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

European Individual Women's Chess Championship

It's over - and a woman who earned one of the earliest GM titles back in the early 1990s won it with an incredible 9.0/11 - GM Pia Cramling!  Yaaaaaahhhhhh!  She played and defeated IM Viktorija Cmilyte who led going into the final round.  Well done.  And GM Monika Socko recovered enough to take over third place.

Here are the top finishers:

Rk. Name FED RtgI Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 Rp n w we w-we K rtg+/-
1 GM Cramling Pia SWE 2523 9,0 0 61,5 74,5 2677 11 9 7,06 1,94 10 19,4
2 IM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 2485 8,5 0 59,5 73,5 2622 11 8,5 6,56 1,94 10 19,4
3 GM Socko Monika POL 2465 8,0 0 63,5 77,5 2595 11 8 6,16 1,84 10 18,4
4 GM Kosintseva Tatiana RUS 2524 8,0 0 63,0 76,0 2595 11 8 7,01 0,99 10 9,9
5 GM Sebag Marie FRA 2506 8,0 0 60,5 73,5 2555 11 8 7,34 0,66 10 6,6
6 WGM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2492 8,0 0 60,5 72,5 2556 11 8 7,13 0,87 10 8,7
7 IM Dembo Yelena GRE 2457 8,0 0 57,0 69,5 2545 11 8 6,73 1,27 10 12,7
8 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2555 7,5 0 65,5 80,5 2552 11 7,5 7,42 0,08 10 0,8
9 IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2533 7,5 0 63,5 77,0 2550 11 7,5 7,18 0,32 10 3,2
10 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda RUS 2554 7,5 0 61,0 74,5 2540 11 7,5 7,63 -0,13 10 -1,3
11 IM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2444 7,5 0 61,0 74,5 2550 11 7,5 5,87 1,63 10 16,3
12 IM Khurtsidze Nino GEO 2434 7,5 0 60,5 74,0 2526 11 7,5 6,06 1,44 10 14,4
13 IM Skripchenko Almira FRA 2456 7,5 0 60,0 73,5 2514 11 7,5 6,59 0,91 10 9,1
14 IM Ushenina Anna UKR 2452 7,5 0 58,0 70,5 2511 11 7,5 6,58 0,92 10 9,2
15 IM Rajlich Iweta POL 2459 7,5 0 56,5 70,0 2477 11 7,5 7,16 0,34 10 3,4
16 WFM Ziaziulkina Nastassia BLR 2188 7,5 0 56,5 69,0 2543 11 7,5 2,48 5,02 15 75,3
17 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina RUS 2438 7,5 0 53,0 66,0 2457 11 7,5 7,12 0,38 10 3,8

Here's how some of my favorites did (out of 150 players):

36 IM Melia Salome GEO 2467 6,5 0 54,5 65,5 2369 11 6,5 7,82 -1,32 10 -13,2
I figure she's disappointed with her back-to-back losses in Rounds 9 and 10. She has lost ratings points, not a good thing. My guess is she was tired out from a heavy schedule since the beginning of the year.
88 WIM Kazimova Narmin AZE 2212 5,5 0 46,0 56,0 2226 11 5,5 5,03 0,47 15 7,1
98 WGM Calzetta Ruiz Monica ESP 2296 5,0 0 49,0 59,0 2193 11 5 6,01 -1,01 15 -15,1
105 WIM Paikidze Nazi GEO 2322 5,0 0 44,5 56,0 2169 11 5 7,24 -2,24 15 -33,6

GM Susan Polgar has reported at her chess blog:  In spite of the loss in the last round, Cmilyte earned an 11 game GM norm. Her rating will also pass 2500. Zhukova also gained nearly 9 points which should put her rating above 2500. Since she already had 3 GM norms, she should be awarded the GM title shortly.

Lots more coverage, of course, at Susan Polgar's blog.

This is good news - we need more women earning GM titles and pushing their ratings up - way up - above 2600.  Yeah, I don't ask for too much, do I. 

Tie-breaks are tomorrow.  I didn't see any awards announced yet for board prizes and officially the medal winners haven't been announced either - at least, when I clicked on the link at the offical website, I got one of those error messages. 

2010 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

Standings after Round 7 (only top contenders shown, out of now 150 players). There are 4 more rounds to go (11 total). Can Socko hold off the posse breathing down her neck???

Rk. Name FED RtgI Pts
1 GM Socko Monika POL 2465 6,0
2 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2555 5,5
3 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan SCO 2447 5,5
4 IM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 2485 5,5
5 WGM Galojan Lilit ARM 2380 5,5
6 GM Cramling Pia SWE 2523 5,5
7 IM Dembo Yelena GRE 2457 5,5
8 GM Kosintseva Tatiana RUS 2524 5,0
9 IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2533 5,0
10 GM Sebag Marie FRA 2506 5,0
11 IM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2444 5,0
12 WGM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2492 5,0
13 IM Khurtsidze Nino GEO 2434 5,0
14 IM Rajlich Iweta POL 2459 5,0
15 IM Romanko Marina RUS 2409 5,0
16 IM Moser Eva AUT 2437 5,0
17 IM Skripchenko Almira FRA 2456 5,0
18 GM Hoang Thanh Trang HUN 2487 5,0
19 IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 2500 5,0
20 WGM Savina Anastasia RUS 2391 5,0

BNbank Blitz 2009

An extragavanza put on to showcase Carlsen. BNbank Blitz GpA Oslo (NOR), 28 xi 2009 cat. IX (2453) 1. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2801 5½/6 2737 2. Cmilyte, Viktorija m LTU 2480 4 2568 3. Socko, Monika g POL 2457 2 2326 4. Hansen, Pal Andreas NOR 2072 ½ 2178 A nice performance by Cmilyte, who is now playing in the First ACP Women's Rapid Cup in Konya, Turkey.

Chess Femme News

Some current news on chess femmes from around the internet -- I haven't had time to update Chess Femme News at Goddesschess, this will have to do for now, sorry! Chessdom has an interview with IM/WGM Tania Sachdev of India. Asian U14, Junior and Senior Champion, and won the national Indian Women Championship in 2006 and 2007, also being a runner up in 2008. She is also holding bronze medal from the World U12 Championship, awarded an Arjuna Award by the President of India in 2009. WGM Monica Calzetta of Spain won the Spanish Women's Chess Championship (July 28 - August 2, 2009) with 6.0/7, and earned E800 for her efforts. Congratulations to WGM Calzetta, way to go! Calzetta was a favorite player of IM Ricardo Calvo, one of our friends at Goddesschess, who passed away in September, 2002. It's hard to believe so much time has passed, sometimes it seems like yesterday and The Chief, as he was known amongst our small group, would call me from Madrid every now and then on a Saturday afternoon and have Carmen practice a few words of English with me over the telephone, LOL! As long as WGM Calzetta continues to play chess, I will follow her career in The Chief's memory. Report at Chessdom in English, website in Spanish. Chessbase has an article on GM Monika Socko's win of the Arctic Chess Challenge (August 1 - 9, 2009), calling "it the greatest performance of her career." She looks very happy in this photo from the Tournament taken by Sven W. Nilssen. As a result of her performance (TPR 2639), Socko (POL 2449) will gain 22.6 ratings points - way to go! Not many chess femmes participated in this event, but Katrine Tjølsen (Norway) scored a WIM norm. Of note - bragging because he's so cute and he is home-grown USA, IM Ray Robson finished in second place after tie-breaks and scored a GM norm! You can read about the final round at the "Chess Phantom's" blog - in English (thank you!) with lots of photographs and on-site observations. It's a lot of fun to read. The 96th British Chess Championships were held July 26 - August 8, 2009. Two Women's titles were won by IM Jovanka Houska (ENG 2393), with 6.0/11 finishing in 26th place overall: 2009 British Womens Champion and 2009 English Womens Champion.

Arctic Chess Challenge

Final standings - 120 players (after Round 9): 1 GM Monika Socko 2449 7.0 PF 2639 2 IM Ray Robson 2491 7.0 PF 2628 - earned a GM norm! 16 WGM Natalia Zdebskaja 2412 6.0 23 WFM Katrine Tjølsen 2138 6.0 31 IM Anna Zozulia 2341 5.5 48 Marianne Wold Haug 1975 5,0 56 WIM Silje Bjerke 2233 4.5 72 WIM Melissa Greeff 2038 4.0 91 Sandra Van de Venter 1665 3.5 92 Elise Forså 1375 3.5 94 Anita Bratbak 1226 3.5 110 Dericka Figaro 2.5 111 Gorata Leso 2.5 112 Taniá Rista De Beer 1203 2.5 113 Liné Nieuwoudt 1024 2.5 114 Isabella Asiema 2.5 116 Danielle Pienaar 1071 2.0 118 Rachelle Hoareau W 0.5

2009 Arctic Chess Challenge

GM Susan Polgar's blog is providing lots of coverage on this event in Tromso, August 1 - 9, 2009. GM Polgar is a special guest at this year's Tournament. Official website. The news I'm interested in at the moment is that after Round 8, GM Monika Socko (go, Monika, go!) is tied for first place with IM Marijan Petrov and IM Ray Robson (go Ray, go!) of the USA with 6.0. Oy! Who do I root for? Both of them, of course! In Round 6 they faced each other, eek! Here is commentary from the Chess Phantom (ahem) who is blogging about the 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge and providing lots of photographs: The game that was on every ones lips was, of course, US Wonderboy Ray Robson versus GM Monika Socko on first board. Both with 2750+ performances, and they are the true stars of this tourment so far! With a victory one of them even could get a 1 point gap to the rest of the field with a few draws going their way - but quite the opposite happened. IM Ray Robson got what looked like a clear edge to me - with an advantage in both space and piece activity where he possessed the half open b-file. And no doubt white had the advantage but it wasn't so easy to make progress, as analyses shows, because of the quite closed pawn formation. Robson played for an attack but he had to accept the draw when he reached the time control at move 40. Then he had used all his time, and he even was in some time trouble, even though it looked quite controlled. Our two Stars of the tournament are still unbeaten with 6/7! They share a 3-way tie with IM Petrov with Socko first, Petrov second and Robson third on tiebreaks. It's funny how Monika keeps it in the family when her husband under performs [ouch!]. She really deserves all the credit in the world being the only player in the field with a 2700+ performance!!!