Holy Hathor! Abrahamyan Blew It!

Final standings 2016 U.S. Women's Chess Championship:

Tatev Abrahamyan had the championship in her hand and she blew it.  All she had to do was control her nerves and win a game over a lower rated player.  But she lost.

Final standings:

1.  Paikidze, Nazi  8.5/11
2.  Abrahamyan, Tatev  8.0/11
3.  Zatonskih, Anna 7.0/11
4.  Mencova, Katerina  6.5/11
5.  Foisor, Sabina-Francesca  6.5/11
6.  Krush, Irina  6.0/11
7.  Eswaran, Ashritha  5.5/11
8.  Yu, Jennifer R.  5.0/11
9.  Yip, Carissa  4.5/11
10.  Gorti, Akshita  4.0/11
11.  Bykovtsev, Agata  3.0/11

White	Evaluation	Black

1	WIM Eswaran, A. (4½) 2225	1-0	WGM Abrahamyan (8) 2342
2	GM Krush, Irina (6) 2465	0-1	IM Paikidze, N. (7½) 2346
3	IM Zatonskih, A. (6) 2470	1-0	Yip, Carissa (4½) 2164
4	WGM Foisor, S. (5½) 2258	1-0	WIM Bykovtsev, A. (3) 2219
5	FM Melekhina, A. (1½) 2205	0-1	WGM Nemcova, K. (5½) 2367
6	FM Gorti, A. (3½) 2184	½-½	WFM Yu, J. R. (4½) 2157

Coverage a Chess Champs.

This is what I wrote today at Facebook to one of my chess buddies, Ellen Wanek, who does a lot for chess in the Sheboygan area:

The U.S. Women's Chess Championship is taking place in St. Louis right now, today is the final round and it will be an exciting one. Tatev Abrahamyan is poised to win her first ever U.S. title but Nazi Paikidze is within striking distance at 7.5; she will have the black pieces against Irina Krush, who is in the uncomfortable position of third place with 6.0, and right behind her is Anna Zatonskih also with 6.0, but she will have a much easier match against a lower rated player. It's possible Paikidze could win her game and in the unlikely event Abrahamyan loses her game, could take the title! Or, if Abrahamyan draws, she and Paikidze would go to a play-off. So - lots of drama in store. I will be glued to my computer listening to the live coverage on U.S. Chess Champs.

What a blow to Krush, wow, dropping all the way to 6th place. And Zatonskih proved yet again how tough she is, a remarkable performance when she needed to pull it through. And so, we have a brand new U.S. Women's Chess Champion.

2016 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

And now, dear fans, please give a moment to listen to one of my favorite songs ever, by the one, the only, the incredible vocalist Miss Etta James, AT LAST:




Oh my goodness, Tatev, have you ever listened to this song?  You're way too young, you probably have no idea who the hell Eta James is, let alone ever heard her sing.  But the words, oh yes, those words in this song - so apt, so apropos to your situation these many years in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship!

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, who for the past several years has come so close - and yet been so far - from winning the title for herself, is now within reach of the PRIZE!  There is one more round to go - tomorrow, and it looks like Abrahamyan is on a MISSION FROM THE CHESS GODDESS to finally take that title for her own. At last - well, we'll see.  Can she do it?  Here are the standings after Round 10.

Final

Rank	Name	Score	M/F	Rating	TPR	W-We	Mutual	Col.Bal.	SB	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	8.0	M	2342	2524	+2.23	0.0	1	35.75	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	1
2	IM Paikidze, Nazi	7.5	M	2346	2452	+1.35	.	1	31.75	½	1	1	½	1	½	1	½	½	1
3	GM Krush, Irina	6.0	M	2465	2331	-1.54	.	-1	27.0	½	1	½	1	½	1	½	½	½	0
4	IM Zatonskih, Anna	6.0	M	2470	2349	-1.39	.	-1	24.75	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	0	0
5	WGM Nemcova, Katerina	5.5	M	2367	2319	-0.60	.	1	29.25	½	½	0	½	½	1	1	½	½	½
6	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	5.5	M	2258	2329	+0.94	.	1	25.0	½	0	½	1	½	0	1	1	½	½
7	WIM Eswaran, Ashritha	4.5	M	2225	2248	+0.23	.	-1	17.0	½	0	0	½	½	1	½	0	½	1
8	Yip, Carissa	4.5	M	2164	2241	+0.95	.	1	22.5	1	1	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	1
9	WFM Yu, Jennifer R	4.5	M	2157	2270	+1.38	.	1	18.75	½	0	½	1	0	0	0	1	½	1
10	FM Gorti, Akshita	3.5	M	2184	2196	+0.05	.	-1	12.25	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	½	0
11	WIM Bykovtsev, Agata	3.0	M	2219	2144	-1.07	.	-1	11.0	0	1	½	0	1	0	0	0	½	0
12	FM Melekhina, Alisa	1.5	M	2205	1987	-2.53	.	-1	8.0	½	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	½	0

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows on 24-04-2016 at 18:01

She's got a slim 0.5 lead over the next highest-point player, native Georgian player Nazi Paikidze, who moved to Baltimore to attend college at the University of Maryland-Baltimore and changed her chess federation from Georgia to the United States.  Paikidze finished second in the 2015 U.S. Women's Chess Championship.   

And the match-ups for tomorrow:

Pairings round 11 

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	5.5	2258	WIM Bykovtsev, Agata	3.0	2219
2	FM Melekhina, Alisa	1.5	2205	WGM Nemcova, Katerina	5.5	2367
3	GM Krush, Irina	6.0	2465	IM Paikidze, Nazi	7.5	2346
4	IM Zatonskih, Anna	6.0	2470	Yip, Carissa	4.5	2164
5	FM Gorti, Akshita	3.5	2184	WFM Yu, Jennifer R	4.5	2157
6	WIM Eswaran, Ashritha	4.5	2225	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	8.0	2342

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows on 24-04-2016 at 18:01

So, will we see something absolutely nutso happen like Abrahamyan losing to Eswaran Ashritha while Paikidze wins over Krush, thereby taking the title outright with 8.5/11 to Abrahamyan's 8.0/11?  I can't imagine Abrahamyan losing tomorrow's game but in this position, with that kind of pressure on, who the heck knows?  One might assume that Anna Zatonskih, currently in 4th place overall, will make it her business to defeat Carissa Yip, with the hope that Paikidze will either outright defeat Irina Krush (currently in 3rd place) or draw with her, thereby giving Zatonskih 3rd place, and it's money.  Both Krush and Zatonskih have something more than pride to play for in tomorrow's game.

Should be interesting.  You can watch the matches live at US Chess Champs online.  

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXIII April 9, 2016

Hola darlings.

A brief update.  Things are not yet back to normal (whatever that is) at Maison Newton, so I am still not back to blogging as my full-time "job" in retirement, but I wanted to let you know that WE BROKE A RECORD IN THE HALES CORNERS CHESS CHALLENGE XXIII!

YES YES YES!  There were twenty (20) chess femmes who entered this year's spring edition of the Hales Corners Chess Challenge, the most EVER!  And we also had the highest female player participation rates in both the Open and Reserve EVER!  There were 99 players, 20 of whom were females, for a female participation rate of 20%.  TWENTY PERCENT!

Yep, I know, I'm screaming in capitals.  Jumping up and down dancing in my chair peeing my panties happy screaming in capitals, people.

Even more impressive to me, though, a whopping seven (7) female players opted to play in the Open Section, where the highest and higher rated - and then there are the brave - players compete; and thirteen (13) female players participated in the Reserve Section.  I know for a fact that we've never had that many female players participate before in the Open and also pretty darn sure that we broke a record for female participation in the Reserve Section as well.  Now that's what I'm talking about!

Here they are, the names of the ladies who participated in both the Open and Reserve (U1600) Sections.  Goddesschess prize money won by the participants is noted in the parentheses. This information is direct from Robin Grochowski of the Southwest Chess Club:

Open Section (7 female players entered, 6 female players won prizes):
Rachel Ulrich ($100)
Anupama Rajendra ($100)
Ritika Pandey ($100)
Divya Pandey ($125)
Neha Mhaskar ($0)
Gauri Menon ($25)
Sandra Hoffman ($50)

Reserve Section (13 female players entered, 13 female players won prizes):
Simran Bhatia ($40)
Ashna Bansal ($20)
Naisha Bepar ($50)
Aradh Kaur ($60)
Radhika Gupta ($40)
Ellen Wanek ($60)
Madeline Weber ($120) (Winner of the Perfect Score award!!!)
Salli Ball ($20)
Megan Chen ($40)
Soumika Gaddameedi ($20)
Sarah Bevans ($20)
Sophie Taylor ($20)
Alexa Loomer ($20)

Free entries to HCC XXIV were won by Rachel Ulrich in the Open Section ($40) and Madeline Weber in the Reserve Section ($30), should they choose to play.

Here is a photo of all of the chess femmes who participated in the Reserve Section:

Cross-table information at the U.S. Chess Federation website.

I'm so happy, words cannot express my joy and my gratitude to all of the chess femmes who came out in support of this particular tournament, it meant SO much to me.  From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all.  I hope you will all participate in the Hales Corners Milwaukee Summer Challenge in June (2-day, 5-round event), and the Hales Corners Chess Challenge in October (1-day, 4-rounds).

"The Eight" Book Discussion at the World Chess Hall of Fame

Hola everyone.

Things are very busy here and I have been neglecting the blogs yet again. Sorry, I will try to do better but for at least the next few months but I don't see a change coming back to what used to be my normal life for some time yet.  I will have zero readers by the time that happens - assuming it does happen.

But I want to let you know about this, because I LOVE "THE EIGHT" -- reading this book, written by Katherine Neville, back in the 1980s literally changed my life.  In fact, I love this book SO much, I am seriously tempted to fly down to St. Louis and attend this book discussion at the World Chess Hall of Fame.  I could use a get-away before visiting my Goddesschess cohort Isis in Las Vegas later in May.  Dealing with delicate family matters and five younger siblings is, well - stressful.

It is scheduled for May 4, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. in the WCHOF building directly across from the building popularly called the St. Louis Chess Club, hosted by he Alternative Book Group.

Alternative Book Group: The Eight by Katherine Neville

Wednesday, May 4, 2016 | 6:30 P.M. | $5

The Eight is a tale of power, conspiracy and revenge, set in motion by a fortune-teller, a mysterious offer, and the quest for the Montglane Chess Service once owned by Charlemagne. Join us for a discussion of this post-modern thriller set in eighteenth century France and twentieth century Algiers. Enjoy activities and snacks inspired by the book and the many creative avenues that reading takes us down!

$5 at the Door | Free for WCHOF Members (If you haven’t finished the book you can still join the discussion, we’ll try to avoid spoilers!)

Refreshments provided. Reservations recommended. Metered on-street parking is available, as well as paid lots adjacent to Kingside Diner and at the Schlafly Library.

For more information email events@worldchesshof.org or click here or to reserve a spot.