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Friday, January 27, 2012
European Women's Chess Championship - Classical, Rapid and Blitz - in Gaziantep, Turkey from March 1
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hello everyone,
The Government of Turkey, the Turkish Chess Federation (TCF) and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality are organizing the European Individual, Rapid and Blitz Women's Chess Championship 2012 which will take place in Gaziantep, Türkiye, from 1st March (Arrival) to 19th March(Departure) 2012.
The 13th European individual chess championship for women is open to all players representing the Chess Federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.10) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation. You can access the official website here. *Accomodation FormRegistration Form for PlayersRegistration Form for Acc. Persons *In order to provide appropriate tournament conditions, the Federations must complete the official registration form carefully and send it back to the organizing committee (melihsgt@gmail.com) until 14th February 2012. Any other form will not be accepted.
Gaziantep is the probable site of the Hellenistic city of Antiochia ad Taurum ("Antiochia in the Taurus Mountains"). The ruins of the Doliche (Turkish: Dülük) lie a few kilometers to the north of the city center and they are located in the natural setting of a forest arranged into a recreational area also including picnic and camping facilities.
Gaziantep is one of the most developed provinces of the region and is also one of the oldest, its history reaching as far back as the Hittites. Being the center of pistachio cultivation in Turkey and with its extensive olive groves and vineyards, Gaziantep is one of the important agricultural and industrial centres of Turkey.
Women world team chess championship R7: China leads with two rounds to go
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The Chinese team has shown some bulldozer chess going through to the seventh round with a comfortable lead in the women's world team chess championship currently on in Mardin, Turkey. China defeated Georgia in the 7th round and lead with perfect match-point score. Ju Wenjun won against Lela Javakhishvili on the second board and Zhao Xue won against Bela Khotenashvili on the third.
Greece put up a strong resistance against India. Yelena Dembo drew with Humpy Koneru and so did boards 3 and 4 but Harika beat Marina Makropoulou to help them win. Russia won against Turkey 3-1 butsecond board from Turkey Kubra Ozturk earned her necessary rating points to become a Grandmaster by winning against Tatiana Kosintseva. Ukraine beat Armenia 2.5-1.5 while Vietnam beat South Africa.
Standings after round 7: China – 14; India – 11; Russia – 10; Ukraine, Vietnam, Georgia – 8; Armenia – 6; Turkey – 4; Greece – 1; RSA – 0.
When chess makes you smile in Turkey at the women's world team chess event!
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
One reason you can smile away in Turkey right now is of course chess! Can you name all these lovely ladies playing at the women's world team chess event currently on in Mardin, Turkey?
Meanwhile, the chess news update from the event. Round 4 did not bring many surprises. China won against Vietnam 3-1, scoring on the two lower boards (Zhao Xue - Nguyen Thi Thanh An 1-0 and Hoang Thi Nhu - Tan Zhongyi Y 1-0) and remain in the lead with a perfect match score. India scored 3,5 board points against Armenia. Only Lilit Mkrtchian was able to draw against Harika Dronavalli on the second board. India is on second place with 7 match points. The close encounter between Georgia and Russia ended in a draw – players shared points in all the games. The fourth board fight between Valentina Gunina and Nino Khurtsidze was the last game of the round. Ukraine crushed Greece 3,5 – 0,5 and Turkey took an upper hand on RSA 3-1. However, South African players scored first board points as Anzel Solomons made a draw against Kubra Ozturk and Lauren Van Niekerk shared a point with Yesim Patel.
Standings after 4 rounds: China – 8; India – 7; Russia – 6; Georgia – 5; Vietnam, Turkey – 4; Ukraine – 3; Armenia – 2; Greece – 1; RSA – 0. You can access the official website here.
Women's world team chess championship begins in Mardin, Turkey
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
The World Women's Team Chess Championship has begun in Mardin, Turkey. An elaborate opening ceremony with all the players receiving flowers from city officials was held before the start of the first round.
The President of Turkish chess federation Ali Nihat Yazici, the Governor of Mardin Turhan Ayvaz, the Mayor of Mardin Mehmet Beşir Ayanoğlu, the Deputy of Mardin Gönül Bekin Şahkulubey and other officials also spoke on the occasion and welcomed the participants.
Here is a quick update from Round 1. You can access the official website here. Lots of beautiful chess action ahead so you can gather all the cheer for Christmas.
Women's World Team Chess Championship begins Dec 17 in Mardin, Turkey
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Are you ready for the Women's World Team Chess Championship beginning December 17, 2011 in Mardin, Turkey? You can keep track at the official website here. Below are the complete team compositions. Don't forget to cheer for Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk.
ARMENIA, Average age : 29 ELO average : 2385, Top 4 ELO average : 2416 GM Elina DANIELIAN, 2497 IM Lilit MKRTCHIAN, 2469 IM Lilit GALOJAN, 2383 WGM Maria KURSOVA, 2315 WGM Nelly AGINIAN, 2263
CHINA, Average age : 21 ELO average : 2491, Top 4 ELO average : 2527 GM Hou YIFAN, 2578 WGM Ju WENJUN, 2543 WGM Zhao XUE, 2541 WGM Tan ZHONGYI, 2448 WGM Zhang XİAOWEN, 2346
GEORGIA, Average age : 32 ELO average : 2441, Top 4 ELO average : 2482 GM Nana DZAGNIDZE, 2516 Bela Khotenashvili, 2497 IM Lela JAVAKHISHVILI, 2475
IM Nino KHURTSIDZE, 2440 IM Salome MELIA, 2392 IM Nino GURUELI, 2329
GREECE, Average age : 32 ELO average : 2238, Top 4 ELO average : 2256 IM Yelena Dembo, 2468 WGM Marina Makropoulou, 2201 WIM Ekaterini Fakhiridou, 2180 WIM Ekaterini Pavlidou, 1607 Zoi Iordanidou, 2169
INDIA, Average age : 22 ELO average : 2431, Top 4 ELO average : 2483 GM Koneru Humpy, 2600 GM Dronavalli Harika, 2512 IM Sachdev Tania, 2428 WGM Rout Padmini, 2392 WGM Mary Ann Gomes, 2354 WGM Swaminathan Soumya, 2302
RUSSIA, Average age : 27, ELO average : 2495, Top 4 ELO average : 2509 GM Nadezhda KOSINTSEVA, 2546
GM Tatiana KOSINTSEVA, 2526 IM Valentina GUNINA, 2514 WGM Natalia POGONINA, 2451 GM Alexandra KOSTENIUK, 2439
SOUTH AFRICA, Average age : 26 ELO average : 1876, Top 4 ELO average : 1876 WIM Van Der Merwer Cecile, 2057 WIM Solomons Anzel, 1926
WIM Frick Denise, 1916 WFM Van Niekerk. Lauren, 1607
TURKEY, Average age : 18 ELO average : 2019, Top 4 ELO average : 2066 WIM Betul Cemre YILDIZ, 2297 WIM Kubra OZTURK, 2239 WCM Kardelen CEMHAN, 1881 Ebru KAPLAN, 1849 Yesim PATEL, 1832
UKRAINE, Average age : 29.2 ELO average : 2439, Top 4 ELO average : 2446 IM Anna USHENINA, 2463 IM Mariya MUZYCHUK, 2460 IM Inna YANOVSKA, 2435 GM Natalia ZHUKOVA, 2427 IM Tetiana VASYLEVYCH, 2412
VIETNAM, Average age : 23 ELO average : 2288, Top 4 ELO average : 2306 WGM Pham Le Thao NGUYEN, 2341 WGM Hoang Thi BAO TRAM, 2341 WGM Nguyen Thi THANH AN, 2300 WIM Nguyen Thi MAI HUNG, 2244 WIM Hoang Thi NHU Y, 2218
Mongolians win World Amateur Chess Championships 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Here is chess news from the World Amateur Chess Championship. The event just finished in Kemer, Turkey. The event was held from October 1 to October 67 and included 67 players from 16 countries. Played over nine rounds, the event had eventual winners in 14-years old Sumiya Bilguun from Mongolia in the open section with 7.5 points and another Mongolia, Anu Bayar, in the women's category with 5 points! Both of them will automatically get FM and WFM title. The prize fund of the Championship was 10,000 euro and the champion took 2000 euro for the first place.
You can access the official website of the event at this link.
Winners in general category: 2nd place Timur Ozdemir – 1st place Sumiya Bilguun - 3rd place Dager Alvarez
Winners in women category: 2nd place Apurva Virkud – 1st place Anu Bayar - 3rd place Bayona Karin Silvana
BREAKING NEWS: We have just received news about the OPEN LETTER signed by many of the recent 2010 Women's World Chess Championship in Hatay, Turkey.
The letter is published below. In summary, players complain about the poor level of organization, and ask FIDE to take steps to improve the situation before the next Women's World Chess Championship.
Open letter regarding the Women’s World Chess Championship 2010 in Antakya/Hatay
We, the players of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2010 in Antakya/Hatay who have signed this document below, would like to share with the chess community and FIDE our thoughts about the level of the organization of the recent women's world championship.
The reason for this letter is to make the governing chess body, FIDE, aware of the problems that exist. We are chess professionals and would like to see the women’s chess world championship as the ultimate chess event which should be organized at the highest level. After qualifying for this prestigious event, we have to pay our own expenses to come and play in this championship. As such we would like to feel that we are the participants of a world chess tournament rather than are being overcharged, starting from the transfer and ending with the hotel.
There are certain points we neither understand nor accept, and to avoid disappointments in the future, we would like to express them now, so that next time around, the same problems do not occur.
Hotel and location:
Full board in the Hotel Anemon Antakya for the participants of the championship cost 130 Euros. The regular price for the same hotel with no food is 60 Euro per day. The hotel was located far away from the center of Antakya on a noisy, dirty road with nowhere towalk around.
Some players tried to book their rooms through the official website of the hotel, where the room price per day was about 65-75 €, including breakfast. Obviously the remaining 60 € could be spent for a very adequate lunch and dinner. But they were informed that the hotel was booked out, and it was impossible to book a room without going through the organising committee.
Even though normally only the players are forced to stay in the official hotels, in Turkey everybody who came with a player needed to stay in the same official hotel. Which made the participation in the world championship even more expensive for players who decided to come with their trainers. It's an easy way for the organizers to force the players to pay more than they should.
The participants were given rooms in a four-star hotel, overlooking a dirty and very noisy highway, with unhealthy air conditions and nowhere to go walking at all! The walls between the rooms were so thin, the players could hear what was going on in the rooms next to theirs. Due to to all these conditions, the level of rest and preparation needed for players for such an important event was lower than usual.
Comparing to Nalchik 2008, where the players were obliged to pay only for accomodation and could buy lunch and dinner either in the hotel or in restaurants nearby, in Antakaya we didn’t have a choice. We had to pay for the food, but in the first few days the players were left starving, since the size of the portions offered were quite small and there was no buffet to choose from. In such important events as the world championships, since participants from all over the world are taking part in the event, we believe that some variety of food has to be proposed.
The price of 130 €, given the location and market conditions, was unreasonably high, and players and their families had no choice but pay for poor service at prices far above market value to the organizers.
Considering all of the above, we would like to ask FIDE that even though the prize fund hasn’t changed or improved since 2001, at least the venue of the championship shouldn’t become more expensive, and the event should not be located in places where conditions seem bad and unhealthy for the participants.
Transfer & Registration Fee
The participants were charged 40 € for a ten-minute trip from the airport to the hotel. A local taxi would have been DRASTICALLY cheaper, and these taxis had room for at least three players. So basically we were being overcharged!
The players were also asked to pay a "registration fee" or deposit of 100 Euros, which is something new for the World Championship, and not convenient for the players.
Organisation
Even though, this time, there were no politically interfering circumstances as in Nalchik, most players seemed disappointed when comparing this World Championship to previous editions. There we were no guides or warm welcomes for the participants in Turkey.
The first game of the first round was played in the Archeological Museum of Antakya which is a very beautiful place but was absolutely unacceptable for a serious chess tournament. All the noise of the road was heard inside the Museum and was disturbing to the players. A decision to move even a single round from the regular hall to another location is absolutely unacceptable for such high profile events.
There were also not enough qualified arbiters for the first rounds, especially for the tie-breaks. From the coverage of the championship, you could learn that coaches and other players who didn’t play helped the organizers to monitor the rapid games during the tie-breaks.This should be absolutely avoided.
Next Steps:
The 2010 Women’s World Championship was a real disappointment for most of us. The impression we got was that the organizers wanted to spend the least amount of money, while earning as much as possible from the players, which is unacceptable for such high profile events.
Therefore, in order to avoid such unpleasant situations in the future, we ask FIDE to take more serious steps for choosing a city-candidate for such important events. A FIDE representative, preferably a female player, should visit a site which is bidding for such an important event before it is accepted as the venue by FIDE. Before being accepted, the organizer of a future world championship should sign a special contract with FIDE, guaranteeing minimum quality of organization. All the points we discussed in this letter (quality of hotel, food, opening and closing ceremonies, hall of play, payments from players, etc.) should be specified in this contract and none of these should be changed before the event or without notifying FIDE.
We are also asking FIDE to improve the contract that all the participants sign before the world championship, as some points are not acceptable such as the requirements for the players to wear any clothes or brands that FIDE proposes (point 4.4).
The contract between FIDE and the players for the upcoming world championship should include the name of the hotel and the exact price the player will need to pay and exactly for what services. That price should be reasonably close to market prices for those accommodations.
We hope that FIDE will take into serious consideration this open letter and will make sure all these very important questions are addressed in order to ensure all future events are held with fair conditions for the players.
Elina Danielian
Nana Dzagnidze
Jovanka Houska
Tatiana Kosintseva
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Maia Lomineishvili
Evgenia Ovod
Amina Mezioud
Lilit Mkrtchian
Elisabeth Paehtz
Anna Muzychuk
Maria Muzhychuk
Natalia Pogonina
Marina Romanko
Irina Slavina
Soumya Swaminathan
Anna Zatonskih
Natalia Zhukova
(in alphabetical order)
Please feel to leave comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions for improvement.
Posted on Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog
It organizes many interesting and important chess events every year. From different world and European youth championships to the women's and men's world chess championships. For example, the year 2010 started with the world team chess championship in Bursa and will end with the women's world chess championship in Ankara. There will be even more events in 2011, including the Women's European Chess Championship.
For the talented turkish chess players, the TCF organizes year-round trainings with world-renowned trainers such as Adrian Mikhalchishin, Mikhail Gurevich and others. The results can already be seen. The latest youth world and European chess championships brought many medals to Turkey by young players in several age categories. During my visit to Bursa in January I met two 8-years old girls who won several tournaments in their age-category. They said that they have special chess trainings up to 30 hours per week.
It was organized by the Turkish Chess Federation in the Nevzat Süer hall in the New Chess Federation Center. There were two teams (A - 5 foreign players and B - 5 Turkish players). The participants were IM(WGM) Angela Borsuk, IM(WGM) Sopio Gvetadze, WGM Anna Burtasova, WGM Anastasia Karlovich, WIM Nargiz Umudova, WIM Betul Cemre Yildiz, WIM Kubra Ozturk, Kaya Emel, Sop Selen and Menzi Ezgi. The tournament was played using the Double Scheveningen System with 10 rounds.
One of the participants of this event - Anastasia Karlovich wrote a very interesting article about this tournament with the photos of the event, you can read it on chessbase.com.
Here is one upset by the Turkish chess player Betul Cemre Yildiz (2244) over the WGM from Georgia Sopio Gvetadze (2342).
Black just played 39. ... Bd8, White to move.
Here is the PGN of the game. If you'd like to use it in your chess software, just copy the text characters from [Event... down to the result of the game 1-0 save the file as text and change the extension to .pgn then you will be able to successfully open it and view the game with your favorite chess database software!
I'm packing my suitcase right now. In less than 1 hour I will be leaving Bursa and will head to Istanbul, from where I will be flying to Paris and will spend this Christmas Eve (Russians have Christmas on the 7th of January) in the city of lights. The next morning I will fly back to Miami, where a couple hours after arriving I will give my first Book Signing and Talk at the Barnes & Noble in Aventura, at 7 PM on Thursday January 7.
Yesterday I had a chance to do some sightseeing in Bursa. The organizers were very kind to create a small excursion for us. Bursa was the capital of the Ottoman Empire for six hundred years. It has functioned as a bridge uniting the past with the future and it never lost the significance of being a center for trinity, while embracing humanity and homeland for various states for two thousand years. Bursa, situated southeast of the Marmara sea with a population over of 2.500.000, is the fourth largest city of Turkey.
Below are some photo memories:
This picture is taken from the Emir Khan which was built in 1340 and the Ulu Mosque can be seen through a tree.
Entering the Bedesten (Covered Bazaar) which is the most important trade center in Bursa.
In the center of Bursa in front of the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque).
I have to run now in order not to miss my bus to Istanbul.
2010 just started and interesting chess tournaments are ready to begin!
I'm in Bursa, Turkey right now. A few minutes ago the opening ceremony of the men's world team championsip 2010 took place. This strong tournament with 10 best teams of the world taking part in it, will be held in Bursa, Turkey from January 5 (first round) to January 13 (last round). The games live, as well as all the news about the tournament can be found on the offisial web-site of the tournament, here. On the photo above you can see the result of the drawing of lots. According to this, in the first round, tomorrow, on the 5th of January we will see the following teams playing each other:
Azerbaijan - Armenia
Turkey - USA
India - Greece
Russia - Brazil
Egypt - Israel
I will be in Turkey for 2 more days and will attend the 1st quarter Presidential Board of FIDE meeting. I will let you know how it went in my next posts.
I just got back to Moscow after my win at the First ACP Women's Rapid Cup in Turkey.
I would like to share with you the press-release from the ECU and the Turkish Chess Federation. This concerns the European Women's Chess Championships in classical, rapid and blitz chess and it's for 3 years in a row 2011, 2012 and 2013!
It looks it's just the beginning and we will be hearing much more about chess events in Turkey, which is great for all chess players, both active grandmasters and spectators!
Official Press Release (By ECU and TSF)
Gaziantep - the capital of European Women Chess!
5 November 2009, the President of the European Chess Union Mr. Boris Kutin and the president of The Turkish Chess Federation and the Vice-President of FIDE Mr. Ali Nihat YAZICI were the guest of the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality.
The reason of that top meeting was to plan a Project which will get an important position in European and World Chess.
The night of the 4th of November 2009, two presidents met in Gaziantep. Prof. Dr. Kıvanç Güngör (Chairman of TSF Medical Committee and member of FIDE Medical Committee) and Mr. Fatih Ekinci (member of TSF Board) met them in Gaziantep Airport. The morning of the 5th of November, the chess delegation was received by the management team of the Gaziantep Municipality. Bilateral meetings were held during the day and before the night the decision was made in principle.
The meetings went in friendly atmosphere. Mr. Boris Kutin was very happy with the high level hospitality of the Municipality. President Kutin mentioned that the Project will be an important Stone on the road map of European Women Chess.
From left to right: Vice General Secretary of the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM) Mr. İbrahim Evrim, Prof. Dr. Kıvanç Güngör, Ali Nihat YAZICI, the Major of Gaziantep Dr. Asım Güzelbey, Boris Kutin, General Secretary of GMM İbrahim Fuat Özçörekçi, Mr. Fatih Ekinci
The European Women Individual Chess Championships in Gaziantep, 3 years in a row.
The meetings were very successful. According to the agreement by 2011 (2011, 2012, 2013) the European Women Individual Chess Championship, European Women Rapid Championship, and European Women Blitz Championships will be organised in Gaziantep with a prize fund of 150.000€ each year. That price fund will be a record and ECU and TSF will try to make the events a record in the Guinness Book of Records. The event in 2011 is already confirmed since there are no other bids for the event. Considering the high prize funds, Gaziantep will be a strong candidate for 2012 and 2013 events to get it if there is not a better proposal to ECU. Gaziantep will be absolutely the strongest candidate to get the event.
Municipality Sport Club will have a dream women team!
Not only organisations will be held in Gaziantep, but also Gaziantep Municipality Sport Club will enter to Türkiye İş Bankası Chess League with a team consists of only female players. The aim will be to win the European Club Cup for women.
A very good move for women and children chess!
The Municipality will invest during the next four years for women and children chess. The city, where chess is already very popular, will open a chess museum and many international activities will be organised. The word of ‘women chess’ will be synonym of ‘Gaziantep’.
The aim of the Project is to create the image for Gaziantep to be called the ‘Women Chess City’ or let us say the capital of European Women Chess.
A photo of the top three negotiators in the meeting: Yazici, Major Güzelbey and Kutin.
The contract will be signed in Rijeka, Croatia in 2010 during the European Individual Chess Championships with the same three people.
The Rector of Gaziantep University is a Chess Player
The Chess delegation has visited also the Gaziantep University, and the Rector. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Yavuz Coşkun was happy to meet with Kutin and Yazici.
The Rector played a friendly chess match with Mr. Boris Kutin. The president of the European Chess Union mentioned that the rector’s level of chess is over amateur and that of a very good player. Prof. Dr. Coşkun underlined that Gaziantep University is ready to give any kind of support to European Chess.
Don't be shy about contacting me
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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