2015 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship

Hola darlings!

I missed it all - and didn't miss it at all, to tell you the truth.  I think the knock-out format is a joke and is not a true measure of the relative skills of the players.  Oh well.

The event was held in Sochi; I hope the Russian army was not out killing stray dogs like they did before the Olympics.  Official website has photos galore and daily reports/interviews, along with round by round results, video, and the games.

U.S. players were Tatev Abrahamyan and Irina Krush; Tatev got knocked out in the first round by India's Dronavalli Harika and Krush got knocked out in the second found, also by Harika.  Harika rendered an excellent performance, making it all the way to the semi-finals before being knocked out by Mariya Muzychuk; likewise, veteran player Pia Cramling (one of the first female players to earn a GM title in the 1980s in the traditional way) made it to the semi-finals and lost to Natalia Pogonina.  The semi-finals devolved into tense tie-break battles to determine who advanced:

Semifinal pairings / results Player Fed Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2526 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 3.5 Harika, Dronavalli IND 2492 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 2.5 Player Fed Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts Cramling, Pia SWE 2495 1 0 ½ 0 1.5 Pogonina, Natalia RUS 2456 0 1 ½ 1 2.5

Pogonina went to the final round and lost to Muzychuk, who is now the 15th FIDE Women's World Chess Champion.

Final rairings / results Player Fed Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts Pogonina, Natalia RUS 2456 ½ 0 ½ ½           1.5 Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2526 ½ 1 ½ ½           2.5

Congratulations to GM Mariya Muzychuk.

From the FIDE website, here is the prize structure:

3. 9. Prizes for the Women’s World Championship 
3. 9. 1. Prize list
1st round 32 losers x 3.750 = 120.000
2nd round 16 losers x 5.500 = 88.000
3rd round 8 losers x 8.000 = 64.000
4th round 4 losers x 12.000 = 48.000
5th round 2 losers x 20.000 = 40.000
6th round 1 loser x 30.000 = 30.000
Women’s World Champion = 60.000
TOTAL: 450.000 USD

Evidently the knock-out championship was planned to be held in 2014, with a Women's World Championship "match" to be held this year in October.  Oops!

According to the FIDE website, bidding on the Women's World Championship "match" is open until April 20, 2015, with a minimum prize fund of $200,000 and various bribes administrative fees to FIDE, etc.  Well, who knows, somebody could bid on it and it could actually happen, and then Mariya Muzychuk would have to defend her title six months after winning it!

Chess Femme News! Checking In on the Chess Femme Blogs

A trip around the internet, visiting some of my favorite chess blogs by chess femmes!

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess blog:

October 4, 2011
Make a difference - you can contribute to Peace and Sport/Chess for Leadership and Creativity

October 4, 2011
GM Vassily Ivanchuk and his wife robbed at gun-point in Sao Paolo, just as they going to the airport to go to Bilbao, Spain, to finish the second half of the Grand Slam.  Mrs. Ivanchuk's passport was in one of the stolen suitcases.  Fortunately, neither GM nor Mrs. Ivanchuk were injured although, of course, both were quite shaken up by this horrible incident, just 20 yards from the hotel they had stayed in, in a "safe" area of Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Well, nowhere is safe, these days, is it? 

I can't help it - the first question that came to my mind was - who put those thieves up to this?  That GM Ivanchuk suffers from "nerves" is well-known for years.  Something like this could send him over the edge in the second half of the Grand Slam, and his wife has to travel back to their home country in order to get a new passport.  No one could possibly seriously believe that anyone would be carrying money in a suitcase - not these days!  So - what really was the goal of these thieves?  Just saying...

October 1, 2011
Strategic chess puzzle for chess-y weekend.
Video:  Chess Puzzle:  Kosteniuk v. Shen Yang (2008 Beijing).  Excellent! 

GM Susan Polgar's chess blog:

October 4, 2011
Inaugural Lecture at World Chess Hall of Fame

Dr. George Dean and GM Susan
Polgar at World Chess Hall of Fame,
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Dr. George Dean will give a lecture on his unparalleled collection of chess memorabilia.

“Chess Masterpieces: One Thousand Years of Extraordinary Chess Sets,” will explore the history and significance of Dr. Dean’s extensive collection.

For more than 50 years, Dr. Dean and his wife Vivian have traveled the world acquiring rare, beautiful and culturally significant chess sets, including those currently on view in the World Chess Hall of Fame’s second floor exhibition, Chess Masterpieces: Highlights from the Dr. George and Vivian Dean Collection.
October 3, 2011
Zambinian Teenager Shines at Botswana Invitational Ladies Section
Zambian chess whiz kid, 18-year-old Epah Tembo has won the Botswana International Invitation Ladies Section in style, after emerging unscathed after nine rounds, and sweeping aside a strong field of Botswana national team players.

October 2, 2011
Chess' Greatest Challenge: Girls
In the world of chess, boys are always in, but U.S. Chess Federation numbers confirm girls are out the minute they hit the teens.

IM Jen Shahade's blog (hint: she keeps her Facebook more current):

September 17, 2011
Autumn Means Running
Autumn invigorates me to a comical extent. I actually find myself spontaneously running in heels from place to place during this season. The energy was useful last week as I just got back from the opening of the fabulous new World Chess Hall of Fame in Saint Louis. I also hosted commentary for a special team event in honor of the opening, K v Q: A Battle of the Sexes.

WGM Natalia Pogonina's chess blog:

October 4, 2011
Avoiding Fatigue During Tournaments
We often hear or say ourselves that “I got tired, and my brain went dead”; “I was tired and blundered”, “I didn’t have enough energy left for the last few rounds”.

Liz Vicary's Blog:
No kidding, Liz Vicary is one of my favorite people.  She's so damn passionate and erudite, and she loves the kids she teaches 2000 percent!  She's also incredibly witty.

October 3, 2011
IS 218 Fund Raising Drive - Please Help! (Of course I will, and I hope YOU will too, readers.  Please please please, every dollar will help, and I know it will be used efficiently, not going to overhead and bureaucracy nonsense.)
Please help support IS 318's chess team. Our funding has been cut every year for several years now, and it's at the point that we have tomake really fundamental cuts. We won't be able to take many students to Nationals or go to many of the tournaments we regularly win/do well in (the Marshall, the NY State Championship, Girls Nationals, High School Nationals, Elementary Nationals).

87% of our students live below the poverty line, which is currrently $22,000 for a family of four. That's even harder to live on in New York City than in the rest of the country. The money you donate will give these kids enriching educational experiences they would not otherwise be able to afford. Because we bring so many kids to tournament and I work on salary, your donated dollar is spent extremely efficiently and goes really far.

Chess Femme Interviews

Our friends at Chessdom do a creditable job of presenting interviews with female players.  I just visited Chessdom this evening and found three new interviews:

Interview with WGM Irina Sudakova
Irina Sudakova is organizer of Chigorin Memorial

Interview with IM Martha Fierro
Top board of CS Fischer Chieti at the ECC 2010
(Video)

Natalia Pogonina Interviewed
by Radio Xadrez
(Pogonina is currently tied for first place in the 60th Russian Women Super Finals after Round 5, with six more rounds to go)
I may have already published a link to this interview -

Links for You ---

Sorry - it's one of those weeks. 'Normal' may return by mid-week next week. Starting tomorrow through Monday will be absolutely crazy personally, including my very first every OTB chess tournament, so please bear with me, darlings :)

Here is a selection of links to stories I hope you will enjoy:

Indianexpress.com
Tarini wins national chess title
Posted: Mon Oct 11 2010, 01:17 hrs
Posted by Chandigarh
Adding another feather to her cap, Tarini Goyal, the chess prodigy from Chandigarh, won the title in the 24th Under-9 Girls National Chess Championship played at Ahmedabad. Tarini, a Class IV student of Sacred Heart School, scored 10 points in the 11-round tournament.

Check out Pogonina at Chessbase.com:
Sexy and smart: Natalia on Brazilian Radio Xadrez
11.10.2010 – She is beautiful, smart, fun and super strong in chess. We are talking about the WGM Natalia Andreevna Pogonina, 25 years old, a resident of Saratov in Russia. At 2491 Elo points (she's had up to 2501), she defended the #1 board of Russia-2 in the Chess Olympics. Now Natalia, a law student, has given an indepth interview on different aspects of her life.

Perhaps the most exsquisite silk made in ancient China, "jili" silk, may soon go the way of the dinosaur. How absolutely fricking sad. This silk was traded along the ancient Silk Road, that introduced games from the east into the west, and games from the west into the East.  Hey - China - can't you learn from the mistakes of countries that entered the "industrial age" 150 years before you, heh? Geez!
From The New York Times:
Silk Craft Fades in Village That Clothed Emperors
By EDWARD WONG
Published: October 11, 2010