Hello from the World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk

Hello everybody!

I'm in Khanty-Mansiysk right now. It's my first trip to this town and I'm already pretty impressed with what I saw today. During the opening ceremony that took place today the Governor of the Ugra Region - Alexander Filipenko told that this Cup is the general repetition before the Chess Olympiad 2010 which will take place here from September 19 till October 4, 2010.

Tomorrow is the first round of the World Cup. Boris Gelfand, ELO-favorite of the tournament, during the drawing of colors today picked the white pawn, that means all odd numbers will play white in the first round. I will start my match against Shakhriar Mamedyarov with the black pieces.

Below are some photos from the opening ceremony.

That's the welcome speech by the prime-minister of Russia Alexander Zhukov and the Governor of the Ugra region Alexander Filipenko.

Drawing of colors. Elo-favorite of the tournament Boris Gelfan picked the white pawn.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Flying to Moscow in a few moments

Hi to all!

I'm at the airport, flying in a few moments to Russia, where I will play lots of chess tournaments.

First in Moscow, thanks to my being the current Women's World Chess Champion, I have been invited to play in the strongest blitz chess tournament on the planet, the World Blitz Championship, where the strongest players on the planet will be playing, such as Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, Carlsen, Invanchuk, Ponomariov, Morozevich, Karpov, Grischuk, Karjakin... even the other ones are fantastic chess players. I will probably be the lowest rated player in the tournament, so that it's a wonderful opportunity for me, and means that I can only gain from it!

I will do my best, and hope I will be able to present you some new games on my YouTube channel, to complement the nice blitz or rapid wins I have had against some male Grandmasters such as Sutovsky 1, Sutovsky 2, Amanov, Korotylev, Almasi, Dlugy, Hracek, Tregubov, Potkin, and Balashov.

After the World Blitz Championship I will fly to Khanty-Mansiysk, to play in the World Cup, also with the world's best male chess players. More info here.

Best wishes!

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

World Chess Cup 2009

The World Chess Cup 2009 will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 20th November to 15th December. The regulations of this event can be found here.

There are two women who qualified for this strong event so far - me (by winning the women's world chess championship in 2008) and Hou Yifan by showing a very nice perfomance in the Open Asian Championship.

In total there will be 128 players which include: the World Champion, four semi-finalists from the World Cup 2007, the Women's World Champion, the World Junior U-20 Champions 2007 & 2008, twenty rated players, ninety players from the Continental Championships, six FIDE President nominees, four organiser nominees.

Some zonals and continental tournaments are under way right now or will be played during this year.



For the moment we have the following qualifiers:

a) From World Championship Match 2008:
1. Viswanathan Anand (IND - World Champion)

b) From World Cup 2007:
2. Gata Kamsky (USA)
3. Alexey Shirov (ESP)
4. Magnus Carlsen (NOR)
5. Sergey Karjakin (UKR)

c) Women's World Champion 2008:

6. Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS)

d) Junior World Champions 2007 & 2008:

7. Ahmed Adly (EGY)
8. A. Gupta (IND)

d) From FIDE Rating List, 20 players, average 7/2008 & 1/2009:

09. Veselin Topalov (BUL) 2786,50
10. Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) 2780,00
11. Alexander Morozevich (RUS) 2779,50
12. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 2773,50
13. Teimur Radjabov (AZE) 2752,50
14. Peter Leko (HUN) 2746,00
15. Levon Aronian (ARM) 2743,50
16. Sergei Movsesian (SVK) 2737,00
17. Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2734,50
18. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2733,00
19. Peter Svidler (RUS) 2730,50
20. Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2730,50
21. Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2726,50
22. M.ichael Adams (ENG) 2723,50
23. Ruslam Ponomariov (UKR) 2722,00
24. Wang Yue (CHN) 2721,50
25. Vugar Gashimov (AZE) 2720,00
26. Evgeny Alekseev (RUS) 2713,00
27. Lenier Dominguez Perez (CUB) 2712,50
28. Ni Hua (CHN) 2707,00

e) 90 players from the Continental and Zonal Championships 2008 & 2009.

So far we know the names from:

The Asia Continental Championship:

29. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND) 2625
30. Zhou Weiqi (CHN) 2563
31. Yu Yangyi (CHN) 2433
32. Yu Shaoteng (CHN) 2504
33. Le Quang Liem (VIE) 2591
34. Antonio Rogelio Jr (PHI) 2518
35. Hou Yifan (CHN) 2590
36. Zhou Jianchao (CHN) 2635
37. Chanda Sandipan (IND) 2558
38. Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) 2682

From Zonal 2.4

39. Alexandr Fier (BRA) 2595
40. Rafael Leitao (BRA) 2590

US Chess Championship

41. Hikaru Nakamura (USA)
42. Robert Hess (USA)
43. Alexander Onischuk (USA)
44. Varuzhan Akobian (USA)
45. Yury Shulman (USA)

Winner of the Pan American Chess Championship 2008

46. Jaan Ehlvest

Zonal 3.5

47. Zhou Jianchao
48. Wang Hao

European Individual Chess Championship 2008 :

49. Tiviakov Sergei (NED) 2634
50. Movsesian Sergei (SVK) 2695
51. Volkov Sergey (RUS) 2633
52. Tregubov Pavel (RUS) 2629
53. L'Ami Erwin (NED) 2600
54. Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (FRA) 2632
55. Grachev Boris (RUS) 2610
56. Baklan Vladimir (UKR) 2647
57. Kryvoruchko Yuriy (UKR) 2612
58. Nyback Tomi (FIN) 2587
59. Sutovsky Emil (ISR) 2630
60. Laznicka Viktor (CZE) 2578
61. Pavasovic Dusko (SLO) 2595
62. Efimenko Zahar (UKR) 2660
63. Papaioannou Ioannis (GRE) 2566
64. Khalifman Alexander (RUS) 2628
65. Najer Evgeniy (RUS) 2627
66. Fressinet Laurent (FRA) 2656
67. Smirin Ilia (ISR) 2630
68. Bologan Viktor (MDA) 2665
69. Gustafsson Jan (GER) 2603
70. Sargissian Gabriel (ARM) 2643
71. Andreikin Dmitry (RUS) 2580

European Individual Chess Championship 2009 :

72. Ivan Sokolov (NED) 2657
73. Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS) 2656
74. Arkadij Naiditsch (GER) 2693
75. Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2664
76. David Navara (CZE) 2638
77. Vladimir Malakhov (RUS) 2692
78. Boris Grachev (RUS) 2655
79. Baadur Jobava (GEO) 2669
80. Mikhail Kobalia (RUS) 2634
81. Gadir Guseinov (AZE) 2661
82. Tomi Nyback (FIN) 2644
83. Georg Meier (GER) 2608
84. Friso Nijboer (NED) 2559
85. Sergey Fedorchuk (UKR) 2633
86. Artyom Timofeev (RUS) 2671
87. Sanan Sjugirov (RUS) 2562
88. Mateusz Bartel (POL) 2594
89. Rauf Mamedov (AZE) 2638
90. Konstantin Sakaev (RUS)
91. Nikita Vitiugov (RUS)
92. Tigran L Petrosian (ARM)
93. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROU)
94. Constantin Lupulescu (ROU)
95. Alexander Motylev (RUS)

As you will notice there are some players who qualified for the World Cup more than once, these extra qualifiyng spots will go to the reserve players.

I will update the list as soon as we know all the names of the participants.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion
www.chessblog.com