who had no grey hair back then and his nose seemed must shorter than it does now, and GM Vladimir Akopian, who was quite the hunk in 1999, etc. etc.  I was in the live audience watching quarter-final play at Caesar's Palace on Friday, August 13, 1999.  Polgar was playing against Khalifman, whom I didn't know anything about.  She needed a win to stay in the championship but could only muster a draw and with that, she was out of the tournament.  Khalifman would go on to win the K-O title.
 
Well, back in those days I didn't know a thing about chess - and I still don't - but then, as now, that didn't stop me writing about it, LOL!  So, if you are interested, I did a bunch of posts at the old Art Bell message board, the fore-runner of a blog) which we saved, and I also compiled some interesting commentary on the 1999 K-O by renowned chess writers.  I still find it lots of fun to read over those old posts - and recall many fond memories from that trip to Las Vegas.  Darlings!  Who the hell goes to Las Vegas in August, the hottest time of the year in an already hot city?  Only crazy people like me - and FIDE. 
 
And if you need any proof that nothing ever changes in the world of chess politics - NOTHING - you've only to read some of the articles about the 1999 K-O to confirm that, as Solomon said, there is nothing new under the Sun...

Vegas Views from Chess Cafe's "Skittles Room" Archive - by Hanon W. Russell

High Anxiety from Chess Cafe's "Dutch Treat" Archives, August, 1999 - by Hans Ree

Las Vegas: Surprise, surprise!! from Chess Cafe's "An Arbiter's Notebook" Archives, September, 1999 - by Geurt Gijssen

Is Khalifman the Real World Champion? from Chess Cafe's "The Kibitzer" Archives, September, 1999 - by Tim Harding

Odd One Out from Chess Cafe's "The Miles Report" Archives, September, 1999 - by Tony Miles

Chess writer and columnist Manisha Mohite writes this week at the Deccan Herald online about proper use of a Queen sacrifice - great stuff even if I understand perhaps one ounce of it.
Chess Checks
Make full use of the Queen sacrifice
Manisha Mohite, August 22
The Queen is the most powerful and attractive piece on the chessboard and games always become interesting and exciting after this piece is sacrificed.

2010 Juniors and Girls U-20 World Chess Championships

Key games below in PGN.  Top player standings after R12:

1 1 IM Muzychuk, Anna SLO 2527 10.0 0.00 25116 70.0 2541 0.31
2 3 WGM Girya, Olga RUS 2376 10.0 0.00 25025 64.5 2533 2.18
3 11 WGM Padmini, Rout IND 2275 9.5 0.00 25030 63.5 2485 3.20
4 8 WIM Muminova, Nafisa UZB 2290 8.5 0.00 24975 60.0 2411 1.92
5 13 WFM Mammadova, Gulnar Marfat AZE 2260 8.0 0.00 25251 58.0 2397 2.20
6 16 CM Bhakti, Kulkarni Pradip IND 2249 8.0 0.00 24771 55.0 2350 1.68
7 12 WIM Melekhina, Alisa USA 2265 8.0 0.00 24419 57.0 2328 0.99
8 6 WGM Guramishvili, Sopiko GEO 2298 8.0 0.00 24416 55.5 2328 0.54
9 26 WIM Pavlidou, Ekaterini GRE 2182 8.0 0.00 24300 54.5 progr 2250 1.95
10 34 WIM Andrenko, Irina UKR 2133 8.0 0.00 23705 47.5 2246 1.91
11 2 WGM Cori Tello, Deysi Estela PER 2403 8.0 0.00 23651 44.0 2255 -1.54

Pairings for the final round tomorrow:

1 [10.0] 1 2527 SLO Muzychuk, Anna - Pavlidou, Ekaterini GRE 2182 26 [8.0] 1
2 [10.0] 3 2376 RUS Girya, Olga - Andrenko, Irina UKR 2133 34 [8.0] 2
3 [8.0] 2 2403 PER Cori Tello, Deysi Estela - Padmini, Rout IND 2275 11 [9.5] 3
4 [8.5] 8 2290 UZB Muminova, Nafisa - Guramishvili, Sopiko GEO 2298 6 [8.0] 4
5 [8.0] 12 2265 USA Melekhina, Alisa - Mammadova, Gulnar Marfat AZE 2260 13 [8.0] 5
6 [7.5] 37 2123 POL Adamowicz, Katarzyna - Bhakti, Kulkarni Pradip IND 2249 16 [8.0] 6

[Date "2010.08.15"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Cori T.,D"]
[Black "Muzychuk,A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2403"]
[BlackElo "2527"]
[EventDate "2010.08.03"]
[ECO "E10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5 5. Bg5 exd5 6. cxd5 d6 7. e4 a6 8. a4 Be7 9. Bd3 Nxd5 10. exd5 Bxg5 11. O-O O-O 12. Nxg5 Qxg5 13. axb5 Bb7 14. Nc3 axb5 15. Rxa8 Bxa8 16. Bxb5 Bb7 17. Qd3 Qe7 18. Ra1 Nd7 19. Ra7 Ne5 20. Qe4 f5 21. Qb1 g6 22. Bc6 Rb8 23. h3 Qc7 24. Qa2 Nf7 25. Qa4 Qb6 26. b3 Kf8 27. Nb5 g5 28. Qa1 Bxc6 29. dxc6 Qxb5 30. Qf6 Qxb3 31. Rxf7+ Qxf7 32. Qxd6+ Qe7 33. Qxb8+ Kf7 34. Qb7 Kf6 35. c7 Qe1+ 36. Kh2 Qxf2 37. c8=Q 1-0

[Event "28th WJun Girls"]
[Site "Chotowa POL"]
[Date "2010.08.15"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Guramishvili,S"]
[Black "Girya,O"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2298"]
[BlackElo "2376"]
[EventDate "2010.08.03"]
[ECO "D19"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Bg4 10. Rd1 Nbd7 11. e4 Qe7 12. h3 Bh5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 e5 15. d5 Rfd8 16. a5 Qc5 17. a6 Bxf3 18. gxf3 b5 19. Ba2 Bxc3 20. bxc3 cxd5 21. Bxd5 Rab8 22. Rd3 Qe7 23. Bb7 Nf8 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. Rd1 Rxd1+ 26. Qxd1 Ng6 27. Bg3 Nh5 28. Bc8 Nxg3 29. fxg3 Qc5+ 0-1

[Date "2010.08.15"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Padmini,R"]
[Black "Melekhina,A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2275"]
[BlackElo "2265"]
[EventDate "2010.08.03"]
[ECO "C81"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Qe2 Na5 10. Nbd2 Nxd2 11. Bxd2 Nc4 12. Bc1 Be7 13. c3 Bg4 14. h3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Nxe5 16. Qxd5 Qxd5 17. Bxd5 O-O-O 18. Be4 g6 19. a4 f5 20. Bc2 Nc4 21. axb5 axb5 22. Re1 Bc5 23. Bd1 Rhe8 24. Rxe8 Rxe8 25. Kf1 Kb7 26. Be2 Nd6 27. Bf4 b4 28. Bf3+ Ne4 29. cxb4 Bxb4 30. Rc1 c5 31. Rd1 Kc6
32. g4 Re7 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Be2 Ba5 35. f3 Rf7 36. Bc4 Rf8 37. Rd5 h6 38. Kg2 Ng5 39. Rd6+ Kb7 40. Rxh6 Bd8 41. Rg6 1-0

2010 Juniors and Girls U-20 World Championships

R 8 Girls' is completed - and WIM Alisa Melekhina of the USA has moved up from 9th place to 7th place.  Way to go, Alisa, yeaaaaaahhhhhhh!  There are five more rounds to go.  IM Anna Muzychuk, who outrates all the rest of the young ladies by at least 150 points, has control of first place, but her margin of victory has narrowed.  Here are the top 25:

28th WJun Girls Chotowa (POL), 3-16 viii 2010
Leading Round 8 (of 13) Standings:
Pl Name Ti NAT. RtgI Pts ∑Rn-1 Prog.
1 Muzychuk, Anna IM SLO 2527 7.0 15901 33.0
2 Muminova, Nafisa WIM UZB 2290 6.5 15917 31.0
3 Guramishvili, Sopiko WGM GEO 2298 6.5 15046 26.0
4 Girya, Olga WGM RUS 2376 6.0 16036 30.5
5 Padmini, Rout WGM IND 2275 6.0 15869 31.0
6 Bhakti, Kulkarni Pradip CM IND 2249 6.0 15293 27.0
7 Melekhina, Alisa WIM USA 2265 6.0 15070 27.0
8 Corke, Anya WGM ENG 2257 6.0 14721 23.0
9 Mammadova, Gulnar Marfat WFM AZE 2260 5.5 16195 28.5
10 Iwanow, Anna WFM POL 2097 5.5 15498 23.0
11 Ohme, Melanie WIM GER 2326 5.5 15495 28.0
12 Pavlidou, Ekaterini WIM GRE 2182 5.5 15359 26.5
13 Andrenko, Irina WIM UKR 2133 5.5 14881 21.0
14 Abdulla, Khayala Mardan AZE 2193 5.0 15684 24.5
15 Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan WIM KAZ 2216 5.0 15547 27.0
16 Heredia Serrano, Carla Sofia WIM ECU 2080 5.0 15424 22.0
17 Newrkla, Katharina AUT 2105 5.0 15313 21.5
18 Severiukhina, Zoja WIM RUS 2341 5.0 15224 24.0
19 Kulon, Klaudia WFM POL 2230 5.0 15098 24.0
20 Tsirulnik, Maritsa UKR 2153 5.0 15089 22.5
21 Kaya, Emel TUR 2015 5.0 15067 19.5
22 Toth, Sarolta WFM HUN 2207 5.0 14921 24.5
23 Baciu, Diana WFM MDA 2127 5.0 14905 22.0
24 Warakomska, Anna WFM POL 2192 5.0 14404 23.5
25 Ziaziulkina, Nastassia WIM BLR 2293 4.5 15946 27.5

2010 Juniors and Girls U-20 World Chess Championships

Girls U20 World Chess Championship
Chotowa-Czarna, Poland 2010-08-03/2010-08-16
Rate of play 90'/40 m.+30'/all & 30"/move
Arbiter: IA Andrzej Filipowicz

Alisa Melekhina of the USA is currently in 15th place after 4 rounds, with 3.0.  Things are tight at the top but there are 13 rounds to play!  Current Girls U20 standings:

Place SNo. Title Name Fed. FIDE Total ∑Rn-1 Prog.

1 3 WGM Girya, Olga RUS 2376 4.0 6651 10.0
2 24 Abdulla, Khayala Mardan AZE 2193 3.5 6910 8.0
3 8 WIM Muminova, Nafisa UZB 2290 3.5 6901 9.5
4 13 WFM Mammadova, Gulnar Marfat AZE 2260 3.5 6795 9.5
5 1 IM Muzychuk, Anna SLO 2527 3.5 6697 9.5
6 5 WIM Ohme, Melanie GER 2326 3.5 6625 9.5
7 7 WIM Ziaziulkina, Nastassia BLR 2293 3.5 6569 9.5
8 11 WGM Padmini, Rout IND 2275 3.5 6483 9.5
9 16 CM Bhakti, Kulkarni Pradip IND 2249 3.5 6223 8.0
10 31 WFM Gosciniak, Maria POL 2149 3.0 6855 9.0
11 10 WGM Nemcova, Katerina CZE 2282 3.0 6699 9.0
12 18 WFM Kulon, Klaudia POL 2230 3.0 6627 8.0
13 20 WIM Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan KAZ 2216 3.0 6453 8.0
14 17 WIM Skinke, Katrina LAT 2237 3.0 6418 8.0
15 12 WIM Melekhina, Alisa USA 2265 3.0 6375 8.0
16 22 WFM Toth, Sarolta HUN 2207 3.0 6371 8.0
17 4 WIM Severiukhina, Zoja RUS 2341 3.0 6366 7.0
18 26 WIM Pavlidou, Ekaterini GRE 2182 3.0 6216 8.0
19 55 Khanamiryan, Ani ARM 2014 2.5 6758 4.5
20 30 Tsirulnik, Maritsa UKR 2153 2.5 6656 6.5
21 41 WFM Iwanow, Anna POL 2097 2.5 6626 5.5
22 38 Newrkla, Katharina AUT 2105 2.5 6444 6.0
23 53 Kaya, Emel TUR 2015 2.5 6337 4.5
24 6 WGM Guramishvili, Sopiko GEO 2298 2.5 6318 6.0
25 25 WFM Warakomska, Anna POL 2192 2.5 6295 7.5
26 15 WFM Olsarova, Tereza CZE 2252 2.5 6266 6.5
27 14 WGM Corke, Anya ENG 2257 2.5 6148 5.0
28 34 WIM Andrenko, Irina UKR 2133 2.5 6039 5.0
29 49 WFM Rysbayeva, Nazerke KAZ 2052 2.0 6859 7.0
30 51 Zmarzly, Aleksandra POL 2026 2.0 6648 4.5
31 2 WGM Cori Tello, Deysi Estela PER 2403 2.0 6632 7.0
32 33 WFM Guadamuro Torrente, Anabel ESP 2137 2.0 6617 6.0
33 59 Dragojevic, Marija SRB 1986 2.0 6594 5.0
34 52 WFM Chierici, Marianna ITA 2016 2.0 6590 5.0
35 28 WFM Nesterovskaya, Anzhelika UKR 2177 2.0 6589 5.5
36 45 WFM Labedz, Patrycja POL 2076 2.0 6572 4.0
37 56 Kasperek, Joanna POL 2001 2.0 6559 5.0
38 63 Anu, Bayar MGL 1935 2.0 6551 5.0
39 61 Tomaszewska, Luiza POL 1968 2.0 6514 5.0
40 43 Mareckova, Martina CZE 2095 2.0 6483 4.0
41 36 WFM Baciu, Diana MDA 2127 2.0 6465 6.0
42 47 WFM Osmanodja, Filiz GER 2061 2.0 6421 4.0
43 44 WIM Heredia Serrano, Carla Sofia ECU 2080 2.0 6349 5.0
44 21 WFM Rysbayeva, Aigerim KAZ 2209 2.0 6289 4.5
45 32 WFM Exler, Veronika AUT 2143 2.0 6225 5.0
46 50 Skrzypczak, Anna POL 2028 2.0 6212 4.0
47 62 WFM Guo, Emma AUS 1965 2.0 6119 3.0
48 37 WFM Adamowicz, Katarzyna POL 2123 2.0 6086 5.0
49 39 Forestier, Carole FRA 2103 2.0 6074 6.0
50 23 WFM Semenova, Elena RUS 2194 2.0 6001 4.0
51 29 WIM Agrest, Inna SWE 2174 2.0 5943 4.0
52 40 Uta, Adeline-Ramona ROU 2099 2.0 4476 6.0
53 46 Pratyusha, Bodda IND 2073 1.5 6804 5.0
54 48 Deur, Zrinka CRO 2061 1.5 6724 4.0
55 64 Correa, Jaqueline Pamplona BRA 1928 1.5 6699 3.0
56 58 Unapkoshvili, Nani GEO 1997 1.5 6598 2.5
57 69 Orehek, Spela SLO 1883 1.5 6533 5.0
58 27 WFM Lach, Aleksandra POL 2179 1.5 6444 5.0
59 65 Krumova, Ani BUL 1916 1.5 6412 2.5
60 35 WFM Saduakassova, Dinara KAZ 2131 1.5 6264 5.0
61 42 Edes, Zsofia SVK 2097 1.5 6224 2.5
62 9 WIM Ozturk, Kubra TUR 2286 1.5 6171 3.5
63 19 WIM Butuc, Maria RUS 2220 1.5 6001 2.5
64 54 WFM Petrova, Irina UKR 2014 1.0 6841 2.5
65 60 WFM Ursente, Maria-Eugenia ROU 1978 1.0 6584 2.0
66 77 Gora, Antonina POL 1579 1.0 6535 4.0
67 67 Lis, Marcelina POL 1905 1.0 6399 3.0
68 71 Lepeskaite, Migle LTU 1801 1.0 6326 1.0
69 70 Jablonska, Sabina POL 1876 1.0 6290 2.0
70 73 Cyboran, Katarzyna POL 1777 1.0 6226 2.0
71 72 Vanhuyse, Nele BEL 1779 1.0 6169 1.0
72 75 Oliver, Tamzin L AUS 1737 1.0 6066 1.0
73 81 Pedrak, Paulina POL 0 1.0 4279 4.0
74 80 Hoek, Adriana RSA 0 1.0 4179 3.0
75 79 Bryan-Vissi, Pearl CYP 0 1.0 4119 2.0
76 74 Rykala, Monika POL 1747 1.0 2207 4.0
77 57 Tonel, Giulia ITA 2001 0.5 6666 1.5
78 68 WFM Ho, En Huei Danielle SIN 1898 0.5 6287 1.5
79 78 WCM Mejia, Salinas Lluvia Angélica MEX 0 0.5 6215 1.5
80 76 Ferreira, Susana Carolina G POR 1726 0.0 6069 0.0
81 66 Misovic, Sanja MNE 1907 0.0 6056 0.0

Players 1, 2 and 3 in each Championship win gold, silver and bronze medals, players through #8 win trophies/cups, and the following cash prizes are also awarded:

1. WORLD JUNIOR U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP – prizes: 15.300 Euro

I - 4.000 Euro II - 3.000 Euro III - 2.500 Euro IV - 2.000 Euro
V - 1.500 Euro VI - 1.000 Euro VII - 800 Euro - VIII - 500 Euro

2. WORLD GIRLS U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP - prizes: 10.100 Euro

I - 3.000 Euro II - 2.000 Euro III - 1.500 Euro IV - 1.000 Euro
V - 800 Euro VI - 700 Euro VII - 600 Euro - VIII - 500 Euro

2009 Chicago Open

Final Standings in the Open Event. Sargissian and Ehlvest split a combined prize pot of $12,000. The lone chess femme in the Open, WIM Alisa Melekhina, finished at 50%, with 3.5/7:

# Name Rtng Post St Tot1 GM Gabriel Sargissian 2760 2768 ARM 5½/7
2 GM Jaan Ehlvest 2649 2703 NY 5½/7
3 GM Loek Van Wely 2730 2721 NED 5
4 GM Yury Shulman 2697 2694 IL 5
5 GM Varuzhan Akobian 2664 2667 CA 5
6 GM Giorgi Kacheishvili 2638 2660 NY 5
7 GM Alexander Shabalov 2620 2634 PA 5
8 IM Benjamin Finegold 2580 2582 MI 5
9 GM Tigran Petrosian 2698 2701 ARM 4½
10 GM Dashze Sharavdorj 2482 2493 CO 4½
11 FM Jake Kleiman 2373 2386 TN 4½
12 FM Carl B Boor 2306 2328 OH 4½
13 GM Darmen Sadvakasov 2618 2627 FR 4
14 IM Gergely Antal 2486 2494 HUN 4
15 IM Mackenzie Molner 2416 2433 NJ 4
16 FM Darwin Yang 2304 2344 TX 4
17 IM Joseph M Bradford 2476 2453 TX 3½
18 FM Florin Felecan 2409 2415 IL 3½
19 IM Angelo Young 2367 2366 IL 3½
20 GM Anatoly Y Lein 2359 2341 OH 3½
21 IM Oladapo O Adu 2344 2329 MD 3½
22 WIM Alisa Melekhina 2322 2323 PA 3½/7
23 FM Ali Morshedi 2294 2297 CA 3½
24 Seth Homa 2284 2294 MI 3½
25 Steven A Owen 2082 2116 TN 3½
26 GM Timur Gareev 2626 2627 TX 3
27 GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2599 2586 MA 3
28 IM Bryan G Smith 2550 2539 PA 3
29 GM Gildardo J Garcia 2483 2462 FL 3
30 Aung K Lwin 2313 2302 MA 3
31 Conrad Holt 2294 2296 KS 3
32 Robert O’Donnell 2153 2155 MI 3
33 Eric S Rosen 2133 2136 IL 3
34 GM Dmitry Gurevich 2557 2537 IL 2½
35 FM Michael Dougherty 2268 2252 ON 2½
36 Frankie Swindell II 1886 1893 IL 2½
37 GM Vladimir Georgiev 2585 2579 IL 2
38 GM Nikola Mitkov 2564 2557 IL 2
39 Brian Fiedler 2236 2227 ONT 2
40 Allen J Becker 2014 2013 WI 2 (Allen plays at Southwest Chess Club, my adopted chess club)
41 Luke Hellwig 2000 1995 AL 2
42 Jeremy M Madison 1922 1937 IA 2
43 Nolan Hendrickson 1882 1877 WI 2
44 Henry C Sobo 2019 1999 CT 1½
45 GM Zviad Izoria 2668 2653 GEO 1
46 Kenneth Odeh 1906 1904 CA 1
47 GM Mesgen Amanov 2394 2378 IL ½
48 Mark Jutovsky 1934 1933 IL ½
49 Matthew Pullin 2032 2023 IL 0
50 Rudy R Padilla 1593 1590 IL 0

Melekhina Scores IM Norm

From the North American Chess Association website: 10th North American FIDE Invitational - Final Results A week of grueling chess is finally over for both the players and the organizer. At the end of the tournament IM Angelo Young came out on top wth 7/9 followed by triple norm winner WFM Alisa Melekhina and finally in third place with FM Mehmed Pasalic. Alisa was able to pull off the feat of capturing 3 types of norms in a single tournament, even though she came in as the third lowest seat. Perhaps she was prepared greatly, perhaps she was underestimated, perhaps she is seriously underrated. I think it's all three and after taking out IM Amanov in Round 2 everyone else woke up and though - 'Uh-oh she's for real and is here to take my head off.' Alisa methodically took apart her opposition on her quest to prove her status in chess, which she did very nicely. It was a pleasure having Alisa at the tournament (and always similing, proud papa Alex) and we hope she comes back soon to continue her quest to become an IM. Mehmed was in a must win situation against FM Gauri Shankar and pushed and pushed (for 117 moves) in mutual time trouble to scrape out the win, but alas only a draw. The third norm slipped away this time. But there is always next month! Another great young lady to meet was WFM Yuanling Yuan, who despite a subpar performance kept her spirits and smiles on throughout the tournament. We hope our chess friend from the north will come back soon to continue her norm hunt. Of course we have to speak about our event champion - IM Angelo Young. Angelo's goal was to go undefeated however Alisa derailed that idea in Round 4. But Angelo still went on to take first place. All games were drawn in the final round except for Stamnov-Monokroussos which was 1F-0F. Final Standings: 1st place - (7.0/9.0) IM Young 2nd place - (6.5/9.0) WFM Melekina (WIM, WGM, and IM norms scored!) 3rd place - (6.0/9.0) FM Pasalic 4th place - (5.0/9.0) IM Amanov 5th - 6th place - (4.5/9.0) FM Stamnov FM Shankar 7th - 8th place (4.0/9.0) FM ChowIM Vishnuvardhan 9th place (2.0/9.0) WFM Yuan 10th place (1.5/9/0)FM Monokroussos (he dropped out due to illness)

2008 Foxwoods Open

One of only a few giant opens in the USA (the Europeans seem to specialize in them), Foxwoods starts tomorrow and runs through March 23rd. There are always several sections and usually several chess femmes playing. This year is no different (thank the Chess Goddess). I'm a fan of WFM Alisa Melekhina (USA 2247) - but she's paired against one of the top 8 players in Round 1 and, frankly, I expect she's going to get smushed. I hope I'm wrong! But she's playing GM Ildar Ibragimov (2656) - more than a 400 point discrepancy in their ELOs. Oh my. HINT TO FOXWOODS WEBMASTER: How about a list of players playing in each section, with chess femmes denoted by "F"? I have no idea who is playing in this event until AFTER the event and the results are published at The Week in Chess. Not the best way to present a website for one of the biggest events in American chess! You can do better. Starting in Round 3 (I've no idea why not earlier) Monroi will have live games.

Boris and the Ladies Steal the Show at U.S. Open

Veteran GM Boris Gulko beat out six other players, all with 7.5/9, on tie-break to take the title to the 2007 U.S. Open. I think Boris and some of the young ladies stole the show! There was Alisa Melekhina (2168) (ranked 66th), turning heads with her winsome looks and poised performance OTB. Alisa came to the notice of many chess fans (guys, that is) when she played in the U.S. Women’s Championship last month. Alisa, who recently turned 16, merited a story of her own at Chess Life Online with a score of 5.5/6 at the time, although she faltered a bit afterward and ended the tournament with a score of 6.0/9 to secure 36th place. Abby Marshall (2038), who was ranked 101st, finished in 15th place with 7.0/8. Abby is one of a crop of young female players who is gaining skills and confidence playing in various Susan Polgar-sponsored tournaments. Born in 1991, Abby won the 2006 Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (she also won the 2005 event). This is a great finish for Abby - and I wish her performance had received more press. Megan Lee (I believe she is 10, but I could not find her date of birth), another “Polgar girl” (she won the $500 Ursula Foster award for top under 14 girl at the 2007 Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls), was ranked 302nd (1571) going into the tournament and finished in 110th place with 5.5 – another outstanding performance. I probably missed a few of the girls and women who participated in this year’s U.S. Open – I’m not always sure of the names and gender is not indicated in USCF’s player information. I’ve got a list of their final rankings and scores at Chess Femme News.

Alisa Melekhina and "The Eight"

It’s all Katherine Neville’s fault that I ever got involved in the old message board at the Art Bell website (long defunct, but we saved all of our posts from there and call it "The Weave", stored at Goddesschess) – all because of her book "The Eight," which I have read twice and now feel a hankering to read yet again, it’s that good of a story.

I don’t want to give too much away – I recommend you read it for yourselves, darlings – it’s a great read, on many levels. I was first struck by the fact that the main "heroes" in the story are two women! They are amply supported by male characters but – that’s the point – the men are helpful and romantic interests – but they are subsidiary, usually the role reserved for females in novels – except romance novels written mainly by and for female readers, but this ain’t no romance story. It’s a rip-roaring adventure with a mystery that grabs you by the throat right from the beginning of the story, and I sure as hell didn’t figure it out until the very end when it was like WOW – WHAT AN ENDING! And it revolves around a chess set – the mythic Charlemagne chess set, rumored to have been a gift to him from the powerful and learned Muslim ruler ar-Rashid. Fascinating stuff – lots of history and lots of adventure and action, more twists and turns and surprises than you can shake a stick at. Neville wrote a female character, Catherine "Cat" Velis, the equivalent of Indiana Jones.

It’s probably not going too far to say that Katherine Neville’s novel literally changed my life in ways I could not have foreseen when I first settled down to read the book. I should not have been surprised then, when I started to do research on Alisa Melekhina, that – sure as shooting – "The Eight" showed up!

At 15, Alisa is the youngest player in the upcoming U.S. Women’s Chess Championship, and I wanted to learn more about her. I learned that Alisa and her parents emigrated to this country when she was just a few months old; that Alisa is a dancer, a writer and published author as well as a chessplayer, and that she is an all around great young lady. And this is one of the things that showed up in my Google search:

Alisa and The Eight
by Steve Goldberg
columnnist, "Scholastic Chess"
February, 2005

It's part of a larger story about youthful "Chess Queens"

You can also read the full story here. And if you’re interested in learning more about Katherine Neville and her writing, check out her website.

Long live The Eight and good luck to Alisa in the upcoming Championship.