Chess Femme News

GM Hou Yifan
I'm glad to see she ditched the
hair-clips and her soft, slightly
shy smile hits the perfect note!

Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times wrote an opinion piece a few days ago about the so-called rise of China and it's superpower status, using the analogy of newly-crowned women's world chess champion GM Hou Yifan, the youngest champion yet at age 16.  While Mr. Kristoff may know how to play chess, it was obvious from what he wrote that he does not know anything about the microcosm of the "world of chess" and particularly now the State Organ of China uses chess as an instrment to tout it's "superiority" on the international stage.  I found the article rather silly, but below is the link to the opinion piece and the comments that followed separately, for anyone who may be interested.  My comment regarding the chess aspect is thus:  "western chess" in China is promoted the same way the Soviets promoted chess during the days of the old USSR - as a national tool to prove the "superiority" of its repressive, monolithic political system.  The same can be said for sports that have international audiences, particularly Olympic sports, such as gymnastics, where the Chinese routinely cheat just as the Soviets did, and figure skating - ditto. Well, we know what happened to the USSR, don't we.  My comment regarding some of the ridiculous misrepresentations in the article:  (1) There is no such thing as a decent education in China without paying for it - at all levels; the pressure to "do well" in school is such that students pay to have others take their exams for them and pay others to do their papers; plagerism is rampant and accepted as a practical way to get ahead.  (2) As a consequence of its defective educational system, very little original research and practically no true innovation is coming out of China -- it is all copycat from what has been produced in other countries.  (3) Female infanticide and abortion of female fetuses is still rampant throughout China, particularly in the rural areas, despite what Mr. Kristoff wrote.  Try doing a google search under the subject - but be warned - it is not for the weak of stomach or the faint of heart.  The consequence in practical terms is that in approximately 10 years, perhaps even less, China is going to run smack into a gigantic demographic shortage of women of child-bearing age because of the practice of killing female infants and fetuses.  I wonder how a government that emphasizes "social harmony" over the rights of individuals will deal with that one?
Op-Ed Columnist
China Rises, and Checkmates
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: January 8, 2011

January 8, 2011, 7:43 pm
Your Comments on China and Chess
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

10th Berkeley International
January 2- 8, 2010
Berkeley, California

WFM Tatev Abrahamyan finished in 15th place overall, tied with several players with 6.5/10, earned $250 for her efforts and a WGM norm.  She doesn't care about "female" norms, though. She was shooting for an IM norm and didn't make it.  Too bad.  Abrahamyan was one of two women playing in this event of 58 players, specially designed to provide players with norm opportunities.  The other chess femme playing was WIM Lorena Zepada, who finished in 43rd place overall with 4.0/10.  My apologies if I missed any other chess femmes playing in this event.  On a separate note, it was good to see "I'm never going to play chess again" Sam Shankland in action - and he earned his final GM norm for his efforts, too.  Perhaps young Sam has learned that it is best not to make dramatic pronouncements while in the throes of intense emotions, because one may often find that one has to eat those words later on...

Chess Queens Plot Their Plans...
From the Deccan Chronicle Online
January 6, 2011 - I found this by visiting our friends at Chessdom.com - thanks!

Chess queens Dronavalli Harika and Koneru Humpy may not have had a great year in 2010 as they failed to bag gold in the tournaments but the new year is enough motivation to start afresh. Harika had to settle for bronze in the Asian Games at Guangzhou. World No.2 Humpy too crashed out of the World Women’s chess championship in the semifinal stage. Her ELO rating too took a dip as Humpy, rated 2614 in January last, ended the year on 2607. Humpy is keen to turn her ratings around in 2011.

“Frankly speaking, the last year had not been a good one for me. I started off well finishing second in Gibraltar and fourth in the Fide Grand Prix in Doha. Thereafter, I participated in the Nalchik Women’s Grand Prix where I was fifth, followed by the Women’s World Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow in September,” said Humpy.

“I would have loved to represent my country in the Asian Games, but the on-going differences with the All-India Chess Association prevented me from doing so,” she said, adding, “Reaching the semifinals of the World Women’s Championship and then not making it to the final was quite disheartening.”
“I am just praying for a better year ahead where I can win more titles and perform better,” said the Grandmaster.

“I am planning to take it one tournament at a time. But my main focus is the Women’s Fide Grand Prix Series which has its first Championship in Doha in January,” she added. World junior champion in 2008, Harika, is content with her show last year despite the shortcomings in events such as the Women’s World Championship.

“Winning bronze in the Asian Games individual event was great but I am disappointed about having missed a medal in the team event,” said the 19-year-old, adding, “In the Women’s World Championship too, I missed the semifinal berth after losing in the tie-breaker round.” The International Master also gained two norms after a stupendous show at International open tournaments in Reykjavik (Iceland) and Greece.

“I will work towards getting my third norm which will make me a Grandmaster,” said Harika, who is rated 2520.

I will cheer for Dronavalli to earn that final GM norm and join the growing ranks of female chessplayers who hold the GM title - over 20 now.  When I started following chess in 2001, there were fewer than 10.

36th National Women Premier Chess Championship

News from The Telegraph - Calcutta Draw earns Harika maiden title Chennai: Top seed International Master Dronavalli Harika of Andhra Pradesh proved her supremacy winning her maiden title in the 36th National Women Premier Chess Championship Saturday. Harika drew against WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy to take the top honours with 8.5 points. In the 11th and final round Saturday, WGM Meenakshi, who was in the sole lead till the penultimate round, was facing WGM Mary Ann Gomes with the white pieces. As her tie-break score was low, Meenakshi had to win to have a sniff of the title. Top finishers: 1 IM Harika Dronavalli 2474 IND 8,5 2 WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman 2324 IND 8,0 3 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 2150 IND 7,5 4 IM Tania Sachdev 2399 IND 7,0 5 GM Karavade Eesha 2413 IND 7,0 6 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2384 IND 7,0 Full final cross-table at Chess-Results.com. Of note, Orissa's WIM Padmini Rout (IND 2333) by-passed the Indian Women's National Championshp and played with the big boys in the National, where she was ranked 36th of 42 players at the beginning. How is she doing? With one more round to go (12 rounds total), after R11 she stands in 38th place with 4.5 points. I admire her determination and commitment, and expect great things from this young lady (she's 14 or 15 - born in 1994, I don't have her exact birth date). She is doing exactly what she needs to do, playing UP and gaining invaluable experience.

Corus 2009 Update

Group B standings after Round 10: 1. N. Short 6½ 2. A. Volokitin, A. Motylev, D. Navara, F. Caruana, R. Kasimdzhanov 6 7. Z. Efimenko, F. Vallejo Pons 5½ 9. E. l'Ami 5 10. Y. Hou, D. Reinderman 4 12. H. Mecking 3½ 13. K. Sasikiran, J. Werle 3 Group C standings after Round 10: 1. T. Hillarp Persson 7½ 2. W. So 7 3. A. Giri 6 4. D. Howell, A. Gupta, D. Harika, F. Holzke, M. Bosboom 5½ 9. E. Iturrizaga 4½ 10. M. Leon Hoyos 4 11. F. Nijboer, A. Bitalzadeh, R. Pruijssers 3½ 14. O. Romanishin 3 According to this story (I read it at Susan Polgar's blog), Dronavalli could score a GM norm - that would be wonderful!

Dronavalli Harika Wins Arjuna Award

Excerpted from The Times of India Sport on! 31 Dec 2008, 0000 hrs IST, RUBINA A KHAN , TNN Check mate Chess-wonder Dronavalli Harika from the Guntur district holds the titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master, and has been given the Arjuna Award. Her feats this year include the Girl's title at the World Junior Chess Championship in Turkey.

Harika Wins!

I love the enthusiasm of the Indian press when its reports on its chessplayers. The type size for the article title was even larger than what I can produce here! From Thaindianews.com Harika wins tie-break, enters pre-quarters of World Chess September 4th, 2008 - 5:07 pm ICT by IANS - Nalchik (Russia), Sep 4 (IANS) India’s Dronavalli Harika, the women’s world junior champion, eliminated Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia in the tie-breaker of the second round to move into the pre-quarter finals of the Women’s World championships here. Harika, who had shared points after the regulation matches, both of which ended in a draw, won with white pieces in the second tie-break game here Wednesday night. Earlier the two drew the first game. The 1.5-0.5 win carried Harika into the third round, which is the pre-quarter finals, where she meets Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia, rated 2436, as against Harika’s 2461. Harika said that she was very happy to win against Anna Muzychuk, as the Slovenian player was considered a dark horse in the tournament. Also Harika was playing a rapid tie-break at this level for the first time and she felt this would be a good exercise for future challenges. World No. 2 Koneru Humpy, who had a bye in the second round, meets Thanh Trang Hoang of Vietnam (rated 2487) in the third round. On ratings and current form, Humpy, rated at 2622, the highest in this tournament, should win comfortably. If Humpy wins, she will meet the winner of China’s Yang Shen and Russian Nadezhda Kosintseva, who beat Nisha Mohotoa in first round. Defending champion Xu Yuhua has already been knocked out of the tournament. The following are the pre-quarter final pairings: Svetlana Matveeva (Russia) vs. Anna Ushenina (Ukraine); Hoang Than Trang (Hungary) vs. Humpy Koneru (India); Hou Yifan (China) vs. Elena Sedina (Italy); Inna Gaponenkpo (Ukraine) vs. Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria); Pia Cramling (Sweden) vs. Ruan Lufei (China); Harika Dronavali (India) vs. Lilit Mcrtchian (Armenia); Shen Yang (China) vs. Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) vs. Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia).

Dronavalli Harika

Dronavalli Harika won the gold medal at the recently concluded World Juniors Chess Championships (Girls) with 10.5/13, finishing 1.5 points ahead of her nearest competitor. Chessbase has an interview with Dronavalli and, at the end of the article, a list of some of Dronavalli's accomplishments (cut short at 2004, perhaps copied from a website that has not updated the list in quite a while!)

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

The results are in! Here are the top results for the final round: 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10 ½ - ½ 8 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 2 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 8 1 - 0 9 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 3 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 8 1 - 0 8½ WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 4 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 8 1 - 0 8 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 5 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 7½ 1 - 0 7½ WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 6 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 0 - 1 7½ WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 7 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 7½ 1 - 0 7½ GUO Qi 2048 CHN 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 7 1 - 0 7 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 9 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 7 1 - 0 7 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 10 WIM YILDIZ Betül Cemre 2236 TUR 7 ½ - ½ 7 MUMINOVA Nafisa 2242 UZB 11 ISGANDAROVA Khayala 2207 AZE 6½ 0 - 1 6½ WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 12 WIM HAMRAKULOVA Yulduz 2145 UZB 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ WIM MAJDAN Joanna 2323 POL 13 WIM DAULYTE Deimante 2288 LTU 6½ 1 - 0 6½ WIM IVAKHINOVA Inna 2248 RUS 14 MISOVIC Sanja 1914 MNE 6½ 0 - 1 6½ WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA Here are the top final standings: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10½ 2-5 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 9 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 9 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 9 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 9 6-10 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8½ 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 8½ 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 8½ 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 8½ 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 8½ 11-13 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 8 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 8 25 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 8 14-23 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 7½ 23 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 7½ 48 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 7½ 24 MUMINOVA Nafisa 2242 UZB 7½ 26 WIM YILDIZ Betül Cemre 2236 TUR 7½ 5 WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 7½ 16 WIM POURKASHIYAN Atousa 2269 IRI 7½ 11 WIM DAULYTE Deimante 2288 LTU 7½ 34 WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 7½ Congratulations to all of the chess femmes! The Indian women are proving a power house. Dronavalli ran away with the event this year with 10.5, good for her! Mary Ann Gomes played excellently in the second half and finished in 4th place with 9.0! Tatev Abrahamyan won her final game and finished in 15th place with 7.5 - a score achieved by several players. Narmin Kazimova was impressive, finishing in 9th place with 8.5 after a final round victory and picking up 45 ratings points. If she had not run into the buzz saw named Dronavalli, she would probably have finished much higher; but actually, 9th in the world juniors girls is an amazing achievement for a player who has not had much international exposure. (Well, she did mix it up with the elite women in the European Individual World Chess Championship earlier this year - valuable experience). Special congratulations to Kubra Ozturk who wins the bronze medal for her home country, host of this year's World Junior Championships. The hype surrounding Ozturk in the Turkish press has been justified (she picked up 57 ratings points for her performance) - but she's not a player who has been much on the chess radar. It's great to see that Turkey has stepped forward and has hosted some excellent events over the past couple of years, raising it's profile as part of the continental European chess scene. In the World Juniors, WGM Hou Yifan finished in 6th place with 9.0, behind winner GM Gupta Abhijeet (IND 2551), with 10.0. Yifan gains 19 ELO ratings points, a performance rating of 2661 and her second GM norm.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

See the news story in the prior post below! Here are the top results for the chess femmes in Round 12: 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 9 1 - 0 7½ KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 8½ ½ - ½ 7 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 3 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 7½ ½ - ½ 8 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 4 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 7 1 - 0 7½ WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 5 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 7 1 - 0 7 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 6 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 7 0 - 1 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND Here are the top standings after Round 12: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10 66 8 2244 2517 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 9 63 9 2273 2466 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8½ 58½ 35 2245 2403 4 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 8 54 48 2304 2354 5 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 8 52½ 14 2224 2349 6 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 8 51 7 2215 2320 7 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 8 48½ -6 2217 2342 8 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 8 44½ 5 2166 2274 9 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 56 36 2267 2290 10 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 7½ 49½ -2 2178 2256 11 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 7½ ½ 39 2217 2311 48 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 7½ 47½ 60 2271 2336 13 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 7½ 44½ -18 2209 2231 14 34 WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 7½ 40 0 2088 2116 The 1, 2 and 3 spots remained the same - but there are several players who are gunning for that 3rd spot. Narmin Kazimova dropped from 6th place to 11th place after losing to Dronavalli - well, I knew she'd had a tough match-up but to put her up against the #1? Wow! Turkey's WFM Tubra Ozturk is having a great tournament and rebounded after her loss to Dronavalli. Can Kazimova do the same tomorrow? India has 3 players in the top 10. Other than one lone player in the Junior Girls, Guo Chi (#12 currently), I guess the Chinese put all their money on Hou Yifan, about whom Susan Polgar wrote about earlier today will become a GM by virtue of her results in the Juniors Tournament. Nothing wrong with promoting Hou Yifan, of course, but since it seems the Chinese are intent on nothing less than TOTAL DOMINATION of all forms of sport, why the chintzy response to the World Juniors? Perhaps they spent all their allowance this quarter on the Olympics... Hou Yifan is in 7th place with 8.0 after 12 rounds, and a performance rating of 2641. Thus far, she's gained 14 ELO points on her rating of 2557, which would not be enough to push her up to 2600 needed to qualify for that GM title she will earn her third and final norm form in this event. How did our girl Tatev Abrahamyan do? WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 6½ 1 - 0 6½ WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA As a result of this loss, Tatev fell to 21st place. Keep your eye on this young lady, she's got the goods. The problem is, she's playing in the USA, and we don't support our chessplayers and certainly don't provide them with anything approaching a living should they choose to attempt to do so playing chess on a full-time basis. And chess is a jealous mistress - she doesn't countenance less than full devotion. That's why the USA usually loses it's most promising young players to the mundane reality of having to earn a living in the real world! Okay, enough editorializing for the day. I've got a casserole calling my name...

Dronavalli Wins World Juniors (Girls)

Ohmygoddess! They parired Narmin Kazimova against Harika Dronavalli! From sports.indiatimes.com Harika wins World Junior Chess; Chance for an Indian double GAZIANTEP (Turkey), August 14: Top seeded International Master India's D Harika proved her top billing right by winning the World Junior Girls Chess Championship with one round to spare after beating Narmin Kazimova of Azerbaijan in the 12th and penultimate round. Harika took her tally to an unassailable 10 points out of a possible 12 and steered a full point clear of Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine who was held to a draw by Anastasia Bodnaruk of Russia. It implies that, with her better progressive score, Harika is assured of the title with one round still to come in the premier junior event for girls. Harika is the second Indian girl ever to win the Junior World champion title after Koneru Humpy in 2001. Harika had won the 2006 World under-18 girls title and was plain unlucky not to win this title last year when she lost the last three rounds after being in lead. Harika had to work hard in the final round game against Narmin Kazimova as the latter played cautiously for the major part of the game. Starting off with English open as Harika established a minimal advantage and later liquidated to a better rook and pawns endgame. Kazimova lost a pawn first and when it became a race between passed pawns, Harika's forces were more adequately deployed. For the records, the game lasted 68 moves. While the 20 member Indian contingent rejoiced at Harika's brilliant show, there was more good news coming in as Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta grinded overnight leader Arik Braun of Germany in the open section and jumped in to joint lead along with compatriot Parimarjan Negi and David Howell of England. With all these three leaders on 9 points, it is clear that the winner will be amongst these three only which gives a chance for an Indian double in the championships organized simultaneously. It was a fine effort by Abhijeet with white pieces in a Slav defense game. Getting an interesting endgame, the Indian junior champion outclassed Braun after winning a rook for knight. Parimarjan also displayed top form in defeating Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam in a French defense game while Howell won a long drawn affair against second seed Maxim Rodshtein of Israel.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

Round 11 has finished. Hold on to your hats! Results (top chess femmes): 1 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 7 0 - 1 8 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 2 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 6½ ½ - ½ 8 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 3 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7½ ½ - ½ 6½ WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 4 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 6½ 1 - 0 7½ WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 5 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 6½ 1 - 0 6½ WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 6 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 6 1 - 0 6 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 7 WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 6 ½ - ½ 6 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 8 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 6 1 - 0 6 WFM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2254 SVK 9 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6 ½ - ½ 6 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 10 WIM DAULETOVA Gulmira 2267 KAZ 6 0 - 1 6 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 11 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 6 1 - 0 5½ WFM HOOLT Sarah 2298 GER Dronavalli is back on top at 9.0 after having dispatched Ozturk, who was having an excellent tournament :) Tatev Abrahamyan moved to 6.5 after a draw with Guo Qi. And Narmin Kazimova is having another one of those streaks where she can do no wrong! She won today, to go to 7.5 points and - well - you'll see: Here are the top standings after Round 11: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 9 56 6 2252 2514 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 8½ 54 9 2262 2473 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8 50 34 2241 2416 4 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 48½ 41 2266 2320 5 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 7½ 44½ 15 2221 2354 6 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 7½ 40 42 2194 2327 7 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 7 46 37 2301 2321 8 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 7 43 5 2238 2340 9 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 7 42 6 2223 2325 10 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 7 40½ -12 2209 2311 11 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 7 37 -18 2191 2213 60 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 7 37 87 2073 2327 13 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 7 36½ 0 2166 2249 14 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6½ 47½ 7 2240 2305 1-2-3 stay the same as they've been for the past three rounds. Tatev Abrahamyan's draw today did not prevent her from dropping lower in the standings - from 11th yesterday to 14th today. Tatev is at the top of a large group of players with 6.5 points. And Narmin - she's jumped from 10th yesterday to 6th today, with 2 games to go! Go Narmin! She will probably have her hands full tomorrow, as I expect she'll be matched with one of the players above her - not a pleasant prospect. There were 9 draws today, up from yesterday's 4. That left 24 decisive matches.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

You know it's getting serious when only 4 games were drawn out of 33 today, in Round 10. Three more rounds to go. Here are the top results: 1 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7 ½ - ½ 7½ IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 7 1 - 0 6½ WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 3 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 6½ 1 - 0 6 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 4 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 6 0 - 1 6 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 5 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 5½ 1 - 0 6 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 6 WFM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2254 SVK 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 7 PREETHI Rajkumar 2183 IND 5½ 0 - 1 5½ WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 8 WFM HOOLT Sarah 2298 GER 5½ 0 - 1 5½ KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 9 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 5½ 1 - 0 5½ WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 10 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 5 1 - 0 5½ WFM PERTLOVA Sona 2217 CZE As you can see, Dronavalli drew her game with Mikadze (a player who snuck up into the top 3 without seeming to draw any attention at all!), so she stands at 8 points of 10. Meanwhile, Maria Muzychuk (younger sister of Anna) defeated Swaminathan of India, and with the full point she is now in a tie-score with Dronavalli! The sole American, Tatev Abrahamyan, can't seem to get unstuck from 6 points, losing her game, while young Narmin Kazimova won her game behind the black pieces against a player rated 150 points higher! Way to go, Narmin! Here are the top standings after Round 10: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 8 47 5 2259 2499 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 8 45½ 10 2259 2499 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7½ 42 32 2228 2421 4 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 41 49 2279 2384 5 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 7 39 40 2283 2344 6 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 6½ 37 7 2214 2324 7 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 6½ 35½ -1 2161 2250 8 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 6½ 35 3 2204 2314 9 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 6½ 33½ -9 2205 2315 10 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 6½ 32½ 34 2197 2306 11 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6 41 11 2259 2331 Playing in the Juniors, Hou Yifan has slipped to 13th after drawing her Round 10 game today. She was defeated yesterday by IM Arik Braun and currently has 6.5 points. The sole juniors leader is GM Maxim Rodshtein with 8.0. Barring a complete collapse at the top, Hou won't be able to medal, but I'm sure she wants to pull herself into at least the top 10 and will be going no holds barred for the last 3 games.

Harika Dronavalli Leads World Juniors Girls

Article from Press Trust of India: Harika beats Nakhbayeva, takes sole lead in World Jr Chess From Our Chess Correspondent Gaziantep (Turkey), Aug 9 (PTI) Top seeded International Master India's Dronavalli Harika today scored a clinical victory over Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan to emerge as the sole leader after the 7th round of ongoing World Junior Girls' Chess Championship here. Playing the white side of a Nimzo Indian defense, Harika attained a slight advantage out of the opening and nurtured her position well enough to knock down one black pawn before tightening the noose. Guliskhan did not have answers of the precise technical display and called it a day when she was about to lose the second pawn too. The victory helped Harika take her tally to 6 points out of a possible 7 and she now enjoys a half point lead over nearest rivals Adriana Nikolova of Bulgaria and Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine. Amongst the other Indian girls in the fray, only Soumya Swaminathan scored a victory and inched herself up to 5 points at the expense of compatriot Kruttika Nadig. Soumya won with black pieces. Also reaching 5 points with her cool display was R Preethi, who held erstwhile sole leader Tatev Abrahamyan to a draw in a rook and pawns endgame. Top chess femme standings after 7 rounds. USA's Tatev Abrahamyan is in 4th place with 5.0, leading a pack of several chess femmes also with 5.0.

2008 World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

Rank after round 7 Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 6 24½ 7 2256 2565 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 5½ 24 8 2276 2506 3 23 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 5½ 20½ 26 2198 2428 4 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 5 24 21 2268 2426 5 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 5 21½ 14 2191 2349 6 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 5 21 24 2262 2297 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 5 21 25 2250 2287 8 6 WIM MAJDAN Joanna 2323 POL 5 20 6 2204 2362 9 32 PREETHI Rajkumar 2183 IND 5 19½ 21 2229 2268 10 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 5 18½ 3 2131 2259 11 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 5 18 2 2142 2300 Those are the top players with 5 to 6 points, battling for the top 3 spots. Dronavalli has the sole lead now after winning her Round 7 game and she's going to be very difficult to knock out of the top spot, having garnered tons of international experience against tough fields during the past year, and playing particularly fine chess since January of this year in major events. How is Narmin Kazimova doing? Right now she's in 25th place with 4 points, a more than respectable showing after 6 rounds against the toughest competition she's likely to face anywhere in the world. Narmin came to my attention by way of her perfomance in the European Women's Individual Championships earlier this year. India's Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout and Nadig Kruttika are in 19th, 20th places, respectively, also with 4 points. There are 9 players from Turkey, which isn't surprising to me since the event is being hosted in Turkey; on the other hand, I saw only one US player, Tatev Abrahamyan (go, Tatev!) India has 6 players and they're all in the top 21 (2 in the top 10)! Play is half over; tomorrow is a free day and then the second half begins on August 10th. There are a total of 13 rounds, and from the looks of things it will be a tight race all the way to the end. In the juniors (guys) section, Hou Yifan is hanging tough in 5th place with 5.5 after Round 7.