21-Year Old Harika Dronavalli Looks Forward

I have to admit I was shocked when I read that Dronavalli is only 21 years old!  I've been writing about her for so long -- she must have been an infant when I started -- but then, most of these chessplayers seem ageless to me :)

Harika ready for more grind, eyes GP meets

The writer has posted comments on this article
By Amit Karmarkar, TNN | Nov 30, 2012, 05.50 AM IST


PUNE: D Harika oozes a charming mix of innocence and maturity. Hence her surprising semifinals berth in the knockout World Cup chess in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, last week is that much sweeter.

The 21-year-old Guntur girl, relaxing in her new home in Hyderabad's Banjara Hill area, said: "I felt nice and bad at the same time. Nice because I reached thus far. And bad because I couldn't make it count (she lost to Stefanova in semis). But I have to be happy. Though it was just a knockout tournament and not a super strong event, the performance gives me motivation. "It indicates that I need to work harder to be even better player. I should reach a level where I should able to win this tournament easily. I need to increase my rating, prove myself, learn more about the game and become a strong player."

Harika, who has a contract with Airport Authority of India and is backed by Lakshya, trained with GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who was Anand's second during his three World title matches, before the meet.

"When I said sorry to Ganguly after losing in the semis, he said he is proud of me. I felt a bit better after that."

This big break has somewhat negated Harika's slow progress by her own standards. She was expecting to attain men's GM title by 2007-08 but managed that only in 2011. But being the semifinalist at World Cup now, she can get invites for Grand Prix meets in 2013 and 2014.

Despite being the semifinalist, 12th seed Harika is expecting to add only 2-3 Elo points to her strength (Elo 2512). She played against one higher-rated player during her four match wins (six top players bite the dust early) and didn't win a game against the a higher-rated player in classical time control.
 
The Asian women's chess title last year as the top seed has been Harika's biggest international title. She said: "We Indians don't think much about winning international titles because we don't play that frequently. It's quite natural to think of increasing rating and attaining norms in that case. It's a question of experience and getting used to playing at the higher level.

"If Humpy would have been in my place, she won't have been happy at all about the semifinals of World Cup. She has been there and done that."

2012 Women's World Chess Championship: Summary Thus Far

Will I live to see the day when the press in the USA covers chess like the Indians do?  Nah. 

From The Times of India:

World Women's Chess Championship enters final stage

PTI | Nov 26, 2012, 10.10 AM IST

KHANTY MANSIYSK: The Indian interest over after D Harika's ouster, the World Women's Chess Championship entered into its closing stage in which Ukraine's Anna Ushenina will take on Anotaneta Stefanova for the top prize.

The upsets continued as Ushenina made the finals at the expense of Ju Wenjun of China winning the first set of rapid tie-break games that concluded.

After drawing two back-to-back normal time control games rather quickly, Ushenina struck with her white pieces in the first game of rapid tiebreaker and then drew the next to make it to the finals of the $4,50,000 championship.

Stefanova will now fight it out with Ushenina for the ultimate crown in a four games match that commences tomorrow.

Stefanova had beaten Harika in the other semifinal that lasted just two games. Harika had lost the first and drawn the second to bow out of the championship with a bronze medal.

At the award ceremony Harika thanked everyone involved to help her get to the semifinal stage.

"I am very grateful for the support from my friends, parents, grandmother, my trainer, who teaches me since my childhood. We were in touch during the whole championship. Grandmaster Eesha Karavade sent me her opening analysis.

"Grandmaster Ganguly participated in one of my training sessions prior to the championship. Grandmaster Harikrishna also helped me to prepare for some games," said the semifinalist.

After the ouster of top-rated Indian Koneru Humpy as early as in round two, all eyes were on Harika as she was playing quite well in the gruelling schedule.

Harika thought she should have done better when asked about what she felt about her achievement.

"My friends have mixed opinions. Everyone is happy for me, but they are also a bit disappointed, because I did not advance to the final, which I feel was possible," said Harika.

Citing tiredness as the main reason, Harika insisted that she had not lost focus.

"Cannot say I lost my focus, I just felt a bit tired. Maybe this is why I lost the first game to Stefanova."

The championship now enters the final stage where there will be four games in all. In case of a tie, shorter games will be played to determine the champion who in 2013 will play a match with Yifan Hou of China.

Stevanova Through to Final in 2012 FIDE WWCC!!!

Holy Hathor! Stevanova is just smoking hot hot hot right now.  She won her match against Harika Dronavalli 1.5 - 0.5 and will face either Anna Ushenina or Ju Wenjun for the Women's World Champion title.

Ushinina and Ju tied their match and so will be going to play-offs tomorrow!  What a way to spend a weekend, following this action!

Results Round 5, Game 2:

Name	G1	G2	R1	R2	r3	r4	B1	B2	SD	Tot
Round 5 Match 01
Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL)	1	½								1½
Harika, Dronavalli (IND)	0	½								½
Round 5 Match 02
Ushenina, Anna (UKR)	½	½								1
Ju, Wenjun (CHN)	½	½								1

Official website. 

The second games of the Women’s World Championship semifinals were played today in Khanty-Mansiysk
24.11.2012

Stefanova ascendant!

Harika Dronavalli (India) needed to win as White to tie the match score against Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). In a slow maneuvering game the Indian advanced her pawns on the queenside, and Stefanova pushed on the kingside. As the game got more open, Black sacrificed a piece for White’s three central pawns and obtained a big advantage. However, Stefanova did not try to win the game outright and just forced a draw by repetition, securing the match victory. Now the former World Champion will have a chance to win her second title.

At the risk of jinxing her for tomorrow's play-off, Ushenina looks ready to rumble!  Killer eyes...
 

Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) and Ju Wenjun (China) agreed to an early draw. The Chinese was unable to get an opening advantage with White and offered a draw on the 18^th move. Tomorrow, November 25^th, the tie-break will determine the second participant of the final match. It will be the fifth tie-break at this championship for Ju Wenjun, and the second one for Ushenina.

2012 FIDE WWCC: Harika Storms Into Semi-Final

From The Times of India

Harika storms into semifinal of World Women Chess Championship

PTI Nov 22, 2012, 09.34PM IST

KHANTY MANSIYSK (Russia): Grandmaster D Harika came up with a spectacular performance in the tiebreak games to beat Zhao Xue of China and enter the last four stage of the World Women Chess Championship.

The Indian set the records right after a real scare in the second game on yesterday and displayed top form to win the first rapid game and then drawing the second easily as white.

The victory means Harika will not only remain in the championship but will also have a fair chance of having a shy at the title with just two matches to go in the premier women event.

In the next round now, Harika will meet Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria who was world champion in 2004.

Chinese Ju Wenjun defeated compatriot Hunag Qian, while Stefanova accounted for Marie Sebag of France in the other tiebreak matches.

In the other semifinal, Wenjun will meet Anna Ushenina of Ukraine who had won in straight games against Nadezhda Kosintseva of Russia.

Harika won with black in the first rapid game that proved to be the decisive factor in the match. Zhao Xue was the last fancied player remaining and she was knocked out in great style.

Taking a cue from her last game, Harika went for something she knows best instead of speculating. The King's Indian turned out to be a good choice as Zhao Xue could not get favourable complexities she was hoping for.

The middle game had all virtues of a typical King's Indian wherein black always had counter play against white's initiative.

Harika obtained a dangerous passed pawn in the center as the game progressed and took it to the seventh rank after Zhao blundered. The game lasted 33 moves.

In the return game, Harika faced the Hedgehog structure with white pieces and got a winning position in quick time. However, she played it safe for a long time and obtained the required draw after 85 moves.

Stefanova beat Marie Sebag 2-0 in rapid games, while Wenjun drew both rapid games but won the ten-minute blitz by 1.5-0.5 against Huang Qian to remain in hunt.

Results quarterfinals: Huang Qian (Chn) lost to Ju Wenjun (Chn) 1-1, 1-1, 1.5-0.5; D Harika (Ind) beat Zhao Xue (Chn) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) beat marie Sebag (Fra) 1-1, 2-0; Anna Ushenina (Ukr) beat Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus) 1.5-0.5.

Our Newest Female GM: Harika Dronavalli!

Dronavalli scored her third and final GM norm thanks to her excellent performance in the 2011 Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament, where she finished in second place overall with 5.5/9.  The GM title enrolls her in a small group of female players who have either been awarded the GM title or earned it the traditional way.  Dronavalli has also pushed her ELO above 2600 by her most recent tournament performance, thereby joining a very small, elite group of female chessplayers:  Judit Polgar at 2699 (HUN) and Koneru Humpy at 2614 (IND).  Congratulations to Harika!  These are wonderful achievements!

I don't pretend to understand all of the intricacies of how one scores a GM norm in tournament play - you can read about the former and current rules in this article at Wikipedia. 
Article from The Hindu Online

HYDERABAD, July 23, 2011
Harika realises one of her dreams
By V. V. Subrahmanyam

Photo from Chessbase 2008 interview. 

Dronavalli Harika reached another significant milestone in her chess career by becoming only the second woman chess player from India to win the Grandmaster title in men's category when she drew with Anna Zatonskih of the United States in the Women's Grandmasters tournament in China on Saturday.

The Indian girl drew her final round game to finish second overall with 5.5 points, but more importantly crossed the crucial Elo 2600-mark to earn the coveted GM title in the men's section. Koneru Humpy is the only other Indian to have achieved this.

The 20-year-old Harika says one of her two dreams has finally been realised. “I always used to tell my friends and fellow players that I have two objectives — to be a Grandmaster in the men's category and to be the World champion. I feel relieved that one hurdle is crossed,” Harika told The Hindu from China.

Sentimental feat

“This is a very sentimental achievement for me. For, only last month I lost my grandfather (Krishna Rao) and I was in Guntur only for a day to attend the 11th day ceremony before leaving for the circuit. At the small gathering, I thought to myself that the best tribute to pay him was to achieve something special. Now, I think I have done my best and done what he had wanted for long,” the champion player from Andhra Pradesh said.

“It is a huge honour to be a men's GM considering that there are only about 25 of them [females who have earned or been awarded the GM title] in the world. And definitely, this is a huge motivation ahead of a demanding schedule next year,” says the reigning Asian women's champion.

“It is true that I have been waiting for this since 2007. I have been missing the GM norms very narrowly in many events. So, in that context, today I am really pleased after getting the final GM norm,” the former World junior champion said.

“I dedicate this achievement to my parents (Ramesh and Suvarna) and to my coach N.V.S. Ramaraju. They have been a source of great inspiration right through my career,” said Harika, sponsored by Airports Authority of India and Lakshya.

Reflecting on the big events ahead, Harika said she had received an invitation to play in the prestigious Corus championship besides other majors in the next few months.

“With the World championship and the Olympiad ahead, I am just hoping everything will fall in place,” said the winner of three World youth titles.

Silent performer

“She is a silent performer of Indian chess. Has abundant talent and is one of the strongest contenders to be a World champion,” says IM Lanka Ravi, who is a close follower of Harika and Humpy's careers.

“Now the big dream needs to be chased — to be a World champion. I am aware that it is not going to be easy but I can tell you that it is the ultimate target for me as I prepare for the Worlds next year with all seriousness,” signed off Harika.

Chess Femme News

The Times of India
Easy outing for Humpy in Women's World Chess Championship
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Dec 6, 2010, 12.57am IST

CHENNAI: India had a mixed bag in the first game in the first round of the Women's World Chess Championship at Hatay ( Turkey) on Saturday. While favourite Koneru Humpy whipped Melissa Greeff, a South African rated 518 points below her on the Elo scale, Dronavalli Harika conceded a draw to compatriot Kruttika Nadig with white pieces, a result that puts the India No 2 in a must-win situation in the return game with black if she has to avoid tiebreaks in the first round.

In fact, Harika's draw was one of the two surprises in the first game of the first round as she is expected to pull off some surprises by virtue of her healthy 2525 rating.

The second surprise of the first day was credited to local girl Yildiz Betul Cemre, who held Grandmaster Pia Cramling of Sweden (2526) to a draw.

Not chess femme news, but interesting nonetheless.  From Chessbase:
Rethinking top level chess – a mandatory move
05.12.2010 – Who is the strongest player in the world? Does the World Champion win his title in the most effective way? How much should we depend on the Elo rating system, and are there better alternatives for determining world rankings? After three years spent writing a PhD thesis on games and sports at the Paris-Sorbonne Manouk Borzakian turns his attention to chess in this thought-provoking paper.

Not mentioned is what I call, in women's chess, the "women's rating ghetto" effect of bunched - and low - ELOs.  The same effect happens when the same elite male players face the same elite male players over and over again, blocking out those below from having a chance to compete and earn those valuable ELO points on the same level.  Plus, it's damn borning.

From Chessbase
Report on First Game of R1, Women's World Chess Championship
2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Round one
05.12.2010

Lots of nice photos - the guys (and gals) at Chessbase are famous for taking lots of photos of the prettiest female players, like former Women's World Chess Champion  GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria (and her second, GM Cheparinov, ain't bad looking either, yum)

Glad to see Dylan Loeb McClain at The New York Times chess blog Gambit is featuring lots of articles about the chess femmes:

November 22, 2010, 1:08 am For Some Women, Russian Championship Is a Warm-up for World Championship
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

For 2nd Year, Younger Women Beat Older Men at Czech Event
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: December 4, 2010

Manager Blames Marriage for His Star’s Slump
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: November 27, 2010
Marriage seems to have hurt Veselin Topalov’s career, for now.

Topalov, 35, a former world champion who was ranked No. 1 in the world as recently as 14 months ago, has seen his ranking slide to No. 5.

His manager, Silvio Danailov, said in a recent interview with the Web site Chessdom.com that Topalov married a few months ago and was “enjoying life a little bit,” adding, “He is not motivated to play tournaments right now.”

His latest setback occurred at the Ajedrez UNAM Quadrangular tournament in Mexico City, which ended a week ago. It was a four-player rapid chess event.

Topalov easily won his semifinal match against Manuel Leon Hoyos of Mexico, 3.5 to 0.5. But in the final against Judit Polgar of Hungary, an opponent he was favored to beat, he was trounced, 3.5 to 0.5. In the last two games, he barely put up any resistance.

LOL! (That's my comment). Blame it on the new wife, heh? OHMYGODDESS!

IM Harika Dronavalli Wins Individual Bronze in Chess at the Asian Games

From The Times of IndiaHarika wins bronze in women's individual chess
IANS, Nov 16, 2010, 05.29pm IST
Harika wins bronze in women's individual chess - The Times of India

GUANGZHOU: India's Harika Dronavalli defeated Iran's [Sukandar plays for Indonesia, not Iran] Sukandar Irine Kharisma in the final and ninth round to win bronze in the women's individual chess at the Asian Games on Tuesday.

China's Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue, both grand masters, claimed the gold and silver.

Top seed Hou won eight rounds and drew one to score 8.5 points. Zhao won seven matches, drew one and lost one to finish with 7.5 points. International Master Harika, with five wins, one loss and three draws, scored 6.5 points to come third.

Harika, who was lying fourth on Monday, split points with compatriot Tania Sachdev and then playing with black pieces, she defeated Sukandar in the ninth round to move to the third place.

Harika had drawn with Nguyen Pham Le Thao of Vietnam Monday in the seventh round to take her score to five points.

Her medal chances were high after she held the strongest woman player in the world, Hou in the sixth round, after beating Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran in the fifth.

Tania was also on five points overnight after seven rounds, following victories over Altanulzi Enkhtuul and Batchimeg Tuvshintugs of Mongolia in the last two rounds.

The two Indians after drawing their match Tuesday, were on 5.5 points.

But Tania lost to Hou in the last round Tuesday, to finish at sixth place with 5.5 points.

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

Here is the final cross-table for the Women's Rapid Championship at the Asian Games (from chess-results.com):

Rk.

Name

Rtg

FED

1.Rd

2.Rd

3.Rd

4.Rd

5.Rd

6.Rd

7.Rd

8.Rd

9.Rd

Pts.

TB1

TB2

TB3

1

GM

Hou Yifan

2591

CHN

19s1

5w1

12s1

4w1

2s1

3w½

8s1

7w1

6s1

8,5

0,0

2354

47,5

2

GM

Zhao Xue

2474

CHN

23w1

10s1

7w1

6s1

1w0

8s½

12w1

4w1

9s1

7,5

0,0

2332

46,5

3

IM

Harika Dronavalli

2525

IND

24w1

7s0

9s1

18w1

17w1

1s½

4s½

6w½

12s1

6,5

0,0

2328

44,5

4

WIM

Pham Le Thao Nguyen

2337

VIE

22s1

16w1

8w1

1s0

6w1

9s1

3w½

2s0

5w½

6,0

0,5

2348

50,0

5

WGM

Bathimeg Tuvshintugs

2327

MGL

25w1

1s0

24w1

11s½

20w1

6s-

18s1

8w1

4s½

6,0

0,5

2177

44,5

6

IM

Tania Sachdev

2385

IND

31s1

18w1

15s1

2w0

4s0

5w+

13w1

3s½

1w0

5,5

0,0

2305

48,5

7

WGM

Hoang Thi Bao Tram

2271

VIE

28s1

3w1

2s0

19w1

8w0

15s1

17w1

1s0

10w½

5,5

0,0

2301

47,5

8

GM

Zhu Chen

2477

QAT

29s1

14w1

4s0

15w1

7s1

2w½

1w0

5s0

13w1

5,5

0,0

2285

49,5

9

WIM

Muminova Nafisa

2360

UZB

26w1

13s½

3w0

23s1

10w1

4w0

11s1

17s1

2w0

5,5

0,0

2228

45,0

10

WGM

Paridar Shadi

2253

IRI

33s1

2w0

31s1

12w½

9s0

20w1

14s½

15w1

7s½

5,5

0,0

2183

41,0

11

WFM

Hallaeva Bahar

2184

TKM

35s0

22w1

36s1

5w½

12s0

19w1

9w0

29s1

20w1

5,5

0,0

1938

36,0

12

WGM

Sukandar Irine Kharisma

2382

INA

30w1

20s1

1w0

10s½

11w1

13s½

2s0

14w1

3w0

5,0

0,0

2275

48,0

13

WCM

Enkhtuul Altanulzii

2121

MGL

36s-

9w½

37s1

29w1

14s1

12w½

6s0

18w1

8s0

5,0

0,0

2131

39,5

14

WGM

Geldyeva Mekhri

2279

TKM

21w1

8s0

23w1

20s½

13w0

30s1

10w½

12s0

19s1

5,0

0,0

2117

38,5

15

WIM

Nakhbayeva Guliskhan

2209

KAZ

34w1

17s1

6w0

8s0

21w1

7w0

24s1

10s0

22w1

5,0

0,0

2087

38,5

16

Nodirjano A Nodira

2149

UZB

27w1

4s0

26w1

17s0

25w1

18w0

22s0

30s1

24w1

5,0

0,0

1884

35,0

17

WGM

Pourkashiyan Atousa

2367

IRI

37s1

15w0

29s1

16w1

3s0

22w1

7s0

9w0

18s½

4,5

0,0

2161

39,5

18

WIM

Dauletova Gulmira

2263

KAZ

32w1

6s0

30w1

3s0

26w1

16s1

5w0

13s0

17w½

4,5

0,0

2154

40,5

19

Mir Mahmoud Afamia

2010

SYR

1w0

21s1

25w1

7s0

30w½

11s0

32w1

26s1

14w0

4,5

0,0

1985

40,5

20

WFM

Shamima Akter Liza

2161

BAN

38s+

12w0

35s1

14w½

5s0

10s0

23w1

22w1

11s0

4,5

0,0

1955

39,5

21

WFM

Uchida Narumi

1834

JPN

14s0

19w0

33s1

31w1

15s0

29w½

26s0

34w1

32s1

4,5

0,0

1883

32,5

22

WCM

Nur Nabila Azman Hisham

1845

MAS

4w0

11s0

34w1

32s1

24w1

17s0

16w1

20s0

15s0

4,0

0,0

2058

37,5

23

WIM

Ibrahim Delbak Ismael

1929

IRQ

2s0

28w1

14s0

9w0

35s1

25w½

20s0

31w½

29w1

4,0

0,0

1926

37,0

24

Sultana Sharmin Shirin

1998

BAN

3s0

35w1

5s0

28w1

22s0

26w1

15w0

25s1

16s0

4,0

0,0

1903

39,0

25

Al-Jeldah Fatemah

0

SYR

5s0

37w1

19s0

33w1

16s0

23s½

30w½

24w0

38s1

4,0

0,0

1887

32,0

26

WFM

Al-Zarouni Kholoud Essa

1864

UAE

9s0

27w1

16s0

36w1

18s0

24s0

21w1

19w0

37s1

4,0

0,0

1877

34,5

27

Nuimat Rayah

0

JOR

16s0

26s0

32w0

34s1

37w1

31w½

29s0

38w1

28s½

4,0

0,0

1763

28,0

28

Boshra Alshaeby

1807

JOR

7w0

23s0

38w1

24s0

29s0

36w1

31s½

33w1

27w½

4,0

0,0

1696

30,5

29

WFM

Bakri Alia Anin Azwa

1953

MAS

8w0

32s1

17w0

13s0

28w1

21s½

27w1

11w0

23s0

3,5

0,0

1964

37,5

30

WIM

Saleh Nora Mohd

1884

UAE

12s0

33w1

18s0

35w1

19s½

14w0

25s½

16w0

31s½

3,5

0,0

1888

35,0

31

WFM

Mohammed Qane jannar Worya

1901

IRQ

6w0

34s1

10w0

21s0

32w½

27s½

28w½

23s½

30w½

3,5

0,0

1823

34,0

32

WFM

Al-Khelaifi Salama

1761

QAT

18s0

29w0

27s1

22w0

31s½

35w1

19s0

36w1

21w0

3,5

0,0

1712

31,5

33

WCM

Byun Sungwon

1612

KOR

10w0

30s0

21w0

25s0

38w1

37s1

34w½

28s0

36s1

3,5

0,0

1623

28,5

34

Kim Hyoyoung

1355

KOR

15s0

31w0

22s0

27w0

36s1

38w1

33s½

21s0

35w1

3,5

0,0

1578

30,0

35

Adhikari Asmita

0

NEP

11w1

24s0

20w0

30s0

23w0

32s0

38s1

37w1

34s0

3,0

0,0

1817

29,0

36

Nusra Abdul Rahman

0

MDV

13w-

38s1

11w0

26s0

34w0

28s0

37w1

32s0

33w0

2,0

0,0

1753

27,5

37

Khamboo Monalisa

1877

NEP

17w0

25s0

13w0

38s1

27s0

33w0

36s0

35s0

26w0

1,0

0,0

1552

31,0

38

Moomina Mohamed

0

MDV

20w-

36w0

28s0

37w0

33s0

34s0

35w0

27s0

25w0

0,0

0,0

1512

25,5

Annotation:
Tie Break1: The results of the players in the same point group#results against
Tie Break2: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)
Tie Break3: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)

Mayor's Cup - Mumbai

A 415 player event. Round 9 is in the books - how's GM Koneru Humpy doing? She's doing great! Currently in second place. Humpy was in 5th place with 6.5 after Round 8. A Round 9 victory over IM Suvrajit Saha (2380), a game she should have won, and did, moved her up in the standings as the remaining five of the top six boards all drew their games. Things are really tight at the top - here are the leaders, all within a point of each other: Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Areshchenko Alexander UKR 2657 8,0 57,5 45,5 50,00 2 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2612 7,5 58,0 45,0 47,25 3 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J IND 2482 7,5 56,5 44,5 44,75 4 GM Miroshnichenko Evgenij UKR 2680 7,5 56,5 44,0 45,75 5 GM Panchanathan Magesh Chandran IND 2462 7,5 51,0 42,0 42,00 6 GM Deviatkin Andrei RUS 2566 7,0 56,0 44,5 41,75 7 GM Timoshenko Georgy UKR 2550 7,0 55,5 44,0 41,50 8 GM Belov Vladimir RUS 2623 7,0 54,0 42,0 41,50 9 GM Iuldachev Saidali UZB 2497 7,0 52,0 41,0 38,75 10 Thakur Akash IND 2308 7,0 51,5 41,0 38,00 11 IM Himanshu Sharma IND 2403 7,0 51,5 40,5 38,25 12 GM Safin Shukhrat UZB 2485 7,0 51,0 39,5 38,25 13 GM Zinchenko Yaroslav UKR 2531 7,0 51,0 39,5 37,75 14 IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2396 7,0 50,5 39,0 37,75 15 GM Kostenko Petr KAZ 2490 7,0 50,0 40,0 37,00 16 IM Prakash G B IND 2404 7,0 49,5 39,0 38,00 17 IM Kamble Vikramaditya IND 2351 7,0 48,5 37,0 36,50 Humpy will have her work cut out for her in Round 10, when she plays the black pieces against the No. 1 seed in the tournament and currently in 4th place: GM Evgenij Miroshnischenko (UKR 2680). Good luck Humpy! Here are the current standings of some of the other chess femmes playing. I did not have time to check all of the names on the FIDE ratings list to confirm the player's sex (I am sorry, I cannot usually tell by the names alone) and I stopped after I got to player 154! 40 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2307 6,5 46,5 36,0 32,75 50 WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman IND 2303 6,0 50,5 39,5 31,50 62 WIM Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe IND 2177 6,0 47,5 37,5 28,75 63 WGM Ramaswamy Aarthie IND 2191 6,0 47,0 36,0 28,00 65 WFM Swati Mohota IND 2096 6,0 46,5 36,0 28,75 80 WIM Dhar-Barua Saheli IND 2154 5,5 52,0 40,0 29,25 83 IM Harika Dronavalli IND 2474 5,5 50,5 39,0 30,25 87 WCM Gagare Shalmali IND 2117 5,5 49,0 39,0 26,75 119 WIM Priya P IND 2186 5,5 41,5 31,5 22,00 128 WIM Padmini Rout IND 2238 5,0 48,5 38,5 23,50 130 WIM Meera Sai IND 2155 5,0 48,0 38,5 23,75 135 WIM Gokhale Anupama IND 2119 5,0 46,5 36,0 23,75 143 Preethi R IND 2154 5,0 45,5 34,5 20,25 153 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty IND 2182 5,0 43,0 32,5 21,75 Very unusual to see IM Harika Dronavalli off the pace of the top chess femmes. I hope nothing is wrong.

Reykjavik Open 2009

The event was won by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson (ISC 2547) with 7.0/9. Here are the final standings of the chess femmes after Round 9 (out of 110 players): 18 IM Harika Dronavalli IND 2473 6,0 56 WIM Cori T Deysi PER 2256 4,5 61 WGM Ptacnikova Lenka ISL 2249 4,5 71 WGM Karlovich Anastazia UKR 2251 4,0 76 Finnbogadottir Tinna Kristin ISL 1660 4,0 77 WIM Andersson Christin SWE 2132 4,0 102 Gudmundsdottir Geirthrudur Ann ISL 1775 2,5 105 Helgadottir Sigridur Bjorg ISL 1646 2,5 107 Johannsdottir Johanna Bjorg ISL 1724 2,5 Dronavalli was the 8th out of 8 players to finish on 6 points. I have great admiration for Dronavalli. I was also very pleased to see Deysi Cori (or is it Cori Deysi???) playing in this event. Congratulations to all of the chess femmes!

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).