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Thursday, October 4, 2012
Ukraine Women's Chess Championship 2012: Mariya Muzychuk Wins Title on Tiebreak
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Mariya Muzychuk has won the 72nd Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship that was held from September 24 to October 3 at te Students’ Palace of National University “Law Academy Yaroslav the Wise” in Kharkiv. It was the strongest women national chess championship in the history of the country. The participants included: the 2006 Olympic champions Kateryna Lahno (Donetsk), Natalia Zhukova (Odessa), Anna Ushenina (Kharkiv), Inna Gaponenko (Herson); the bronze medal winner of the World Chess Olympiad Mariya Muzychuk (Stryi, Lviv), two times bronze medal winner of European Club Cup Tatiana Kononenko (Kramatorsk), Ukrainian Champion of 2011 Kateryna Dolzhykova (Kiev), winners of international and national tournaments Oksana Gritsayeva (Feodosia, Crimea), Anastasiya Rakhmangulova (Nikolaev) and Irina Andrenko (Kharkiv). (In the photo from left): Lahno, Muzychuk and Ushenina.
Women's World Chess Championship 2010 - Battle of nerves in Round 3 tie-breaks
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everybody,
Some fantastic chess was played in the tie-breaks for the third round on Sunday. Congratulations to Hou Yifan (beating Zhu Chen), Lufei Ruan (beating Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk) and Almira Skripchenko (beating Viktorija Cmilyte) to qualify for the fourth round. Harika Dronavalli also defeated Mariya Muzychuk after Round 3g (sudden death round) after two tie-break games, two rapid games and two blitz games!
They had formidable opponents and it could have gone either way. Earlier, Koneru Humpy, Kateryna Lahno, Ju Wenjun and Zhao Xue had already qualified for the fourth round.
Here are the results of the tie-breaks that went down right to the wire in all the games and had fans on the edge of their seats. These surely are the women of substance.
Round 3c
GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS 2507-WGM Ruan, Lufei CHN 24800-1
GM Zhu, Chen QAT 2477-GM Hou, Yifan CHN 2591½-½
IM Harika, Dronavalli IND 2525-IM Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 24621-0
IM Skripchenko, Almira FRA 2460-GM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU 2514½-½
Round 3d
WGM Ruan, Lufei CHN 2480-GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS 2507 ½-½
GM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU 2514-IM Skripchenko, Almira FRA 2460 ½-½
GM Hou, Yifan CHN 2591-GM Zhu, Chen QAT 24771-0
IM Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2462-IM Harika, Dronavalli IND 2525 1-0
Round 3e
IM Harika, Dronavalli IND 2525-IM Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2462 0-1
IM Skripchenko, Almira FRA 2460-GM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU 2514 1-0
Round 3f
IM Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2462-IM Harika, Dronavalli IND 25250-1
GM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU 2514-IM Skripchenko, Almira FRA 24600-1
Round 3g
IM Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2462-IM Harika, Dronavalli IND 25250-1
And, how about some games from the tie-breaks? Of course you can analyse now with far more ease than if you had watched them in real time. Nerve-wracking games all! You can check the official website here.
You can watch the games in our flashplayer below or run the moves through the pgnplayer.
Ukraine Women's National Chess R6- Anna Ushenina Leads
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Final of the 72nd Ukrainian Women Chess Championship is taking place from 24th September to 3rd October at the Students’ Palace of National University “Law Academy Yaroslav the Wise” in Kharkiv. Chessdom has the report after Round 6. The sole leader Anna Ushenina moved to the top after winning in the titanic fight (100 moves!) against Oksana Gritsayeva who was undefeated so far.
Gritsayeva had an exchange for the pawn and all the reasons to think about the victory, though Black’s position was full of defending resources. But around move 60 White rook got trapped and Black was already a pawn up.
Blitz Chess Super Video: Mariya Muzychuk - Kosteniuk
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
All set for your dose of a super chess video? Here's a fast-paced blitz chess video from Mariya Muzychuk-Alexandra Kosteniuk. We also have a trivia question: Which latest chess tournament did Mariya win recently. You can find the answer at this chess blog post. Back to our chess video of the day.
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Women's World Chess Championship 2010 - Watch Chess Queen Kosteniuk in Round 3 tie-breaks today
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
After a fantastic game with Black yesterday in the second match of Round 3 Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk settled for a draw under time pressure despite having a win for several moves on. You can watch her on course to the title at the Women's World Chess Championship 2010 in Hatay, Turkey, live today at the official website here. Games start 14.00 hours Central European Time.
All the other games were a draw too in the second set of matches in Round 3 except for GM Zhu Chen beating Hou Yifan and setting up another set of tie-breaks today.
Another draw between Koneru Humpy and Anna Zatonskih saw the latter being knocked out as Humpy had won the first game in Round 3 (Round 3a results at our earlier post with games are here).
GM Kateryna Lahno also knocked out WGM Huang Qian and GM Xue Zhao knocked out IM Dembo Yelena. IM Anna Muzychuk was also knocked out by WGM Ju Wenjun.
Here are the results of Round 3b (Games in next post)
GM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU 2514-IM Skripchenko, Almira FRA 2460½-½
GM Koneru, Humpy IND 2600-IM Zatonskih, Anna USA 2478½-½
GM Zhu, Chen QAT 2477-GM Hou, Yifan CHN 25911-0
IM Dembo, Yelena GRE 2454-GM Zhao, Xue CHN 2474½-½
IM Muzychuk, Mariya UKR 2462-IM Harika, Dronavalli IND 2525½-½
Ukraine Chess Champions 2013: Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Mariya Muzychuk Crowned Champions
12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
The final of the 82nd Ukrainian Chess Championship took place on 15-26th June in Kiev with 12 players competing in the round-robin format. Grandmasters Yuriy Kryvoruchko and Ruslan Ponomariov shared the first place with 7,5 points each. Kryvoruchko is declared new national champion thanks to the better tie-break score. Last year's champion Anton Korobov finished third half a point behind.
Yuriy Kryvoruchko (photo by Anestis Mihailidis)
Final standings: 1-2. Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2659 and Ponomariov Ruslan 2743 – 7,5 3. Korobov Anton 2715 – 7,0 4-5. Alexander Areshchenko 2708 and Moiseenko Alexander 2711 – 6,5 6. Efimenko Zahar 2651 – 6,0 7-9. Volokitin Andrei 2687, Pavel Eljanov 2707 and Bogdanovich Stanislav 2567 – 5,5 10. Kravtsiv Martyn 2626 – 4,5 11. Baryshpolets Andrey 2547 – 3,0 12. Neverov Valeriy 2515 – 1,0
The Ukrainian Women Championship featured ten players in the round robin tournament. Mariya Muzychuk repeated last year’s success and convincingly won the title with 7,5/9 points, leaving the nearest follower point and a half behind. The reigning World Champion Anna Ushenina missed the tournament because she is competing in FIDE Grand Prix in Dilijan. (Text: chessdom.com/Official website)
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone, Snowdrops vs. Oldhands – Czech Coal Chess Match 2011
Beautiful Snowdrops and experienced Oldhands came to Marienbad in the first week of December. The Snowdrops was represented by four women grandmasters: an Indian Tania Sadchev, Russian Natalia Pogonina, Mariya Muzychuk from Ukraine and the best Czech chess player Eva Kulovana. The team of Oldhands was represented by Vlastimil Hort, traditionally in the role of captain, after one year again Robert Hübner and for the first time Rafael Vaganian with Boris Gulko.
The battle of wisdom vs. young vitality took place in hotel Cristal Palace. Although the first two rounds looked quite equal, gradually the Snowdrops started to fall back. Legendary grandmasters won the Snowdrops vs. Oldhands – Czech Coal Chess Match 2011 by a huge margin 21 : 11. The best Snowdrop was Mariya Muzychuk with five points and no defeat. And the best player among the Oldhands was Robert Hübner with six points. You can find more details at the official website.
Yesterday the semi-finals were played in Moscow, and 6 players qualified to join us in the final, Krush, Nebolsina, Zhukova, Gaponenko, Skripchenko and Mariya Muzychuk (see semi-final results here).
This tournament is the strongest women's blitz world championship of modern history and counts 7 of the top 10 women in the world, it will be very tough and exciting!
The 16 finalists are:
Koneru, Humpy
Kosteniuk, Alexandra
Stefanova, Antoaneta
Kosintseva, Nadezhda
Kosintseva, Tatiana
Muzychuk, Anna
Krush, Irina
Gaponenko, Inna
Nebolsina, Vera
Zhukova, Natalia
Muzychuk, Mariya
Skripchenko, Almira
Paikidze, Nazi
Gunina, Valentina
Lahno, Kateryna
Sebag, Marie
The finals will be played today and tomorrow, you can see the results here and the games live here.
Euro womens chess championship begins with cultural ceremony
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The 2012 European Individual Women Chess Championship has begun and will continue till March 13 at the Anatolian Hotel in Gaziantep, Turkey. European Rapid Championship and European Blitz Championship will follow in the same venue on 15-18th March.The Turkish Chess Federation, by the sponsorship and support of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, under the auspices of the City of Gaziantep and the European Chess Union, has provided the prize fund of 150.000 EUR for all three events. This is the biggest prize fund in the history of European Women Chess events.
Also for the first time the European Women Champion will get the higher prize (20,500 EUR) compared to the winner of the European Individual Championship, which will be held later this month in Plovdiv.
During the technical meeting, which was held before the opening ceremony, the top seeded player Anna Muzychuk selected Black pieces in the first round.
The opening ceremony of the European Individual Women Championship took place in the Zeugma Museum on the 2nd of March 2012.
The inaugural games appeared not to be easy for the favourites and the first round brought some surprising results. The Georgian top women players had a bad day as the second seeded Nana Dzagnidze was defeated by WIM Gulnar Mammadova, as well as another top player Bela Khotenashvili who lost the game against Inna Ivakhinova.
The rating favorite Anna Muzychuk could have lost her game as well but was lucky to survive against the Russian Anastasia Savina, who got winning position, but let her advantage slip away in the time trouble.
Mariya Muzychuk, as well as another Ukrainian GM Katerina Lahno, played against Mamedjarova’s sisters from Azerbaijan but could not take more than 50% as well. The most of other rating favorites managed to win in the first round.
You can access the official website here. You can also find some great analysis of the games by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko at the website. Enjoy.
Women's World Chess Championship 2010 - Round 2 struggle continues
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
The struggle in the Round 2 (first match) continued at the Women's World Chess Championship 2010 in Hatay, Turkey. It requires utmost focus, strength - both physical and mental - to play good chess at this level. All these women surely are to be proud of.
The first round matches in Round 2 results were as follows:
GM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU 2514-IM Paehtz, Elisabeth GER 24740-1
GM Hoang Thanh Trang HUN 2473-GM Lahno, Kateryna UKR 2522½-½
GM Koneru, Humpy IND 2600-IM Houska, Jovanka ENG 24211-0
GM Kosintseva, Tatiana RUS 2581-IM Dembo, Yelena GRE 24540-1
GM Socko, Monika POL 2495-GM Zhu, Chen QAT 2477½-½
Anna Muzychuk wins International Women's Chess Tournament Cotroceni
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Anna Muzychuk has won the strong International Women's Chess Tournament Cotroceni that was organised from March 2 to 11 in Bucharest, Romania. In fact, the tournament was particularly scheduled to include the Women's Day on March 8 when a celebration was held.
The 10-player round robin event had a high average elo rating of 2456. Valentina Gunina was second and though GM Monika Socko started off well, she lost her way and eventually current world junior champion among girls IM Anna Muzychuk won the tournament with 6.5 points.
Final standings:1. IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2528 - 6.5 2. WGM Gunina Valentina RUS 2472 - 6.0 3. IM Zatonskih Anna USA 2499 - 5.5 4-6. GM Socko Monika POL 2495, IM Turova Irina RUS 2428 and IM Ushenina Anna UKR 2454 - 5.0 7-8. IM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2476 and IM Peptan Corina-Isabela ROU 2415 - 4.5 9-10. IM Repkova Eva SVK 2446 and WGM Cosma Elena-Luminita ROU 2343 - 1.5
Women's Chess World Rapid - Anna Muzychuk Top Seed in Batumi
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Women’s World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2012 is all set to be held from May 31 to June 6 at the Sheraton Hotel, Batumi, Georgia. It is an 11 rounds Swiss tournament with time control 25 mins + 10 sec per move.
Top Seed Anna Muzychuk
Every female player with the Elo of 2500+ in one of the official FIDE rating lists as well as all former World Champions and Olympic Champions have the personal right to participate in the Championship. Besides, every national federation can nominate one player for participation in the Championship. In addition, up to five more players can be nominated from the same federation, provided they have elo of 2300+ in one of the official FIDE rating lists in 2012. Anna Muzychuk, 2010 World Junior Champion and 2012 European medalist, is the top seed at the event. Participants also include European Women's Chess Champion Valentina Gunina, Women's World Chess Championship finalist Koneru Humpy, European women's chess silver medalist Tatiana Kosintseva, former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, former world champion Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk US women's chess champion Irina Krush, and Armenia's No. 1 woman chess player Elina Danielian.
Astana Chess: Ukraine, China, Russia - Top Three at Women's World Team Chess Championship 2013
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013 Hi everyone,
Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich (Click on photo to access official tournament website of the Astana Women's World Team Chess Championship 2013) Congratulations to the Ukraine team (Kateryna Lahno, Anna Ushenina, Mariya Muzychuk, Natalia Zhukova and Inna Gaponenko) for winning the gold at the Astana Women's World Team Chess Championship 2013 with a very steady performance. The premier chess event for women concluded in Kazakhstan with the final round played today. China and Russia were right behind Ukraine and picked up the silver and bronze respectively. The final round witnessed Ukraine drawing their match with Russia and securing the silver. After six rounds, Ukraine had climbed to the top of the table and maintained that lead right till the end. China outplayed India with 2,5-1,5 score in the final round to secure the silver medal. Ju Wenjun defeated Eesha Karavade while other games finished in draws. Georgia won a tough match to beat Kazakhstan in the last round, but could only make it to the fourth place in the standings. Here are the final team standings and board standings. Stay tuned for some great photos from the closing ceremony and a personal post by the 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk on her personal blog www.chessqueen.com. Chess Queen™ Kosteniuk did well to pick up the bronze medal (and precious rating points) on Board 2 with a rating performance of 2502. Also for Russia, IM Valentina Gunina won the bronze medal on Board 1 and WGM Olga Girya obtained the gold medal on Board 5. Also read a nice report on Russia's performance in Lenta.ru (Google translate link so don't worry if you don't know Russian.) Access the official website of the Women's World Team Chess Championship 2013 at this Fide link.
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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