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Monday, September 17, 2012

Women's Chess Grand Prix Begins in Ankara; Maria Muzychuk, Koneru Humpy Top Seeds

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The sixth women's chess grand prix of the cycle 2011-12 has begun in Ankara, Istanbul. The president of TCF, FIDE Vice-President Ali Nihat Yazici made symbolic move 1.e4 in the game between Betul Yildiz and Humpy Koneru. Hou Yifan has already won the series. In case, she loses her world chess championship title later this year, she would have the right to become the challenger for the 2012 women's world chess championship. Else, the option would go to the player placed second in the series. 


If Yifan keeps her world chess title, the challenger could be Anna Muzychuk, Humpy Koneru, Zhao Xue or Ju Wenjun.

In the first round, Chinese players Ruan Lufei and Zhao Xue won their games against Kubra Ozturk and Antoaneta Stefanova respectively. Their compatriot Ju Wenjun made a draw with the top-seed of the tournament Anna Muzychuk. Viktorija Cmilyte and Humpy Koneru overplayed with black pieces Monika Socko and Betul Yildiz respectively. The longest game of the first round between Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Tatiana Kosintseva finished in a draw.


Earlier, the opening ceremony and technical meeting of the 6th stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2011-2012 took place in Goksu Lokantasi Restaurant in Ankara on the 15th of September. The event was attended by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE Vice-President and President of TCF Ali Nihat Yazici, FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg, Assistant to the FIDE President Berik Balgabaev, Suat Sözen, the corporate communications Manager of Türkiye İş Bankası, other guests and players.


During the technical meeting the Chief Arbiter Ozgur Solakoglu drew the attention of the participants to the “no-draw offer” and "zero tolerance" rule. Any draw claim will be permitted only through the chief arbiter in the cases of the triple-repetition of the position, perpetual check, in case of theoretically drawn position and the 50 moves rule. Nona Gaprindashvili and Nana Alexandria will be the Technical Adviser and the Head of Appeal Committee respectively.

Ali Nihat Yazici welcomed participants and honorary guests and thanked the government of Türkiye İş Bankası for their great support.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov thanked the board of TCF, the President of TCF Ali Nihat Yazici, the sponsor Is Bankasi for the organization of the 6th stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix in Ankara. He welcomed participants and chess legends Nana Alexandria and Nona Gaprindashvili.

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament Ozgur Solakoglu conducted the ceremony of drawing of colors. The top seed Anna Muzychuk chose number 2.

You can check the following games in our Chess King applet:
Betul Yildiz-Koneru Humpy 
Monika Socko-Viktorija Cmilyte


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Ukraine Women's Chess Championship 2012 Begins Sept 24 with Kateryna Lahno as Top Seed

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,
 
The latest chess news is that the 72nd Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship will begin on September 24 and run up to October 2 with GM Kateryna Lahno as top seed. The players' line-up includes 10 players: 2006 Olympic champions Kateryna Lahno (Donetsk), Natalia Zhukova (Odessa), Anna Ushenina (Kharkiv), Inna Gaponenko (Herson); bronze medal winner of the World Chess Olympiad Maria Muzychuk (Stryi, Lviv), two-time bronze medal winner of European Club Cup Tatiana Kononenko (Kramatorsk, Donetsk region), Ukrainian Champion of 2011 Kateryna Dolzhykova (Kiev), winners of international and national tournaments Oksana Gritsayeva (Feodosia, Crimea), Anastasiya Rakhmangulova (Nikolaev) and Irina Andrenko (Kharkiv). (Right: Kateryna Lahno/www.chesspics.com: The #1 chess photo database.)

The rounds will be held daily from September 25 till October 2 from 15.00 till 20.00. The last round will be played at 11.00 on October 3rd. The closing ceremony and winners awarding will be on October 3rd at 18.00. Further information and live broadcast of games is available at ukrchess.org. Live broadcast with commentary by GM Valeriy Aveskulov would be available at: http://www.chesslaw.org.ua/72w/.

The venue of the chess tournament is Students’ Palace of National University “Law Academy Yaroslav the Wise” in Kharkiv. This is the strongest-ever national women's chess championship of Ukraine.

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Friday, August 31, 2012

Istanbul Chess Olympiad R3: Ukraine Survives Israel Scare in Open; China Ground Down Ukraine in Women's Section

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The Istanbul Chess Olympiad 2012 is only three rounds old. The fun is just starting with stronger teams finding opponents closer in strength. Ukraine nearly lost against Israel, but for a cool turnaround by Ruslan Ponomariov. GM Ponomariov was clearly worse against his Israeli counterpart GM Maxim Rodshtein, but the former World Chess Champion somehow turned the tables after the first time control and managed to win the game. (left Ruslan Ponomariov).

GM Boris Avrukh ground down GM Pavel Eljanov, but GM Andrei Volokitin showed no mercy against GM Evgeny Postny. With Ivanchuk and Gelfand drawing on the top board, Ukraine won the match by 2,5-1,5.

Russia again played safely, scoring three draws and a win by Jakovenko in their match against Latvia. After yesterday's exhausting game with Lithuania, USA top board Hikaru Nakamura played the necessary 30 moves to take a draw with GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela. Nakamura's team-mates cleared the rest of the opposing team for the convincing 3,5-0,5 victory.


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