2012 Chess Olympiad

The Turkish Chess Federation is once again hosting a major FIDE event.  Next month, after the Olympiad finishes, Turkey will be host to another FIDE Women's Grand Prix! 

Do you remember who won the 2010 Chess Olympiad?  I didn't!  To refresh your memory, here are the top ten finishers from the "Open" (a/k/a Men's) and Women's Teams:

Open:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2		Ukraine	UKR	11	8	3	0	19	380.5	31	143
2	1		Russia 1	RUS1	11	8	2	1	18	379.5	28	157
3	11		Israel	ISR	11	7	3	1	17	367.5	29	148
4	5		Hungary	HUN	11	8	1	2	17	355.5	26.5	157
5	3		China	CHN	11	7	2	2	16	362	29	147
6	4		Russia 2	RUS2	11	8	0	3	16	355	29.5	144
7	6		Armenia	ARM	11	7	2	2	16	345	27	147
8	16		Spain	ESP	11	7	2	2	16	332	28.5	137
9	9		United States of America	USA	11	7	2	2	16	315.5	27	141
10	10		France	FRA	11	6	4	1	16	311.5	25	149

Women's:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	1		Russia 1	RUS1	11	11	0	0	22	439.5	34	147
2	2		China	CHN	11	9	0	2	18	386.5	31.5	146
3	4		Georgia	GEO	11	7	2	2	16	384	29	155
4	18		Cuba	CUB	11	8	0	3	16	348.5	30	136
5	6		United States of America	USA	11	7	2	2	16	336.5	28.5	140
6	10		Poland	POL	11	7	2	2	16	336	29.5	132
7	26		Azerbaijan	AZE	11	8	0	3	16	320	28	136
8	12		Bulgaria	BUL	11	7	2	2	16	296.5	24.5	147
9	3		Ukraine	UKR	11	7	1	3	15	366.5	28.5	156
10	5		Russia 2	RUS2	11	6	3	2	15	335.5	26.5	152

 I do have vague recollections that the USA Men's Team had been expected to do pretty darn well, perhaps even medal.  Wrong!  The USA Women's Team was good, but they were outgunned by Russia, China and Georgia.  However, to see Cuba finish ahead of them - oy!  Still, they played tough and the didn't lay down.

2010's Women's Team was composed of IM Irina Krush, IM Anna Zatonskih, WFM Tatev Abrahamyan, WGM Camille Baginskaite, and WGM Sabina Foisor.  The 2012 Women's Team is composed of IM Anna Zatonskih, IM Irina Krush, WGM Sabina Foisor, IM Rusudan Goletiani, and WGM Tatev Abrahamyan.  A little rearranging, Baginskaite swapped out for Goletiani.  USA Women are ready to rock. 

GM Judit Polgar is on the Hungarian Open Team, I assume she will be playing Board 3.  As far as I can tell, she is the only female playing on an Open team for this Olympiad.

I was shocked to see that GM Koneru Humpy is NOT playing on either Indian team.  Neither is GM Vishy Anand.

Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow, play will start on August 28th.  Who will win medals in 2012?  I've no idea, LOL!

Official Olympiad website.

2012 Indian Women's Chess Championship

The Amity 39th National Women Challengers Chess Championship-2012 has finished!  Is Tamilnadu becoming the new Indian powerhouse for producing chessplayers?  Report.  Here are the final standings after R11 (Hint: see photo for winner):

Rk.			Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1			Michelle Catherina P	IND	2079	TN	9.0	65.5	60.5	58.0
2		WIM	Priya P	IND	2167	TN	8.0	70.5	64.5	63.0
3		WFM	Saranya J	IND	2140	TN	8.0	70.0	64.0	62.5
4		WFM	Swati Mohota	IND	2025	WB	7.5	73.0	67.0	64.0
5		WFM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	2058	TN	7.5	72.5	67.0	63.5
6		WFM	Bharathi R	IND	2083	TN	7.5	71.5	66.0	62.5
7			Nimmy A G	IND	2195	KER	7.5	70.0	64.5	61.0
8		WFM	Chandika Divyasree	IND	2218	AP	7.5	68.5	62.5	61.0
9		WFM	Pujari Rucha	IND	2210	MAH	7.5	67.5	62.0	60.0
10		WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2126	MAH	7.5	67.0	61.5	59.5
11			Cholleti Sahajasri	IND	2049	AP	7.5	66.5	61.5	58.5
12			Rajasurya J	IND	1957	TN	7.5	65.0	61.0	57.0
13			Harini S	IND	2029	TN	7.5	64.5	59.0	57.0
14			Mokal Amruta Sunil	IND	2073	MAH	7.0	70.0	64.5	61.0
15			Roy Pallabi	IND	1946	WB	7.0	68.0	62.5	60.0
16			Salini R	IND	1823	AP	7.0	67.0	61.5	59.0
17		WFM	Kotepalli Sai Nirupama	IND	1958	AP	7.0	64.5	59.0	56.5
18		WFM	Raghavi N	IND	2101	TN	7.0	62.5	57.0	55.0
19		WFM	Ramya Krishna I	IND	2128	AP	7.0	62.5	57.0	54.5
20			Lasya G	IND	1993	AP	7.0	61.5	56.5	54.0
21			A Akshaya	IND	2016	TN	7.0	60.5	55.5	53.0
22		WCM	Tejaswini Sagar	IND	1718	MAH	6.5	68.5	63.0	61.0
23			Varshini V	IND	1909	TN	6.5	67.0	61.5	59.5
24			Shweta Gole	IND	1984	MAH	6.5	66.0	61.5	58.0
25		WCM	Savant Riya	IND	1868	GOA	6.5	64.5	59.5	57.0
26			Sandhya G	IND	1713	AP	6.5	62.5	58.0	55.0
27			Hinduja Reddy	IND	1791	AP	6.5	61.0	57.0	53.0
28		WFM	Mitali Madhukar Patil	IND	1912	MAH	6.5	59.5	55.0	51.5
29			Pushpalata Mangal	IND	1846	MAH	6.5	58.5	54.0	49.5
30			Bala Kannamma P	IND	1996	TN	6.5	58.0	53.0	51.5
31			Anjana Krishna S	IND	1881	KER	6.0	67.0	61.5	58.0
32			Aparajita Gochhikar	IND	1849	ORI	6.0	66.5	61.5	58.5
33			Meenu Rajendran	IND	1967	KER	6.0	64.0	59.0	56.5
34			Priya Vss	IND	1795	AP	6.0	64.0	59.0	56.5
35			Ardra V H	IND	1812	KER	6.0	61.0	56.5	53.5
36			Shiny Das	IND	1786	TRI	6.0	60.5	56.0	53.0
37			Akhade Vaishnavi	IND	1609	MAH	6.0	59.5	55.5	52.0
38			Aakasha	IND	1620	BIH	6.0	59.0	55.0	51.5
39			Madhuri M Patil	IND	2014	MAH	6.0	58.5	53.5	51.0
40			Anigani Kavya	IND	1709	AP	6.0	57.0	52.5	50.0
41			Chandreyee Hajra	IND	1682	WB	6.0	56.5	52.5	48.5
42			Kesshni Bhasiin	IND	1594	DEL	6.0	56.0	52.5	48.5
43			Meghna Upadhyay	IND	1578	MP	6.0	55.5	51.0	48.5
44			Jayashree P Sankpal	IND	1735	LIC	6.0	51.0	46.5	45.0
45			Madhurima Shekhar	IND	1963	DEL	5.5	66.0	61.0	57.0
46			Meghna C H	IND	1779	KER	5.5	65.5	60.5	56.5
47			Smaraki Mohanty	IND	1771	ORI	5.5	65.0	60.0	56.0
48			Supriya Joshi	IND	1815	MAH	5.5	63.0	58.5	55.5
49			Arunima Kalra	IND	1871	DEL	5.5	60.0	55.0	52.5
50			Minki Sinha	IND	1822	BIH	5.5	59.5	55.0	52.0
51			Manasa H R	IND	1653	KAR	5.5	59.0	54.5	52.0
52			Matta Theja Sahhethhe	IND	1631	AP	5.5	57.0	53.5	50.0
53			Pammi Rani	IND	1574	BIH	5.5	57.0	52.5	49.5
54			Anshul Kaushik	IND	1591	HAR	5.5	56.5	52.5	48.5
55			Shweta Priyadarshini	IND	1583	UP	5.5	56.5	52.0	48.5
56			Vaibhavi Thakur	IND	1598	HAR	5.5	56.0	52.0	48.5
57			Sushmita Lama	IND	1559	SIK	5.5	55.5	51.5	48.5
58			Pranisha Gurung	IND	0	SIK	5.5	50.0	46.0	44.0
59			Vantika Agrawal	IND	1458	DEL	5.0	64.0	58.5	56.5
60			Radhika Devi Chavali	IND	1432	LIC	5.0	53.5	50.0	46.0
61			Ravneet Kaur	IND	0	PUN	5.0	52.0	47.5	45.5
62			Hada Nancy	IND	1344	DEL	5.0	51.5	49.0	44.0
63			Kaur Palkin	IND	1371	DEL	5.0	51.5	47.5	45.0
64			Pratiksha Pandey	IND	1316	MP	5.0	47.5	45.0	41.5
65			Apoorva Sharma	IND	0	PUN	5.0	47.5	45.0	40.5
66			Rama Balhara	IND	0	HAR	5.0	47.5	43.5	41.5
67			Kritvee Kapoor	IND	0	DEL	5.0	44.5	42.0	38.0
68			Shweta	IND	1544	CGH	4.5	58.0	54.0	49.0
69			Vaishnavi Thakur	IND	1530	HAR	4.5	54.5	50.0	47.5
70			Vaishnavi MSL	IND	0	AP	4.5	54.0	50.0	47.5
71			Jesica	IND	0	DEL	4.5	52.5	48.5	46.0
72			Kumari Shristi	IND	1421	BIH	4.5	52.0	48.0	44.5
73			Gurpreet Kaur	IND	1512	PUN	4.5	52.0	48.0	44.5
74			Shruti Kakar	IND	1177	DEL	4.5	48.0	44.0	41.5
75			Khusboo Bari	IND	0	BIH	4.5	47.5	44.0	41.5
76			Gurung Pushpa	IND	0	SIK	4.5	47.5	43.5	41.5
77			Shailaja M	IND	0	AP	4.0	53.5	49.0	46.5
78			S Jayaseeli	IND	0	LIC	4.0	53.0	49.0	45.5
79			Shah Anila Kishorekumar	IND	1551	GUJ	4.0	52.0	48.0	44.5
80			Janaki Devi M	IND	1349	AP	4.0	51.0	47.0	44.5
81			Arundhati Brahmachari	IND	0	LIC	4.0	49.5	45.5	43.0
82			Rai Supriya	IND	0	SIK	4.0	47.0	43.5	41.0
83			Namrata Sharma	IND	0	HP	4.0	46.0	43.0	39.0
84			Gole Vaishnavi	IND	1409	MAH	4.0	45.5	42.0	38.5
85			Sagnika Pratihari	IND	0	ORI	4.0	45.0	42.5	38.5
86			Shreya Sharma	IND	0	SIK	4.0	44.5	42.0	39.0
87			Ria Dawar	IND	0	DEL	4.0	43.5	40.0	37.5
88			Satabdi Majumder	IND	0	TRI	3.5	48.0	44.5	42.0
89			Arti Kapoor	IND	0	DEL	3.5	39.5	37.0	33.5
90			Priyanka Sahoo	IND	0	ORI	3.0	45.0	41.5	39.5
91			Amritpal Kaur Kang	IND	0	PUN	3.0	40.5	38.0	35.0
92			Ananya Aggarwal	IND	0	UTT	3.0	40.5	38.0	33.5
93			Richa Savant	IND	0	GOA	3.0	39.0	36.5	33.5
94			Rathore Sonakshi	IND	1987	RAJ	2.5	53.0	48.0	46.5
95			Saranya Sivani Varma	IND	0	AP	2.5	41.0	38.5	34.5
96			Sonal Parmar	IND	0	HP	2.5	40.5	38.0	34.5
97			Anushree Aggarwal	IND	0	UTT	1.5	35.5	33.0	28.0
98			Arushi Kotwal	IND	0	J & K	0.0	55.0	49.5	49.5
			Hoinu Lhouvum	IND	0	MAN	0.0	55.0	49.5	49.5
			Ritika Nag	IND	0	ASM	0.0	55.0	49.5	49.5

Congratulations to P. Michelle Catherina for her victory and impressive score of 9.0/11! She is about 16 years old (date of birth 1996 per FIDE information). 

2012 Indian Women's Chess Championship

The Amity 39th National Women Challengers Chess Championship-2012 has reached Round 10, with one more round to go.  Tomorrow will determine the new female champion.  Here are standings after R10:

Rk.			Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1			Michelle Catherina P	IND	2079	TN	8.0	55.5	50.5	48.0
2		WFM	Bharathi R	IND	2083	TN	7.5	58.5	53.0	50.5
3			Nimmy A G	IND	2195	KER	7.5	56.5	51.5	49.0
4		WFM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	2058	TN	7.0	60.5	55.0	52.5
5		WFM	Saranya J	IND	2140	TN	7.0	58.5	53.0	51.0
6		WIM	Priya P	IND	2167	TN	7.0	57.5	52.0	50.5
7		WFM	Swati Mohota	IND	2025	WB	7.0	56.5	51.5	48.5
8		WFM	Chandika Divyasree	IND	2218	AP	7.0	55.0	50.0	47.5
9			Cholleti Sahajasri	IND	2049	AP	7.0	53.0	48.0	46.0
10		WFM	Ramya Krishna I	IND	2128	AP	7.0	49.0	44.5	42.5
11			Roy Pallabi	IND	1946	WB	6.5	58.5	53.0	51.0
12		WFM	Pujari Rucha	IND	2210	MAH	6.5	57.0	51.5	49.5
13			Mokal Amruta Sunil	IND	2073	MAH	6.5	56.0	51.0	48.0
14		WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2126	MAH	6.5	54.5	49.5	47.5
15			Harini S	IND	2029	TN	6.5	51.5	46.5	44.5
16			Rajasurya J	IND	1957	TN	6.5	50.5	47.5	43.5
17		WCM	Savant Riya	IND	1868	GOA	6.5	50.5	45.5	44.0
18			Sandhya G	IND	1713	AP	6.5	49.0	45.0	42.5
19			Hinduja Reddy	IND	1791	AP	6.5	49.0	45.0	42.0
20		WFM	Mitali Madhukar Patil	IND	1912	MAH	6.5	48.0	43.5	41.0
21			Salini R	IND	1823	AP	6.0	56.0	51.0	49.0
22			Anjana Krishna S	IND	1881	KER	6.0	56.0	51.0	48.0
23		WFM	Kotepalli Sai Nirupama	IND	1958	AP	6.0	53.5	49.0	46.0
24			Lasya G	IND	1993	AP	6.0	53.0	48.5	46.0
25			Meenu Rajendran	IND	1967	KER	6.0	53.0	48.0	45.5
26		WFM	Raghavi N	IND	2101	TN	6.0	52.0	47.0	45.0
27			Madhuri M Patil	IND	2014	MAH	6.0	49.5	44.5	42.5
28			A Akshaya	IND	2016	TN	6.0	49.0	45.0	42.5
29			Anigani Kavya	IND	1709	AP	6.0	47.5	43.5	41.0
30		WCM	Tejaswini Sagar	IND	1718	MAH	5.5	58.5	53.0	51.0
31			Varshini V	IND	1909	TN	5.5	58.0	52.5	50.5
32			Aparajita Gochhikar	IND	1849	ORI	5.5	57.0	52.0	50.0
33			Shweta Gole	IND	1984	MAH	5.5	55.5	51.0	48.5
34			Smaraki Mohanty	IND	1771	ORI	5.5	55.0	50.0	47.0
35			Meghna C H	IND	1779	KER	5.5	54.5	50.0	46.5
36			Madhurima Shekhar	IND	1963	DEL	5.5	54.0	49.5	46.0
37			Supriya Joshi	IND	1815	MAH	5.5	53.5	49.0	46.0
38			Ardra V H	IND	1812	KER	5.5	48.5	44.0	42.0
39			Bala Kannamma P	IND	1996	TN	5.5	48.5	43.5	42.0
40			Akhade Vaishnavi	IND	1609	MAH	5.5	48.0	44.0	41.0
41			Minki Sinha	IND	1822	BIH	5.5	48.0	43.5	41.0
42			Pushpalata Mangal	IND	1846	MAH	5.5	47.0	43.0	39.0
43			Chandreyee Hajra	IND	1682	WB	5.5	46.5	42.5	39.5
44			Matta Theja Sahhethhe	IND	1631	AP	5.5	45.5	43.0	39.0
45			Anshul Kaushik	IND	1591	HAR	5.5	44.0	40.5	37.0
46			Vantika Agrawal	IND	1458	DEL	5.0	54.5	49.5	47.5
47			Priya Vss	IND	1795	AP	5.0	52.0	48.0	45.0
48			Shiny Das	IND	1786	TRI	5.0	51.0	46.5	44.0
49			Aakasha	IND	1620	BIH	5.0	50.5	46.5	43.5
50			Vaibhavi Thakur	IND	1598	HAR	5.0	46.5	42.5	40.0
51			Meghna Upadhyay	IND	1578	MP	5.0	46.5	42.5	39.5
52			Kesshni Bhasiin	IND	1594	DEL	5.0	46.0	43.5	38.5
53			Pammi Rani	IND	1574	BIH	5.0	44.5	41.0	38.0
54			Jayashree P Sankpal	IND	1735	LIC	5.0	43.0	39.0	37.0
55			Radhika Devi Chavali	IND	1432	LIC	5.0	42.0	39.5	35.5
56			Kaur Palkin	IND	1371	DEL	5.0	42.0	38.5	35.5
57			Ravneet Kaur	IND	0	PUN	5.0	42.0	38.0	35.5
58			Hada Nancy	IND	1344	DEL	5.0	41.0	38.5	34.0
59			Manasa H R	IND	1653	KAR	4.5	51.5	47.0	44.5
60			Arunima Kalra	IND	1871	DEL	4.5	48.5	44.5	41.0
61			Shweta	IND	1544	CGH	4.5	47.5	44.0	39.5
62			Sushmita Lama	IND	1559	SIK	4.5	47.0	43.0	40.0
63			Shweta Priyadarshini	IND	1583	UP	4.5	46.0	42.0	39.0
64			Jesica	IND	0	DEL	4.5	45.0	41.5	38.5
65			Vaishnavi Thakur	IND	1530	HAR	4.5	45.0	41.0	38.5
66			Vaishnavi MSL	IND	0	AP	4.5	44.0	40.5	37.5
67			Pranisha Gurung	IND	0	SIK	4.5	40.5	37.0	35.0
68			Shruti Kakar	IND	1177	DEL	4.5	39.0	36.0	33.5
69			Shailaja M	IND	0	AP	4.0	45.0	40.5	39.0
70			Gurpreet Kaur	IND	1512	PUN	4.0	43.0	40.0	36.0
71			Janaki Devi M	IND	1349	AP	4.0	43.0	39.0	37.5
72			Kumari Shristi	IND	1421	BIH	4.0	42.5	39.5	35.5
73			Arundhati Brahmachari	IND	0	LIC	4.0	40.5	37.0	34.0
74			Apoorva Sharma	IND	0	PUN	4.0	39.5	37.0	33.0
75			Rai Supriya	IND	0	SIK	4.0	39.5	36.5	34.0
76			Khusboo Bari	IND	0	BIH	4.0	39.0	35.5	33.5
77			Pratiksha Pandey	IND	1316	MP	4.0	38.5	36.0	33.0
78			Gurung Pushpa	IND	0	SIK	4.0	38.5	35.5	32.5
79			Rama Balhara	IND	0	HAR	4.0	38.0	35.0	32.5
80			Kritvee Kapoor	IND	0	DEL	4.0	34.5	32.5	29.0
81			Shah Anila Kishorekumar	IND	1551	GUJ	3.5	42.5	39.5	35.0
82			Satabdi Majumder	IND	0	TRI	3.5	41.0	38.0	35.5
83			Sagnika Pratihari	IND	0	ORI	3.5	37.0	35.0	31.5
84			Gole Vaishnavi	IND	1409	MAH	3.5	37.0	34.5	31.0
85			Ria Dawar	IND	0	DEL	3.5	35.0	32.5	30.0
86			S Jayaseeli	IND	0	LIC	3.0	44.5	40.5	38.0
87			Namrata Sharma	IND	0	HP	3.0	39.0	36.0	33.0
88			Priyanka Sahoo	IND	0	ORI	3.0	37.0	34.5	31.5
89			Shreya Sharma	IND	0	SIK	3.0	37.0	34.5	31.5
90			Amritpal Kaur Kang	IND	0	PUN	3.0	32.5	30.5	27.0
91			Rathore Sonakshi	IND	1987	RAJ	2.5	45.0	40.5	38.5
92			Arti Kapoor	IND	0	DEL	2.5	34.5	32.0	28.5
93			Sonal Parmar	IND	0	HP	2.5	33.5	31.5	28.0
94			Richa Savant	IND	0	GOA	2.5	31.5	29.5	26.0
95			Saranya Sivani Varma	IND	0	AP	2.0	34.0	32.0	27.5
96			Ananya Aggarwal	IND	0	UTT	2.0	30.0	28.0	24.0
97			Anushree Aggarwal	IND	0	UTT	1.5	29.0	27.0	22.5
98			Arushi Kotwal	IND	0	J & K	0.0	45.0	40.0	40.0
			Hoinu Lhouvum	IND	0	MAN	0.0	45.0	40.0	40.0
			Ritika Nag	IND	0	ASM	0.0	45.0	40.0	40.0

I was struck by the irony of this photograph from the blog coverage of news from the Championship, showing a giant mural of GM Koneru Humpy hovering over the players in the background. Humpy has not played for the women's national title for several years. I understand her reasoning for not playing, but at the same time, I think it's very sad for India.

From delhichess.com coverage.