2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

Hola darlings!

Sorry I haven't been posting much the past few days.  We switched to "daylight savings time" last week (the week before?) -- I don't remember exactly when.  I'm having a hard time adjusting, just like I had a hard time in the spring this year when we "leaped ahead" an hour.  Yeah, I supposedly gained an hour of sleep one Saturday night, but honestly, I've been heading to bed at 9 p.m. or shortly after, because my body is telling me it is actually 10 p.m. or after!  I just cannot win!

This year's European Team Chess Championships are now herstory.  The top three women's teams were:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1		Russia	RUS	9	8	1	0	17	25.5	177.0	165.50	137.5
2	5		Poland	POL	9	6	2	1	14	23.0	178.0	133.25	138.5
3	3		Georgia	GEO	9	7	0	2	14	22.5	181.0	134.00	139.0

I have my favorite players that I follow when I see them listed in events.  In this year's ETCC-Women, I had 10 players I was following, and I lost track of some of them, because they were alternating with other players on their teams and weren't playing every single game.  I won't go into all the details of their performances here, but I would like to point out some things.

First of all, I was following the 12th Women's World Chess Champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.  She had some very tough tournaments earlier this year where she did not perform well.  But - the important thing - she never gave up.  She kept playing, she kept fighting.  Event after event, a very full schedule for this mother away from her husband and young daughter for so long!  Now, I don't follow gossip on line or participate in message boards or post messages at blogs the way I used to years ago, so I don't know for a fact that some people may have been saying that Alexadra was no longer a top-tier female player - but I'll bet such things were said and/or implied. 

Anyone who would say or snidely imply such things just doesn't know this woman or understand how women work, in general!  I don't claim a great acquaintance with Alexandra, but after exchanging correspondence over the years, I did meet her (finally) in person in September in St. Louis, while she was there to participate in the Kings v. Queens Tournament at the St. Louis Chess Club.  I know that Alexandra has a great heart and a great spirit, like all the women's chess champions do.  One simply cannot achieve that peak of success as a chessplayer without having such heart and spirit.  I will never, ever count Alexandra down and out!

And Alexandra proved that she still has what it takes to win!  In addition to winning a Gold Medal for her part in her Team's performance, Alexandra also won an individual Gold Medal for her performance on Board 4.  A well-deserved medal, I might add.  She was great!

You can check out her numbers performance (statistics measuring lots of different performances) at chess-results.com (tournament)  and also at chessqueen.com (story).  We've been invited to share the photos posted there - great photos -- you can check them out in more detail:

A happy Russian Women's Team - and rightfully so.  Anyone who thinks chess is a game of nerds hasn't seen these women, that's for sure! 

Alexandra wrote at chessqueen.com:

All the players in our team had a great result. I got 5.5 out of 7 (4 wins and 3 draws) and got the highest rating performance of my team, 2575 ELO. Our team’s average rating performance was 2523, even higher than our starting average rating of 2509, which was the highest team average at the start of the championship. Out of the 9 x 4 = 36 games played by our team, we only lost 3 individual games, but never lost a single match.

As for individual performances, everyone in our team did great! Apart from everyone in our Russian women’s team getting a team Gold medal, I got an individual Gold medal on the 4th board, as did Tatiana Kosintseva on board 2 and Natalija Pogonina on board 5. Valentina Gunina got an individual Bronze medal on board 3, and Nadezhda Kosintseva barely missed a medal with her 4th place on the 1st board, which is still a great performance. In all our 5-person team got 9 medals (8 Gold, 1 Bronze), almost the maximum!

Of 124 female players, Alexandra's performance ranked 4th overall (top 10 only shown, below):

The best players sorted according Rp,Pts,games,%,board (Final Ranking after 9 Rounds)

No.			Name	Rtg	Team	Rp	Pts.	Games	%	Bo.
1		IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	Slovenia	2782	8.5	9	94.4	1
2		GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	Ukraine	2632	5.0	7	71.4	1
3		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	Georgia	2593	5.0	8	62.5	1
4		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	Russia	2575	5.5	7	78.6	3
5		IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	Georgia	2573	6.5	8	81.3	3
6		GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	Russia	2559	6.0	8	75.0	2
7		IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	Ukraine	2538	6.0	8	75.0	2
8		WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	Poland	2524	5.5	8	68.8	2
9		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	Russia	2524	5.5	9	61.1	1
10		WIM	Ohme Melanie	2361	Germany	2521	6.5	8	81.3	2

Another Goddesschess friend, IM Salome Melia, (who married in early summer this year) playing on the Georgian Women's Team, also won two medals:  A Team Bronze Medal and an Individual Bronze Medal for her performance on Board 5:

Board 5
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %
1 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2451 RUS 2518 2278 4 5 80.0
2 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2460 UKR 2468 2327 5,5 8 68.8
3 IM Melia, Salome 2392 GEO 2460 2302 5 7 71.4
Come on, Salome!  I have faith that you can earn a GM title. 

GM Kateryna Lahno did well for her team and for herself.  While the Ukrainian Women's Team finished out of contention for a Team Medal, Lahno won an individual Silver Medal for her excellent performance on Board 1:

Board 1
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %
1 IM Muzychuk, Anna 2557 SLO 2782 2338 8,5 9 94.4
2 GM Lahno, Kateryna 2549 UKR 2632 2474 5 7 71.43 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2516 GEO 2593 2498 5 8 62.5

Performance wise, here is how the women I was following placed (of 124 female players):

No.

Name

Rtg

Team

Rp

Pts.

Games

%

Bo.

2

GM

Lahno Kateryna

2549

Ukraine

2632

5.0

7

71.4

1

4

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2439

Russia

2575

5.5

7

78.6

3

20 IM Melia Salome 2392 Georgia 2460 5.0 7 71.4 4
21 IM Dembo Yelena 2468 Greece 2459 5.5 9 61.1 1

50

WGM

Reizniece-Ozola Dana

2281

Latvia

2344

5.0

9

55.6

1

61

WGM

L’ami Alina

2364

Romania

2308

3.0

7

42.9

1

68

WGM

Rudolf Anna

2347

Hungary

2286

3.5

7

50.0

2

70

WGM

Calzetta Ruiz Monica

2301

Spain

2284

4.5

7

64.3

2

73

WIM

Kazimova Narmin

2241

Azerbaijan

2278

3.5

7

50.0

2

87

IM

Houska Jovanka

2415

England

2221

2.5

8

31.3

1

 So, it looks like Kateryna Lahno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Melia Salome, Dana Reizniece-Ozola and Narmin Kazimova will gain some ratings points as a result of their performances at the 2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women.  Congratulations!

2011 World Girls U-20 Chess Championship

Top standings after Round 6 India's Padmini Rout has fallen out of the top 10, currently in 18th place with 3.5:

Rk.			Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1		WGM	Girya Olga	RUS	2371	5.5	2259	2301	2361	2626	5.5	4.05	1.45	10	14.5
2		WIM	Bulmaga Irina	ROU	2293	5.0	2238	2279	2339	2473	5	3.68	1.32	15	19.8
3		WGM	Cori T Deysi	PER	2376	5.0	2232	2265	2295	2477	5	4.28	0.72	10	7.2
4		WFM	Semenova Elena	RUS	2175	5.0	2120	2173	2206	2355	5	3.69	1.31	15	19.6
5		WIM	Kazimova Narmin Nizami Qizi	AZE	2292	4.5	2138	2189	2255	2291	4.5	4.31	0.19	15	2.8
6		WFM	Kulon Klaudia	POL	2227	4.5	2096	2122	2142	2262	4.5	4.19	0.31	15	4.7
7		WIM	Mammadova Gulnar Marfat Qizi	AZE	2294	4.5	2083	2101	2130	2256	4.5	4.70	-0.20	15	-3.0
8		WFM	Saranya J	IND	2121	4.5	2038	2076	2122	2203	4.5	3.87	0.63	15	9.4
9		WGM	Paikidze Nazi	GEO	2416	4.0	2261	2300	2326	2354	4	4.36	-0.36	15	-5.4
10		WIM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	KAZ	2222	4.0	2222	2271	2337	2298	4	3.34	0.66	15	9.9

Go, Narmin!

Chess Femme News!

Just a few items this evening - I must get to work on m friend's family tree, must have it finished for presentation on November 17.  I'm getting there, but I keep finding new family members and it's hard to resist following the new clues.  So far, I haven't been able to resist, but I must, I must!

News regarding the upcoming Women's World Chess Championship which is supposed to be held in Turkey December 2 - 25, 2010.  That is really crappy, actually, making any competitors who may be Christians play over the Christmas holiday - and in a Muslim country, no less.  Geez, dudes, great planning.  But then, FIDE doesn't give a hoot about the welfare and preferences of the chessplayers who actually feed it's existence.  It's all about what country or federation coughs up the most money to line the pockets of the corrupt chess politicians.  Where have we heard this tune before?  It's disgusting.  Mind you - I won't believe that this Championship is actually going to be held until it starts - we shall see...

From Panarmenian.net
Women's World Chess Championship in Hatay to host Elina Danielyan and Lilit Mkrtchyan
October 28, 2010 - 18:43 AMT 13:43 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - On December 2-25, Turkish province of Hatay will host Women's World Chess Championship.

Elina Danielyan and Lilit Mkrtchyan, European Chess Club Cup 2010 bronze winners, will represent Armenia at the tournament.

[Note: Mkrtchian had a very good showing in the 2008 Women's World Chess Championship, making it to the quarter-finals, but she lost 1.5/0.5 to GM Hou Yifan of China.]

Also from Panarmenian.net
Ashot Vardapetyan pleased with Mika’s results at European Chess Club Cup
October 28, 2010 - 16:00 AMT 11:00 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Members of Mika women’s club, who won bronze medals at the European Chess Club Cup, and club head Ashot Vardapetyan met with journalists on October 28 to comment on the results of the tournament.

Vardapetyan said he is pleased with the results. “Other teams prepare scrupulously for each match against Mika,” he noted.

Mika women’s chess club was formed in 2004 to win champion’s title two years later. In 2007, they won bronze. Men’s club won silver medals in 2009.

At the World Youth Chess Championships, my girl Narmin Kazimova is playing excellently, and I am so very pleased for her!  This is a news report on her progress and how some of the other Azeri chess femmes are doing after Round 8:

From news.az
Azerbaijani chess player leading in world championship in Greece
Thu 28 October 2010 11:52 GMT | 6:52 Local Time
The world chess championship among youth continues in Halkidiki (Greece).
Eight rounds have already been played. Azerbaijan is represented by 20 chess players. Eight of our representatives are currently among top ten. Narmin Kazimov[a] leading in U-18 contest with 7.5 points should be singled out.

Abdulla Gadimbeyli (U-8), Kenan Izzet (U-14), Sabina Ibrahimova (U-16) and Aydan Khojatova (U-12) taking second, third and fourth places also continue the struggle.

Khanim Balajayeva (U-10), Ulviya Fataliyeva (U-14), Sabina Ibrahimova (U-16) and Aydan Khojatova (U-12) are also among top ten.

2010 World Youth Chess Championships

Awonder Liang won his second round game against the #7 ranked player in the Open (Boys) U8 Section:

5 62 Liang Awonder (USA) 1 1 - 0 1 Zlatea Cezar-Stelian 7

The other American young men playing in this section had equally tough assignments!

1 2 Lomasov Semen 1 1 - 0 1 Kumar Aravind (USA) 56
8 10 Amon Nejc 1 0 - 1 1 Praveen Balakrishnan (USA) 87
32 104 Taghizadeh Rayan (USA) ½ 1 - 0 ½ Gruzman Ilya 40

It's very early in the tournament and anything can happen. I'm rooting for this young American Open team. Tomorrow, these young players will face off as follows:

2 87 Praveen Balakrishnan (USA) 2 2 Ram Aravind L N 4
5 9 Sadhu S Adithya 2 2 Liang Awonder (USA) 62
18 30 Doknjas Joshua 1½ 1½ Taghizadeh Rayan (USA) 104
22 56 Kumar Aravind (USA) 1 1 Amon Nejc 10

Turning my attention to the ladies:

In the Femme U18 Section:

• WIM Narmin Kazimova (AZE 2260) currently sits in 2nd place with a perfect 2.0 score. Way to go, girl!
• WGM Cori Deysi (PER 2368) currently is in 22nd place with 1.5. I expect she will definitely move up the ranks.
• Anjali Data (USA 2025), the lone American competing in this section, is currently in 39th place with 1.0 (out of 72 players).

I'll put up more reports as we get deeper into the competition.

2009 European Women's Team Chess Championship

Final Standings! Final Ranking after 9 Rounds Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 1 1 Russia RUS 9 8 0 1 16 26,0 175,0 2 2 Georgia GEO 9 7 2 0 16 24,0 176,5 3 3 Ukraine UKR 9 4 4 1 12 20,0 188,0 4 20 Azerbaijan AZE 9 4 4 1 12 20,0 183,0 (The Presidential Initiative seems to be working!) 5 5 Armenia ARM 9 4 3 2 11 21,0 192,0 6 6 France FRA 9 4 3 2 11 21,0 165,0 7 16 Czech Republic CZE 9 4 3 2 11 19,5 184,5 8 4 Poland POL 9 4 2 3 10 22,5 166,0 9 12 Slovenia SLO 9 4 2 3 10 21,0 154,5 10 10 Hungary HUN 9 4 2 3 10 20,5 166,0 11 13 Romania ROU 9 4 2 3 10 19,0 176,0 12 7 Germany GER 9 4 2 3 10 18,5 177,0 13 17 Israel ISR 9 5 0 4 10 18,0 176,5 14 11 Netherlands NED 9 4 1 4 9 21,0 141,5 15 14 Greece GRE 9 2 5 2 9 19,0 172,0 16 15 Spain ESP 9 3 3 3 9 16,5 174,0 17 22 England ENG 9 3 2 4 8 19,0 131,0 18 19 Italy ITA 9 4 0 5 8 18,5 154,0 19 18 Croatia CRO 9 3 2 4 8 17,0 153,0 20 21 Austria AUT 9 3 2 4 8 16,0 145,0 21 8 Bulgaria BUL 9 4 0 5 8 14,5 174,5 22 23 Montenegro MNE 9 2 3 4 7 16,0 139,5 23 9 Serbia SRB 9 3 1 5 7 15,5 169,0 24 24 Bosnia & Herzegovina BIH 9 3 0 6 6 14,0 130,5 25 28 Turkey TUR 9 1 3 5 5 11,0 146,0 26 25 Former Yug Rep of Macedonia MKD 9 1 2 6 4 12,0 137,5 27 27 Norway NOR 9 0 4 5 4 12,0 136,5 28 26 Finland FIN 9 0 3 6 3 11,0 152,0 Annotation: Tie Break 1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses) Tie Break 2: points (game-points) Tie Break 3: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variableith parameter) Some interesting statistics from Chess-Results.com: Best players according to points: Final Ranking after 9 Rounds No. Name Rtg Team Pts. Games % Bo. Rp 1 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2493 Russia 8,0 9 88,9 2 2665 2 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2438 Georgia 6,5 8 81,3 4 2518 3 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2469 Armenia 6,5 9 72,2 2 2564 4 WGM Majdan Joanna 2361 Poland 6,0 7 85,7 4 2598 5 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2516 Russia 6,0 8 75,0 1 2621 6 IM Muzychuk Anna 2533 Slovenia 6,0 9 66,7 1 2411 7 WFM Milovic Aleksandra 2173 Montenegro 6,0 9 66,7 2 2297 8 Savola Laura 2090 Finland 6,0 9 66,7 2 2284 9 WGM Motoc Alina 2316 Romania 6,0 9 66,7 4 2390 10 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2472 Georgia 5,5 7 78,6 1 2599 Best players according to percent: Final Ranking after 9 Rounds No. Name Rtg Team % Games Bo. Pts. Rp 1 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2493 Russia 88,9 9 2 8,0 2665 2 WGM Majdan Joanna 2361 Poland 85,7 7 4 6,0 2598 3 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2438 Georgia 81,3 8 4 6,5 2518 4 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2472 Georgia 78,6 7 1 5,5 2599 5 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2516 Russia 75,0 8 1 6,0 2621 6 WIM Fakhiridou Ekaterini 2253 Greece 75,0 6 3 4,5 2400 7 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2469 Armenia 72,2 9 2 6,5 2564 8 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2527 Bulgaria 71,4 7 1 5,0 2561 9 IM Milliet Sophie 2407 France 71,4 7 1 5,0 2504 10 IM Khukhashvili Sopiko 2451 Georgia 71,4 7 2 5,0 2516 11 IM Dworakowska Joanna 2345 Poland 71,4 7 3 5,0 2483 12 WIM Vasiliev Olga 2266 Israel 71,4 7 3 5,0 2459 13 WFM Gunina Valentina 2437 Russia 71,4 7 4 5,0 2422 Best Players according to Performance Rating: Final Ranking After 9 Rounds No. Name Rtg Team Rp Pts. Games % Bo. 1 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2493 Russia 2665 8,0 9 88,9 2 2 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2516 Russia 2621 6,0 8 75,0 1 3 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2472 Georgia 2599 5,5 7 78,6 1 4 WGM Majdan Joanna 2361 Poland 2598 6,0 7 85,7 4 5 GM Lahno Kateryna 2483 Ukraine 2593 5,5 8 68,8 1 6 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2469 Armenia 2564 6,5 9 72,2 2 7 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2527 Bulgaria 2561 5,0 7 71,4 1 8 WGM Mamedjarova Zeinab 2285 Azerbaijan 2519 4,5 8 56,3 1 9 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2438 Georgia 2518 6,5 8 81,3 4 10 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2482 Germany 2516 5,5 9 61,1 1 I think it becomes obvious when looking at the overall stats as to why GM Alexandra Kosteniuk took the 2008 Women's World Chess Champion title. She was consistently in the top five in all categories. I was curious about how Narmin Kazimova did overall - she's a young chess femme playing on the Azerbaijani Women's Team, who first caught my eye during the 2008 European Individual Women's Chess Championship. Here are her individual stats: According to Points (out of 137 female players): No. Name Rtg Team Pts. Games % Bo. Rp 78 WIM Kazimova Narmin 2228 Azerbaijan 3,5 8 43,8 1 2357 According to Ratings Performance (out of 137 female players): No. Name Rtg Team Rp Pts. Games % Bo. 43 WIM Kazimova Narmin 2228 Azerbaijan 2357 3,5 8 43,8 1 The problem I have with these stats is that Narmin played on Board 2 for 8 games, and on Board 1 once! Kazimova Narmin WIM 2228 AZE Rp:2357 Rd. SNo Name Rtg FED Rp Pts. Res. Bo. 1 42 IM Collas Silvia 2319 FRA 2334 3,5 s 0 2 2 98 IM Bojkovic Natasa 2429 SRB 2234 4,0 s ½ 2 3 125 WGM Vega Gutierrez Sabrina 2357 ESP 2188 2,5 s 1 1 5 48 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2469 ARM 2564 6,5 w ½ 2 6 45 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2472 GEO 2599 5,5 w ½ 2 7 131 GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2536 RUS 2432 5,0 s 0 2 8 35 WGM Botsari Anna-Maria 2286 GRE 2284 4,0 s ½ 2 9 67 WGM Krivec Jana 2329 SLO 2241 4,5 w ½ 2 Well, maybe this all makes sense to some people better versed in all of these stats than I. It just seems strange to me that she played one Game on Board 1 and then is listed as playing on Board 1 for all results???

Narmin Kazimova In The News

All right! She's a young player I've had my eye on since her performance in the 2008 European Women's Individual Chess Championships, where she played some outstanding chess. Kazimova's performance at the 2008 EWICC was enough to earn her a Featured Chess Femme in my May, 2008 column at Chessville (alas, now defunct). (Photo: Victoria Cmilyte v. Kazimova, 2008 EWICC). This news from Chessdom: Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova going to the World School chess Kazimova is the number 1 female player U16 of Azerbaijan The number 1 female player U16 of Azerbaijan, Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova, will be one of the top players at the World School Chess Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece. High performance is expected by Kazimova, after being part of the Olympic team for her country and participating at the European Individual Chess Championship. The young talent is currently rated 2165 and expects an ELO boost of over 40 points for the April FIDE rating list. She gained most of the points at the National Championship of Azerbaijan, scoring 7,5/10 and defeating strong players such as Zeinab Mamedjarova, Khayala Mardan Abdulla, and Nargiz Umudova. Rest of story.

2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

Wow! Lots of excitment in the final round - and it's not over yet! First of all, here are the top 10 final standings, with the caveat below (and it's a big one): Rank Pno Title Name Elo Fed Score TPR 1 11 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2460 ARM 8,5 2598 2 5 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2497 RUS 8,5 2551 3 15 GM Socko, Monika 2449 POL 8 2565 4 24 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 2416 RUS 8 2552 5 17 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 2437 GEO 8 2520 6 16 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 2442 RUS 8 2550 7 9 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2467 RUS 8 2540 8 27 IM Rajlich, Iweta 2399 POL 8 2552 9 18 IM Ovod, Evgenija 2430 RUS 8 2504 10 8 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483 HUN After visiting Chessdom I learned that IM Lilit Mkrtchian and IM Tatiana Kosintseva will do a play-off to determine which chess femme wins the title. (By the way, beautiful photos of the chess femmes at Chessdom). Here are the Round 11 results for the top boards: IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 7.5 RUS 2497 - IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 8.0 RUS 2442 1-0 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 7.5 GEO 2437 - WGM Pogonina, Natalija 7.5 RUS 2467 0.5-0.5 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 7.5 ARM 2460 - WGM Romanko, Marina 7.5 RUS 2451 1-0 IM Rajlich, Iweta 7.5 POL 2399 - GM Socko, Monika 7.5 POL 2449 0.5-0.5 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 7.0 HUN 2483 - IM Khukhashvili, Sopiko 7.0 GEO 2416 0.5-0.5 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 7.0 GER 2455 - WGM Kovanova, Baira 7.0 RUS 2386 0.5-0.5 IM Ovod, Evgenija 7.0 RUS 2430 - WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 7.0 RUS 2384 1-0 IM Turova, Irina 7.0 RUS 2379 - IM Muzychuk, Mariya 7.0 UKR 2427 0.5-0.5 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 7.0 RUS 2416 - IM Melia, Salome 7.0 GEO 2422 1-0WGM Demina, Julia 6.5 RUS 2361 - IM Muzychuk, Anna 6.5 SLO 2540 0-1 IM Vasilevich, Irina 6.5 RUS 2340 - GM Lahno, Kateryna 6.5 UKR 2488 1-0 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 6.5 POL 2352 - IM Gaponenko, Inna 6.5 UKR 2450 0.5-0.5 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 6.5 ROU 2412 - WIM Paulet, Iozefina 6.5 ROU 2315 0.5-0.5 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 6.5 POL 2385 - WGM Botsari, Anna-Maria 6.5 GRE 2289 1-0 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 6.0 GEO 2518 - WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 6.0 RUS 2327 1-0 At the moment, these are the play-offs: For Championship Title: -- L. Mkrtchian (ARM) -- T. Kosintseva (RUS) For Bronze and Silver Medals: -- (1) IM Monica Socko (POL) -- (2) E. Kovalevskaya (RUS) -- (2) N. Pogonina (RUS) (winner of this play-off will meet Socko) -- (3) T. Shadrina (RUS) -- (3) E. Ovod (RUS) (winner of 3 will play-off against winner of 4) -- (4) M. Lomineishvili (GEO) -- (4) I. Rajlich (POL) Here are the special prizes awarded to the chess femmes thus far: Rank Name Fed Score TPR Elo TPR-Elo Prize (Eur) 1 Ziaziulkina, Nastassia BLR 5 2208 1950 258 1000 2 Khokhlova, Ekaterina RUS 4,5 2068 1822 246 900 3 Petrukhina, Irina RUS 4,5 2113 1905 208 800 4 Della-Rossa, Anastasia RUS 4 2074 1868 206 700 5 Balaian, Alina RUS 5 2229 2037 192 600 6 Brunello, Marina ITA 5 2282 2106 176 550 7 Kushka, Alena RUS 5,5 2295 2124 171 500 8 Sorokina, Anastasia RUS 4,5 2250 2087 163 450 9 Lezhepekova, Veronika RUS 3,5 2079 1917 162 400 10 Styazhkina, Anna RUS 4 2072 1926 146 350 11 Lupik, Marina RUS 5,5 2307 2163 144 300 12 Abdulla, Khayala AZE 5 2205 2070 135 260 13 Zizlova, Sofia RUS 4,5 2153 2020 133 220 14 Girya, Olga RUS 7 2441 2315 126 200 15 Lomakina, Galja RUS 5 2183 2058 125 170 Where did my girl Narmin Kazimova finish? 85 114 Kazimova, Narmin 2165 AZE 5,5 2223 Respectable, but not spectacular (85 out of 168, and higher than her start place at 114). There was no magic in this year's Championship for Narmin. Narmin, you keep going. I think you've got what it takes, but you need more training and a LOT more exposure to international competitions. Unfortunately, you are not in a position to obtain this - the sad but true story for too many chessplayers around the world today.

2008 Chess Olympiad

Here is the Azerbaijani Women's Team: Zeynab Mammadyarova, Turkan Mammadyarova, Nargiz Umudova, Narmin Kazimova (the main staff) and Khayala Iskandarova (a reserve player) will perform within the Azerbaijani female combined team. Anar Allahverdiyev is the chief coach of the women’s combined team. Full article. I'll be keeping my eye on Narmin Kazimova. She had some sparkling moments at the 2008 European Individual Women's Chess Championship.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

The official website reported the following norms were earned by the players: GM Norm: Hou Yifan CHN 2661 (Hou Yifan earned her first GM norm at Aeroflot earlier this year, so this is norm #2, not norm #3 as I believe I reported in an earlier post) WGM Norm: Kübra Öztürk TUR 2413 (Ozturk's first WGM norm, and the first ever earned by a Turkish female chess player according to official site) Miranda Mikadze GEO 2410 WIM Norm: Preethi Rajkumar IND 2277 Sarah Hoolt GER 2283 Khayala Isgandarova AZE 2254 Zusana Borosova SVK 2256 Narmin Kazimova AZE 2321 (Yah, Narmin!) Anastasia Bodnaruk RUS 2294 Zoja Severiukhina RUS 2296 Guliskan Nakhbayeva KAZ 2297 Tatev Abrahamyan USA 2266 (Yah, Tatev!) Adriana Nikolova BUL 2269 Nafisa Muminova UZB 2261 Homa Hour Alavi IRI 2266 Sona Pertlova CZE 2256

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.

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.

2008 European Individual Chess Championships

Standings after Round 10: 1 GM Lahno Kateryna 2479 UKR 8.0 (W, defeated Kovalevskaya) 2 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2450 UKR 7.5 (drew with Ushenina) 3 IM Ushenina Anna 2474 UKR 7.5 (drew with Zhukova) 4 GM Cramling Pia 2539 SWE 7.5 (drew with Skripchenko) 5 IM Skripchenko Almira 2443 FRA 7.5 (drew with Cramling) 6 IM Houska Jovanka 2390 ENG 7.0 (drew with Anna Muzychuk) 7 IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2466 LTU 7.0 (drew with Natalija Pogonina) 8 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2413 ARM 7.0 (B, defeated Margarita Voiska) 9 IM Dembo Yelena 2429 GRE 7.0 (B, defeated Sopio Nikoladze) 10 IM Muzychuk Anna 2486 SLO 7.0 (drew with Houska) 11 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2470 RUS 7.0 (drew with Cmilyte) 12 IM Danielian Elina 2479 ARM 7.0 (B, defeated Tatiana Stepovaia) 13 IM Socko Monika 2505 POL 7.0 (B, defeated Melia Salome) 14 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2443 GEO 6.5 15 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2421 RUS 6.5 (B, lost to Lahno) 16 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2538 BUL 6.5 (B, defeated Jana Jackova) 17 IM Lomineishvili Maia 2400 GEO 6.5 18 WGM Demina Julia 2337 RUS 6.5 19 IM Repkova Eva 2381 SVK 6.5 20 IM Rajlich Iweta 2411 POL 6.5 72 Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE 5.0 (W, defeated WIM Popova Natalija 2239 BLR) In round 11, Narmin (B) faces FM Petra Schuurman (NED 2295), also with 5.0. It’s Lahno’s tournament to lose; behind (W) she will have her hands full with Ushenina (B). Interesting to note that of the top 16, five players won with the black pieces in Round 10.

2008 European Individual Chess Championships

Ladies' top standings after Round 9: 1 GM Lahno Kateryna 2479 UKR 7,0 (draw with Cramling) IM Ushenina Anna 2474 UKR 7,0 (draw with Muzychuk) 3 GM Cramling Pia 2539 SWE 7,0 (draw with Lahno) 4 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2450 UKR 7,0 with B, defeated Dembo; moved up from 5th to 4th, Dembo fell from 6th to 13th) 5 IM Skripchenko Almira 2443 FRA 7,0 (defeated Stefanova) 6 IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2466 LTU 6,5 (defeated Eva Moser, who fell from 21st to 35th) 7 IM Houska Jovanka 2390 ENG 6,5 8 IM Muzychuk Anna 2486 SLO 6,5 (draw with Ushenina) 9 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2421 RUS 6,5 10 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2470 RUS 6,5 11 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2413 ARM 6,0 12 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2443 GEO 6,0 13 IM Dembo Yelena 2429 GRE 6,0 (lost to Zhukova) 14 IM Danielian Elina 2479 ARM 6,0 15 WGM Stepovaia Tatiana 2378 RUS 6,0 16 WGM Melia Salome 2413 GEO 6,0 17 IM Lomineishvili Maia 2400 GEO 6,0 18 GM Peng Zhaoqin 2455 NED 6,0 19 WGM Voiska Margarita 2339 BUL 6,0 20 IM Socko Monika 2505 POL 6,0 21 WGM Zimina Olga 2363 ITA 6,0 22 WIM Nikoladze Sopio 2249 GEO 6,0 23 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2538 BUL 5,5 (Whoa! Stefanova lost with W to IM Almira Skripchenko (FRA 2443) who moved up from 7th place to 5th, and Stefanova fell from 8th all the way to 23rd!) 94 Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE 4,0 All right, good girl. She had a draw today behind B against WGM Marina Makropoulou (GRE 2254) and moved up from 100th to 94th. Tomorrow: Board 58: Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE 4,0/4,0 WIM Popova Natalija 2239 BLR Only two more rounds to go! I'm rooting for Kazimova to finish at 50%, which I think would be a great result for her against the competition she has faced in this event.

2008 Individual European Chess Championships

Standings after Round 8. It's obvious that at least some of the ladies came to play chess, and they're not content for draws hoping someone above them makes an "oops." Cramling made a move; so did Yelena Dembo (good for her). Round 11 is coming up fast! 1 GM Lahno Kateryna 2479 UKR 6,5 2 IM Ushenina Anna 2474 UKR 6,5 3 GM Cramling Pia 2539 SWE 6,5 4 IM Muzychuk Anna 2486 SLO 6,0 5 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2450 UKR 6,0 6 IM Dembo Yelena 2429 GRE 6,0 7 IM Skripchenko Almira 2443 FRA 6,0 8 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2538 BUL 5,5 9 IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2466 LTU 5,5 10 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2443 GEO 5,5 11 IM Houska Jovanka 2390 ENG 5,5 12 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2421 RUS 5,5 13 IM Danielian Elina 2479 ARM 5,5 14 WGM Voiska Margarita 2339 BUL 5,5 15 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2466 GEO 5,5 16 WIM Batsiashvili Nino 2304 GEO 5,5 17 WGM Melia Salome 2413 GEO 5,5 18 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2470 RUS 5,5 19 WGM Zawadzka Jolanta 2397 POL 5,5 20 IM Gvetadze Sopio 2350 GEO 5,5 21 IM Moser Eva 2395 AUT 5,5 100 Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE 3,5 Narmin was not able to win with W against WGM Anna Sharevich, and dropped more than halfway down the standings. Tomorrow in Round 9 she will be black: Board 57: WGM Makropoulou Marina 2254 GRE 3,5/3,5 Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE.

2008 European Individual Chess Championships

Here are the standings of the top 20 after Round 7: 1 GM Lahno Kateryna 2479 UKR 5,5 2 IM Muzychuk Anna 2486 SLO 5,5 3 IM Danielian Elina 2479 ARM 5,5 4 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2538 BUL 5,5 5 IM Ushenina Anna 2474 UKR 5,5 6 IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2466 LTU 5,5 7 GM Cramling Pia 2539 SWE 5,5 8 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2450 UKR 5,5 9 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2421 RUS 5,0 10 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2413 ARM 5,0 11 IM Houska Jovanka 2390 ENG 5,0 WGM Stepovaia Tatiana 2378 RUS 5,0 13 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2443 GEO 5,0 14 IM Dembo Yelena 2429 GRE 5,0 15 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2466 GEO 5,0 16 IM Skripchenko Almira 2443 FRA 5,0 17 WGM Melia Salome 2413 GEO 5,0 18 IM Moser Eva 2395 AUT 5,0 19 IM Peptan Corina-Isabela 2415 ROU 4,5 20 WIM Nemcova Katerina 2344 CZE 4,5 69 Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE 3,5 Narmin dropped in the standings after losing her Round 7 game, and is now at 50%. Let's see what she does with W in Round 8: Board 47: Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE 3,5/3,5 WGM Sharevich Anna 2311 BLR So far, there are no real surprises in the top 20. The usual crop of the higher rated players are settling in at the top. I would like to see Cramling make a move.

2008 European Individual Chess Championships

In Round 5, Kazimova lost behind the black pieces to Victoria Cmilyte, so Cmilyte moves to 4.5 and Kazimova stays on 3.5. I'll have the standings tonight. IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2466 LTU 3,5 1 - 0 3,5 Kazimova Narmin 2071 AZE