2013 U.S. Women's Chess Championship: Winner of the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award

And the winner is...

ANNA ZATONSKIH! 

Anna put together a superb record of points after her early R3 loss to Irina Krush, the repeat U.S. Women's Champion.  She bounced back from that defeat and fought hard for every point thereafter to put herself into a solid position.  In doing so, she demonstrated that fighting spirit and resolve to win that our award is all about. 

As you know, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, the Chess Queen (TM), agreed to be our judge for this year's Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award.  Right now she is participating in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Geneva. You can follow the action. Thanks to GM and 12 World Women's Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk for her invaluable assistance!

For more perspective on how the decision on the winner was reached and more information on Anna Zatonskih, please see Alexandra's chess blog. 

2012 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship

HOLY CAISSA! 
Hou Yifan crashes and burns! Monika Socko, who earned her GM title the traditional way, is knocking off all comers INCLUDING HOU and is on fire, but will these play-off games take a toll? 

Maybe not!!! Irina Krush advanced into R3 after battling through a second straight play-off (she also battled through a play-off in R1), whomping veteran GM Pia Cramling, who also earned her title the traditional way.  Krush was taking no prisoners today.

Some favorites have been eliminated; indeed, if they're betting on this in Las Vegas, the odds have no doubt gone absolutely nut-so after elimination of the favorites (Hou and Koneru, among others).  WOW!  One American is left (Krush) -- Anna Zatonskih battled Ju Wenjun for FOUR play-off games, trying to find a way to advance.  She couldn't.  She goes home bruised and battered, but I hope she feels good about herself.  She fought her heart out!  This sure is turning into one damn interesting Women's World Championship, woo woo!

Results from R2 play-offs.  Players advancing are in bold, Americans in red.

Name	G1	G2	R1	R2	r3	r4	B1	B2	SD	Tot
Round 2 Match 01
Socko, Monika (POL)	0	1	1	1						3
Hou, Yifan (CHN)	1	0	0	0						1
Round 2 Match 03
Ushenina, Anna (UKR)	½	½	1	1						3
Muzychuk, Anna (SLO)	½	½	0	0						1
Round 2 Match 04
Zhao, Xue (CHN)	1	0	1	½						2.5
Khurtsidze, Nino (GEO)	0	1	0	½						1.5
Round 2 Match 06
Kosintseva, Nadezhda (RUS)	½	½	0	1	1	½				3.5
Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM)	½	½	1	0	0	½				2.5
Round 2 Match 10
Cramling, Pia (SWE)	1	0	0	0						1
Krush, Irina (USA)	0	1	1	1						3
Round 2 Match 15
Zatonskih, Anna (USA)	½	½	½	½	0	0				2
Ju, Wenjun (CHN)	½	½	½	½	1	1				4

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

16th European Club Cup for Women 2011

How did my ladies do?  Here are the relative rankings of players who played five or more games by Board.  I've highlighted the ladies I was following in red:

Board 1

Rank		Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	man	Rtg-O
1	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2528	AVS	2674	0	2481
2	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2416	Giprorechtrans	2551	0	2494
3	GM	Hou Yifan	2578	Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo	2526	0	2401
4	IM	Bojkovic Natasa	2378	BAS	2466	0	2409
5	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2469	SHSM-RGSU	2459	0	2459
6	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2525	AEM Luxten Timisoara	2420	0	2420
7	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha L	2378	CS R. Fischer Chieti	2408	0	2351
8	GM	Danielian Elina	2517	Mika	2402	0	2402
9	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2308	Anatolia	2254	0	2379
10	WFM	Dimitrijevic Aleksandra	2287	ZSK Maribor	2200	0	2393
11	WFM	Johnsen Sylvia	2038	Oslo Schakselskap	1571	0	2371

Board 2

Rank		Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	man	Rtg-O
1	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2545	Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo	2611	0	2418
2	IM	Dembo Yelena	2471	BAS	2606	0	2413
3	GM	Lahno Kateryna	2554	AVS	2589	0	2464
4	IM	Harika Dronavalli	2505	Mika	2578	0	2420
5	IM	Gunina Valentina	2499	SHSM-RGSU	2550	0	2425
6	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2508	AEM Luxten Timisoara	2469	0	2419
7	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2465	Giprorechtrans	2447	0	2504
8	WIM	Ozturk Kubra	2260	Anatolia	2289	0	2346
9	IM	Sedina Elena	2337	CS R. Fischer Chieti	2280	0	2337
10	WGM	Srebrnic Ana	2222	ZSK Maribor	2224	0	2349
11	WFM	Frank-Nielsen Marie	2020	Oslo Schakselskap	1946	0	2347

Board 3

Rank		Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	man	Rtg-O
1	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2464	AEM Luxten Timisoara	2593	0	2400
2	IM	Zaiatz Elena	2441	Giprorechtrans	2498	0	2441
3	GM	Cramling Pia	2489	Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo	2473	0	2348
4	GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	2525	AVS	2434	0	2434
5	GM	Zhu Chen	2490	Mika	2415	0	2365
6	IM	Zimina Olga	2337	CS R. Fischer Chieti	2344	0	2219
7		Khachatourian Yerazik	1967	Oslo Schakselskap	2112	0	2237
8	WGM	Chelushkina Irina	2287	BAS	2089	0	2362
9	WCM	Kaya Emel	1994	Anatolia	2083	0	2323
10	WIM	Ankerst Milka	2084	ZSK Maribor	1866	0	2267

Board 4

Rank		Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	man	Rtg-O
1	WGM	Kashlinskaya Alina	2385	SHSM-RGSU	2484	0	2291
2	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2446	AVS	2482	0	2357
3	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2475	Mika	2450	0	2292
4	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2416	AEM Luxten Timisoara	2425	0	2276
5	GM	Socko Monika	2490	Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo	2360	0	2303
6	WIM	Drljevic Ljilja	2256	BAS	2290	0	2290
7	IM	Vasilevich Irina	2393	Giprorechtrans	2217	0	2410
8		Orehek Spela	2020	ZSK Maribor	2085	0	2234
9		Di Primio Eugenia	1974	CS R. Fischer Chieti	2037	0	2162
10		Reppen Ellisiv	1969	Oslo Schakselskap	1745	0	2146

2011 Women Grandmaster Tournament

Ranking crosstable after Round 5

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2515	CHN	*	½	½		1				1	1	4.0	0.0	3	9.00
2	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2557	RUS	½	*	½		½	1				½	3.0	0.5	1	8.00
3	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2560	RUS	½	½	*	½			½	1			3.0	0.5	1	7.75
4	IM	Harika Dronavalli	2513	IND			½	*	½	½	½		½		2.5	1.0	0	6.00
5	GM	Zhao Xue	2470	CHN	0	½		½	*			1		½	2.5	0.5	1	5.50
6	GM	Hou Yifan	2575	CHN		0		½		*	1	½	½		2.5	0.5	1	5.25
7	GM	Sebag Marie	2510	FRA			½	½		0	*	0	1		2.0	1.0	1	4.75
8	GM	Zhu Chen	2485	QAT			0		0	½	1	*		½	2.0	1.0	1	4.00
9	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2537	GEO	0			½		½	0		*	1	2.0	0.0	1	4.00
10	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2522	USA	0	½			½			½	0	*	1.5	0.0	0	3.75

Round 5 on 2011/07/18 at 15:00
Bo.	No.		Name	Result		Name	No.
1	3	IM	Harika Dronavalli	½ - ½	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	10
2	4	GM	Zhu Chen	1 - 0	GM	Sebag Marie	2
3	5	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	1 - 0	GM	Hou Yifan	1
4	6	WGM	Ju Wenjun	½ - ½	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	9
5	7	IM	Zatonskih Anna	½ - ½	GM	Zhao Xue	8
Round 6 on 2011/07/20 at 15:00
Bo.	No.		Name	Result		Name	No.
1	10	GM	Dzagnidze Nana		GM	Zhao Xue	8
2	9	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda		IM	Zatonskih Anna	7
3	1	GM	Hou Yifan		WGM	Ju Wenjun	6
4	2	GM	Sebag Marie		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	5
5	3	IM	Harika Dronavalli		GM	Zhu Chen	4

2011 Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament

Results from chess-results.com:

Standings after R4:

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2515	CHN	*			1			½	1		1	3.5	0.0	3	5.50
2	GM	Hou Yifan	2575	CHN		*			½	1		½	½		2.5	0.0	1	4.25
3	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2560	RUS			*		½	½	½		1		2.5	0.0	1	4.00
4	GM	Zhao Xue	2470	CHN	0			*	½		½		1		2.0	1.0	1	3.00
5	IM	Harika Dronavalli	2513	IND		½	½	½	*	½					2.0	1.0	0	4.50
6	GM	Sebag Marie	2510	FRA		0	½		½	*		1			2.0	0.5	1	3.75
7	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2557	RUS	½		½	½			*			½	2.0	0.5	0	4.50
8	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2537	GEO	0	½				0		*		1	1.5	0.0	1	2.25
9	GM	Zhu Chen	2485	QAT		½	0	0					*	½	1.0	0.5	0	1.75
10	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2522	USA	0						½	0	½	*	1.0	0.5	0	1.50

Results from R4 and pairings for R5:

Round 4 on 2011/07/17 at 15:00
Bo.	No.		Name	Result		Name	No.
1	10	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	1 - 0	IM	Zatonskih Anna	7
2	8	GM	Zhao Xue	0 - 1	WGM	Ju Wenjun	6
3	9	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	½ - ½	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	5
4	1	GM	Hou Yifan	½ - ½	GM	Zhu Chen	4
5	2	GM	Sebag Marie	½ - ½	IM	Harika Dronavalli	3
Round 5 on 2011/07/18 at 15:00
Bo.	No.		Name	Result		Name	No.
1	3	IM	Harika Dronavalli		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	10
2	4	GM	Zhu Chen		GM	Sebag Marie	2
3	5	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana		GM	Hou Yifan	1
4	6	WGM	Ju Wenjun		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	9
5	7	IM	Zatonskih Anna		GM	Zhao Xue	8

The Winner of the 2011 Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award Is...

Sabina Foisor!  A full announcement was made at the chess blog of our judge, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.  Our sincere congratulations to WGM Foisor! 

It was a very tough decision this year because so many of the women played tough uncompromising chess and just never gave up, no matter how "doomed" their games seemed to be.  How many times did Krush, Zatonskih and Abrahamyan pull wins out of seemingly lost positions?  It was just amazing to listen to/watch the games this year.  I even took off work yesterday figuring that I would see the end of the women's competition resolved in the two game match between Zatonskih and Abrahamyan.  I should have known better!

I thought I couldn't see anymore excitement in the women's matches than yesterday.  I was wrong.  Today it was even crazier!  I'm surprised I didn't have heart failure listening to these games and trying to catch snatches of the board action while at the office today!  It came down to the final Armageddon game to decide the 2011 Women's Champion.  Congratulations to IM Anna Zatonskih, who must be exhausted and running only on adrenaline at this point, after playing 19 straight games without a break!  I sincerely hope that Tatev Abrahamyan is not too disappointed.  This is the second year in a row she has finished in second place.  She's been knocking at the door.  Perhaps next year she'll bring a war engine to the Women's Championship and blow that damn door to smithereens. 

We wish there were more than one Fighting Chess Award but, alas, there is only one.  Therefore, in honor of Irina Krush, who greatly impressed with her five-game winning streak and clear first in the preliminary round-robin part of the Championship, and in honor of the never-say-die spirit exemplified in the chess of Tatev Abrahamyan and Anna Zatonskih throughout the entire championship series, we have donated $100 in each of their names to 9Queens. 

Yesterday's play-off action between Zatonskih and Abrahamyan:

Our thanks to our judge, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who helped us out despite her busy schedule - indeed, she was playing in tournaments in Russia during most of the U.S. Women's Chess Championship!

International Women's Chess Tournament Cotroceni 2011

Report from Chessdom.
March 2 - 11, 2011 in Bucharest, Romania. The 10-player round robin event is sporting a high average elo of 2456

Information from the official website.
GM Monika Socko had a marvelous start, gaining 4.5 points from five rounds, but then she suddenly blocked and got only half a point from the remaining four games. The top seed and reigning World Junior Champion, IM Anna Muzychuk, used the opportunity to overtake Socko and claim a clear first place with a total 6.5 points.

Final standings:
1. IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2528 - 6.5
2. WGM Gunina Valentina RUS 2472 - 6.0
3. IM Zatonskih Anna USA 2499 - 5.5
4-6. GM Socko Monika POL 2495, IM Turova Irina RUS 2428 and IM Ushenina Anna UKR 2454 - 5.0
7-8. IM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2476 and IM Peptan Corina-Isabela ROU 2415 - 4.5
9-10. IM Repkova Eva SVK 2446 and WGM Cosma Elena-Luminita ROU 2343 - 1.5
USA's Anna Zatonskih had a good result in this international mix of strong players, as she charged up for next month's U.S. Women's Chess Championship. 

Anna Muzychuk continues her march toward - what, exactly?  She needs to stop playing in women-only events and get out of the female ratings ghetto.  She easily a 2600 + player, but she won't ever get there playing in women-only events.  Sad, but true.

2010 Mainz Chess Classic

IM Anna Zatonskih won the women's title in the 2010 Grenke World Rapid Chess Championships, congratulations Anna!  Zatonskih finished in 26th place overall in the Rapid - outstanding performance in a field of 701 players - and 2 places above husband GM Daniel Friedman :)  Fellow-USA player Gata Kamsky took the Grenke World Rapid Chess Championship title with a score of 10.0/11 and no losses!

Here are the top 10 female finishers:

Rang Teilnehmer TWZ Attr. Land S R V Punkte PktSum MiBuch
1. IM Zatonskih,Anna 2470 W USA 8 1 2 8,5 52,0 65,5
2. WIM Dolgova,Olga 2262 W RUS 6 4 1 8,0 43,5 51,5
3. WGM Kosteniuk,Alexandra 2522 W RUS 7 1 3 7,5 51,5 67,0
4. WGM Berend-Sakhatova,Elvira 2311 W LUX 7 1 3 7,5 51,0 64,0
5. WGM Zhukova,Natalia 2516 W UKR 7 1 3 7,5 49,5 61,0
6. WIM Skripchenko,Almira 2458 W FRA 6 3 2 7,5 45,5 56,0
7. WGM Pourkashiyan,Atousa 2308 W IRI 7 1 3 7,5 44,5 59,0
8. WIM Foisor,Cristina 2381 W ROU 7 0 4 7,0 46,0 55,5
9. WGM Foisor,Sabina 2317 W USA 5 4 2 7,0 42,0 53,5
10. WGM Paridar,Shadi 2264 W IRI 6 2 3 7,0 41,0 54,0

U.S. Women's Champ Anna Zatonskih to Give Fund-Raising Simul

This is from current Women's World Chess Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess blog.  For the full post, please visit the linked report - there is an application form and further information about the entire program and the simul!  This photo of IM Zatonskih is from the 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship.

June 8th, 2010
6:00 – 10:00 PM
Saguaro Auditorium
Rosati Education Center, Banner Desert Medical Center
1400 S. Dobson Rd., Mesa, AZ 85202, USA

Come Meet the Reigning and Three Time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion Woman Grandmaster and International Master Anna Zatonskih and support Pediatric Rehab at Cardon Children’s Medical Center!

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to meet one of the best chess players in the world! All proceeds will go directly toward the purchase of much needed rehabilitation equipment. For example, a state of the art rehabilitation bicycle costs $5,000.00! Many other items are on the wish list for this unit that does so much to help children who have been disabled from injury or disease. WGM Zatonskih will speak about what it takes to balance motherhood with being a world class chess champion. She will also perform some feats of mental gymnastics as she dazzles you with her chess brilliance in her effort to raise money for a very special cause.
So please mark your calendars now and plan to be a part of chess history at Cardon Children’s!

Please RSVP by June 4th to Medical Staff Office at 480-412-3221 or marylou.erwin@bannerhealth.com

6:00 – 6:30: Reception
6:30 – 7:00 Dinner
7:00 – 7:15 Introductions – Norm Saba, M.D.; Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman
7:15 – 8:00 – WGM Anna Zatonskih
8:00 – Chess Exhibition
9:45 – Closing Remarks
Cost: $50.00 per couple or $30 per single

Please make your tax deductible donations to:
Banner Health Foundation (include “Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit” on your check) and mail them to Norm Saba, M.D.; Medical Staff Office; Banner Desert Medical Center; 1400 S. Dobson Rd.; Mesa, AZ 85202 by June 4th. If you have questions feel free to call Norm at 602-228-2379.

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

A few postscripts to this year's great event. In today's mail Goddesschess received a "thank you" from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis staff that included a personalized note and an inscribed and personalized photograph of WGM Camilla Baginskaite thanking Goddesschess for our support of women's chess. Nicely done and thanks a lot! We greatly enjoyed covering this year's Championship (we always do!) and we intend to sponsor another Goddesschess prize in 2010. I love this photo of Camilla Baginskaite, taken by Suzy Gorman, part of a feature article on the Championship at Chess Life Online. Several of the players took time on their free day to be photographed by Ms. Gorman. A visit this evening to the official coverage at the website for the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis also revealed a video interview shortly after the R9 denouement, with the live coverage crew (Jennifer Shahade, Ben Finegold and Macauley Peterson) with Champion IM Anna Zatonskih ($16,000 plus winner of the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award) and second place winner Baginskaite who scored her firm IM norm and won a spot in the next Women's World Chess Championship to be held in Istanbul, Turkey (and a prize of $12,000).

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

We knew yesterday that the mathematical winner of the 2009 USWCC is IM Anna Zatonskih, but everything else was still up in the air and on the line! Would Zatonskih go for a win in the final round to finish with 8.5/9? Who would win the battle for second place - Krush or the "veteran" player Camilla Baginskaite? Could Melekhina, who lost her R8 game, possibly pull out a win and - in an unlikely but mathematically possible scenario - tie for second place, forcing a 3-way play-off? (Photo from official website by Betsy Dynako, R8) What would happen among the other players who didn't have a shot at places one through four, but could still move up (or down) in the standings and gain (or lose) prize money? And what about the additional prizes that were up for grabs: 9 Queens sponsored $600 of best games prizes ($300/$200/$100) and Goddesschess once again sponsored a $500 Fighting Chess Award, the winner selected by GM Susan Polgar. Who might win those? There was much to fight for -- paraphrasing the words of Camilla Baginskaite -- one must play out the position for self-respect. Since last week I've been trying to watch the games and listen to the live commentary at the office - OHMYGODDESS! Not very satisfactory - particularly today with so much on the line! But I did manage to listen to most of the commentary, even though I wasn't able to follow along on the games very well. I suppose not much can be done over the course of such a long tournament to avoid games being played during working hours - but it sure would make it easier on fans who work 9 - 5. I nearly had a heart attack when Melekhina, who lost her game yesterday, rebounded today to win against Tsagaan and move into a mathematical tie for second place with Krush and Baginskaite (both with 5.5 at the time Melekhina won her game). And then - Krush lost her game to Abrahamyan! Krush stayed at 5.5! So Melekhina and Krush were tied for second place at 5.5 each, along with Baginskaite, who was still playing her game against never-say-resign Foisor! It took a LOOOONNNNGGGGG time for that game to reach its denouement, but in the end, Baginskaite prevailed, and secured 6.5 for herself -- clear second place. No play-offs! (Photo from official website by Betsy Dynako, R7) Final standings (full final cross-table): 2009 U.S. Women's Championship Standings # Name USCF FIDE Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 8½ 2 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 6½ 3 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 5½ 4 Irina Krush 2490 2458 5½ 5 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 4 6 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 3½ 7 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 3½ 8 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 3 9 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 2½ 10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 2½ By now, the final results/standings have been published at many websites, blogs and even in print newspapers (I hope), and I hope that much more coverage, reporting, commentary and in-print analysis of this great championship and its games will be published over the coming days. Congratulations to Anna Zatonskih and Camilla Baginskaite for their fantastic tournaments and securing spots for the 2010 Women's World Chess Championshp. Congratulations and kudos to all of the players for their incredibly-displayed fighting spirit this year. You really inspired me, personally, to continue with my chess "training" - when, where and how are problematical but I will work on those :) A particular thank you once again this year to GM Susan Polgar for agreeing to select the winner of the 2009 Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award. So much was right this year with the presentation online of the 2009 USWCC that I don't want to be a downer - but -- There was a LONG period of time earlier today at the office, during the most crucial round, where the live commentary audio was lost at http://www.uschesschamps.com/ and all I could do was try to visit the remaining games still going on (in between telephone calls, visitors, and trying to push out work), to see if there would be a three-way tie for second place, forcing a play-off! If live commentary is once again offered next year (and I sincerely hope it will be because overall I greatly enjoyed it and thought it added much to my overall experience as an internet audience member), I hope some of these technical glitches will be smoothed out. I love the live commentary - it makes the games come so much more alive, particularly for someone like me, who is not very chess literate. I want to know WHY a move isn't so good, or WHY a move is particularly good, and WGM Jen Shahade, GM-elect Ben Finegold and Macauley Peterson from ICC Chess FM (connected to the Internet Chess Club) did a pretty good job of doing that. Not perfect - but pretty good, and I'm sure once some of the technical things are smoothed out, they will be a really great team! The analysis - as far as I could understand it - was great, spot on. But technically, there were fade-ins and fade-outs from the microphone. During some of the live post-game interviews, and even during some of the analysis, voices faded away and the sound was so faint I couldn't make it out - very frustrating. That was especially evident when soft-spoken Camilla Baginskaite was interviewed (several times over the past several days), but it happened several times during various interviews and during the live commentary throughout the Championship. Regarding publication of additional sponsorship and prizes offered for the players in the Championship, while I heard a great deal about the 9 Queens best game prizes and the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award during the live commentary, particularly in the later rounds - I saw nothing in print at the http://www.uschesschamps.com/ website about these additional prizes. And I was paying attention - I was looking for mention of them in writing, particularly since I don't believe the live commentary is archived anywhere accessible to the general public and who knows how many thousands of followers of the Championship don't listen to it? Yes, our prizes are relatively small (but they mean a great deal to us of our hard-earned dollars), and -- these are dollars going into the pockets of the winners of these prizes and I hope the players knew, along with the audience, what was on the line as far as additional monies available. Perhaps the players, and the public, were aware of these prizes. But perhaps not. Not everyone listens to the live commentary. I would like to see this area of coverage improved. Speaking bluntly, Goddesschess contributes special prize money because we want to encourage women chess players on both national and local levels, and one of the best ways to do that is to increase their chances for earning $$$, but as a small organization with a limited donor base, we'd also like to receive some in-print publicity (other than at our own sites) for our efforts. Monroi - as far as I could tell, you did an excellent overall job of presenting the games live and getting the PGN up very quickly after the real time the games were finished. Well done!

2008 Chess Olympiad: Some Final Thoughts

It's all over for another two years, thank Goddess! I am now wracking my brain trying to figure out how I can possibly report on all of the news on the chess femmes in this Olympiad in my final column for Chessville. Well, I guess I'll have to make it the biggest (and hopefully the best) column yet, with a special section devoted entirely to the Olympiad. I still have a few days, it's not due to be published until the beginning of December. I foresee a four-day weekend of sleepless nights... There are now a wide variety of websites that provide first-class information on chess events - some more timely than others (but for those less "timely", always worth the wait, darlings). Here are those I am most familiar with - by no means all of the sites that provide news and insight into the happenings in the world of chess. Special thanks and unending admiration for the following - how the hell do they do what they do day after day after day...

• Kudos to GM Susan Polgar who did triple-duty - not only reporting information at her blog, but also serving as Chess Ambassador and English-Language Press Liason, as well as holding great interviews daily with players and personalities from the Olympiad. Thanks also to Paul Truong, the official photographer for this Olympiad, for his fantastic and candid photographs, round after round, from off days, the official opening, the official close, and everything in-between. I am appreciative of the great job that both Polgar and Truong did.
• I was very happy that Chessdom went back to its "live" blog for coverage of Round 11. I did not like the "live chat" experiment - most of the comments were boring, common, and disjointed. It was hard to follow what was going on. In the "live" blog, on the other hand, it was easy to follow the action as the time counted down toward the end of the games.
• The Week in Chess has set the standard ever since I've been online (December, 1998) and no doubt from before! Mark Crowthers lets nothing stand in his way of going the extra mile, whether it be going over games move by move to create and/or correct PGN notations or correctly identifying otherwise sometimes obscure players.
• I was very impressed with Chess Vibes - very current reports, great photographs and a slamming lay-out. How'd you do that?
• Europe E'checs provided much-needed information - in French (but they have English translation on some pages).
• Mig Greengard has such a wicked sense of humor! His Daily Dirt blog (part of Chess Ninja) provides much-needed insight and lots of laughs, but be warned: all types hang out there, compensated for with a collection of wits and sparkling commentators, most of whose commentary probably whizzes over the ignoramus heads of the thankfully relatively few a-holes. I believe (but have no proof) that a lot of chess femmes read the commentary there but generally refrain from commenting themselves - only a brave few every now and then wade in.
• Daaim Shabazz's The Chess Drum is a must-read for keen insights into the chess world in general and, in particular, for news about chess players that generally aren't covered elsewhere.

A few final thoughts: I'm still absolutely amazed that the American men were able to repeat their miracle Bronze performance from 2006 in 2008 Dresden! More incredible, at least to me, is the US Women's Team performance. I honestly did not think they had a prayer of winning a medal. I'm quite happy to say I was SO SO WRONG. And I will eat my wool beret tonight for supper. Hell, I need a new one anyway, this one was looking rather ratty...

I am absolutely convinced that what happened to the Russian Teams (Men - oh, I mean "Open" - and Women) was Divine Justice being meted out to Miniputin, the ass! LOL - do you hear laughter, Pharaoh er, Miniputin? That's the sound of millions of chess fans falling off their chairs and rolling on the floor busting a gut in hilarity at the performances of the oh-so-vaunted #1 ranked teams entering the Olympiad: Russian Men and Russian Women. Bwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaaa!

The Georgian Women won the Gold Medal The Georgian Women won the Gold Medal The Georgian Women won the Gold Medal

They're the only team other than USA and India I would care to see win the Gold. Sweet! Particularly Sweet since the Russian mobsters who put together the Women's World Chess Championship INSISTED that the female chessplayers of the world assemble in Nalchik, Russia, mere miles away from the GEORGIAN WAR ZONE after Russian invaded Georgia in August, 2008 a few weeks before the Championship was to convene. Those Russians particularly pooh-poohed the Georgian Women chessplayers' concerns - and the concerns of other Federations on behalf of their players - about sending their players to Nalchik.

Ha ha, Miniputin. The best is yet to come. Just watch what happens to your "vaunted" Ruble (Rubble?) in the coming months. Nothing personal against the players on the Russian chess teams - I suggest you emmigrate to Manhattan before President-Elect Obama takes office on January 20, 2009...

2008 Chess Olympiad

Here is a photo of Narmin Kazimova playing Board 4 for Azerbaijan, in R10 playing against WGM Maria Leconte of France. They drew their game. Photo from the website europe-echecs.com. They have a nice spread put together. I tried the official Dresden website out of desperation to see if I could find out what was going on with the women's teams. What a nightmare! Only the top six teams showed up on the page, no matter what I did I could not get the USA teams to show up under either the Open section or the Damen's section! Narmin, what a head of hair! I'm jealous. As of now, the Russian women are beating the Hungarian women 2:0; France is beating Azerbaijan 2 1/2:1/2; Anna Zatonskih defeated Irina Gevorgyan of Uzbekistan for the only game score thus far in USZ v. UZB; China v. Georgia is at 1:1; Serbia and Ukraine are tied with 1/2 point each; and Poland is leading Armenia 1:0. Now I really must go out and mow over those leaves... Go Anna! She's in good stead for a medal on Board 2 with 1 round to go.

Bill Wall's Column on the Krush/Zatonskih Armageddon Game

Chess: A Knight's Tour by Bill Cornwall Sun-Sentinel.com June 22, 2008 Move, Slap, Move!: That sequence, repetitively duplicated at breakneck speed, describes the final moments of the deciding tie-break game played last month in Tulsa, Okla., for the title of U.S. Woman's Chess Champion. Moving pieces at split-second pace and instantly slapping their clocks to preserve time, then-current champion Irina Krush, 24, of New York, and former champion Anna Zatonskih, 29, of Ohio, were engaged in a type of chess appropriately called Armageddon. The scene was prepared when each had scored 7 ½ points in the 9-round main event in which games could take many hours to complete. Two 15-minute "rapid" encounters were split followed by two five-minute "speed" games, also split. Then came one world-ending Armageddon, where there could be no tie. Krush was given the white pieces with six minutes while her opponent commanded black with only four-and-a-half minutes . Counterbalancing the time disadvantage, black possessed draw odds where a draw would ironically win for her. After a blurred confusion of hands, pieces, and clock slaps, Zatonskih stopped, and pointed at the clock. Her foe looked, protested, angrily slapped her king off the board, and left. Krush's time had run out! Zatonskih had regained her title. Controversy erupts: Later, Krush claimed she had been fouled. With the game video supporting her, she could prove that she had lost precious seconds when Zatonskih started her moves early before Krush had actually finished making her own move and stopping the clock. Internet blogging erupted on the subject and the general consensus was instructive. If you have taken your hand off of a piece, your move is over. Once your move is over, your opponent may start theirs even though you may not have yet punched your clock. If this seems unjust, consider that the video did reveal that Krush herself had clearly violated another rule. She had knocked over a man without resetting it.

Open Letter from IM Irina Krush - Response

Here is my prior post. Today at Chess Life Online Tom Braunlich gave a response to IM Krush's letter.

An Open Letter from IM Irina Krush

Published at Chess Life Online (USCF). I have not yet read the commentary this letter is sure to have generated. My initial feelings upon seeing that such a letter was published was surprise! Sharing the title seems an equitable solution, but not for the reasons stated. I'm in agreement with others that using rapid, blitz and an Armageddon game to decide the title was, under the circumstances, ridiculous. Now, people will be "taking sides" and it bothers me the amount of ill will that this open letter will generate and, of course, those who disdain women chessplayers and "women's chess" will be sneering even more than usual. I can just hear them now "isn't that typical of the stupid cows" they're be hooting to each other. My opinion at this time is that IM Krush's letter moves a matter that is essentially a private dispute that should be addressed by the organizers and TDs at the Championship and the officials of the USCF into the arena of public opinion - where nobody wins and women's chess loses. The haters will now be rubbing their hands in glee waiting for a cat fight between the two highest rated female players in the United States. Great, just great.

2008 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

What a kerfluffle last night! I didn't dream it - Anna Zatonskih DID win the Women's Championship after two games of rapid chess, two blitz, and one final "Armageddon" game - what did she and Krush get on their clocks, 30 seconds each??? Congratulations to AZ and to IK for a thrill-filled evening even though I'm really dragging today - 5:30 came REALLY fast this morning when I didn't hit the sack until after 1 a.m. Here are the final standings for the women: 1 Zatonskih, Anna IM 2490 USA 7.5 2 Krush, Irina IM 2515 USA 7.5 3-4 Abrahamyan, Tatev WFM 2280 USA 6.0 3-4 Rohonyan, Katerine WGM 2318 USA 6.0 5 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg WIM 2289 USA 5.5 6 Battsetseg, Tsagaan WIM 2251 USA 4.5 7 Zenyuk, Iryna WFM 2205 USA 3.5 8-9 Epstein, Esther WM 2194 USA 2.0 8-9 Airapetian, Chouchanik WFM 2143 USA 2.0 10 Jamison, Courtney 2064 USA 0.5 What an exciting championship! My impression is that all of the women had a real fighting spirit this year and were going all out for wins. There were very few draws. I'll have to sit down tonight and figure out the relative percentage versus the men's draws. As noted last night, Tatev Abrahamyan had an excellent tournament, 6.0/9 and won the Goddesschess Fighting Chess prize of $500. I am not a good enough player to be able to assess the quality of play but from what I read elsewhere, the games were well-played. Of course there were goof-ups in the play-off games last night, that's to be expected given the exhaustion, overdose rushes of adrenalin during those last grueling minutes and the circumstances of the play-offs themselves. And Krush and Zatonskih experienced that too, har! I can't wait for the next big event! Will the US be fielding a women's Olympiad team this year? Shouldn't the USCF be getting that together quickly now, given that the women will need time to train and organize and USCF will need to raise some money to send them to Germany? Will FIDE ever organize another Women's World Chess Championship? What happened to the invitation from the government of Turkey to host the WCC there? Will I ever stop sounding like a soap opera? Stay tuned for AS THE PAWN TURNS...

Blast from the Past - The Spittoons are Gone!

Love this great column by chess great Robert Byrne.

From the New York Times

Chess The Spittoons Gone, Women Now Play at the Highest Level

By ROBERT BYRNE Published: April 2, 2006

Not too long ago it would have been unthinkable that women en masse could compete with men and make a respectable showing. There were indeed one or two standouts. Take the mysterious sister of Louis Paulsen, who accompanied her famous brother to the United States championship in New York in 1857. She knew she would not be allowed to enter, but she got an offhand game against one of the strongest players in the competition and gave him a terrible drubbing.

She did not stay long enough to give further evidence of her great skill, but returned home immediately. In those days, chess clubs with their spittoons were not considered the proper place for women.

Another notable woman of the game was Vera Menchik, who took some potshots at the leading men of the late 1920's and throughout the 30's. She died in 1944 during an air raid in London.

After World War II, the Soviet stars Nona Gaprindashvili and Maya Chiburdanidze reached the level of male grandmasters. The greatest player among women now is Judit Polgar of Hungary. She is in the top handful of all players, men or women. She is an inspiration to all.

This year's women's winner in the United States Championship at the NTC Promenade in San Diego was Anna Zatonskih. Just observe her splendid victory in the preliminaries over Walter Browne, a six-time United States champion.

After the Nimzovich Variation of the Queen's Indian Defense, 4 ... Ba6, the most favored system is 5 b3, followed by 5 ... Bb4 6 Bd2 Be7. However, the alternative with 5 ... Bb7 6 Bg2 Bb4 7 Bd2 a5 is still played, as it was in this game.

After 9 Nc3, there is nothing wrong with 9 ... d5. Why give up the bishop pair with 9 ... Bc3? Not that there is something directly faulty about it, but one must always play so carefully afterward. If, after 10 ... Be4, this bishop could have been kept on this central square of its main diagonal, there would have been some point to this. But it could not remain hunkered down there.

The trouble with the advance with 17 ... b5 was that it left more squares on the queenside open for the white queen bishop to use.

After 18 e4, Zatonskih had control of the center.

And with 28 cd, this passed pawn further emphasized her advantage.

After 33 ... Bg6, this poor bishop had no good vantage points.

With 40 Bf5, Zatonskih was bearing down on the black king and threatening to penetrate on the c file.

After 41 Rc8, there was nothing Browne could do but give up. If 41 . . . Bf5, then 42 Qf5 g6 43 Qe6 Nf8 44 Rf8 Rg7 45 Rcc8 g5 46 Qf5 Rg6 47 Rh8 Kg7 48 Rcg8 Kf7 49 Qe6 mate.

2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Oh for Goddess' sake, what the heck is going on? I'm trying to enjoy a quiet evening at home after having just spent well over an hour watching the endgame of Onischuk v. Browne (USCF Championship) broadcast at MonRoi (run by a woman, heh heh) (I was rooting for GM Browne, but he succumbed in the end - but it was a hell of an endgame!), and here I read at Susan Polgar's blog this message: "Today, I was copied on another email by the reigning US Women's Champion. Here are some parts of this important email: " 'At the moment there is no official information from US Chess Federation, although, according to some other sources, the female US Championship could start as early as mid-July. As far as I understood, this event is going to be held 16-20th of July, which means we would have to play two rounds a day. I believe these dates to be unacceptable from every point of view: firstly it is an important event and WCh. Qualification, and secondly, this tough schedule would make my own participation almost impossible (for reasons you are well aware of). Furthermore, it is made clear, that this schedule was partly created to fit into plans of a certain player and exact days were never discussed with other participants. Another major point I would like to mention is that the idea to give places in World Women Championship from US Men Championship sounds to me both absurd and incorrect; absurd because women have to qualify having played other women; and incorrect, because nothing of the kind was initially mentioned in the contracts. Furthermore, some players would thus get two chances to qualify and others only one. I think it is in everybody’s interests that USCF makes an official statement clarifying all this, so that all the people involved could discuss the situation. I don’t believe that decisions, taken at the last moment, or even, as it happened in 2004 with WCh. Qualifications, after the events, help us to develop chess in USA. " 'Best regards, Anna Zatonskih US Women’s Champion' " I repeat - what the heck is going on? Where are the players reading this stuff - certainly not at the official USCF website! I do what I can to pick up "gossip" and such at Polgar's and Mig's blogs, but I do not have time to surf the internet all day. And in any event, I think some people must be "wired" into the "gossip chain" - or else they're being deliberately contacted/ targeted by receiving copies of emails and other correspondence that is flowing to/from USCF. After all, how could John Donaldson make an announcement that the Women's Championship would be held in July, hosted by the Berry brothers, when there has been NO OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUCH at the USCF website? How DARE the USCF go ahead and schedule a Women's Chess Championship without giving any consideration to the women - including the current U.S. Women's Champion - involved! And what the heck does this mean: Furthermore, it is made clear, that this schedule was partly created to fit into plans of a certain player. WHAT certain player? What is going on?