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The Women's World Chess Championship is being held at Hatay, Turkey, from December 2nd to 25th. It is a 64-player knockout tournament, with two-game mini-matches qualifying a player to the next round, until the final and 6th round, which is a four-game match to determine the champion. In the event of a draw after the two tournament time-control games, there will be a rapid game tie-breaker, followed by a possible blitz playoff, and finally an armageddon blitz game. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, and a 30-second increment per move as of the first move. The games are held daily at 3 PM local time (2 PM Paris / 8 AM New York / 5 AM Los Angeles). The full schedule is available here.
Note that the organizers pulled out all the stops to provide coverage of the highest quality, including daily live video coverage during the rounds.
The official tournament poster
The venue is a rather original choice: the Antakya Archaeological Museum, in Antioch. Built in 1938, this large museum displays Antioch's magnificent Roman mosaics as well as other important archaeological finds from Hittite to Byzantine times.
The large mosaic on the floor in this photo is the Yakto Mosaic dating from the fifth
century AD, and found at Yakto village near Daphne.
The selection was made in order to highlight the cultural offerings of the city in an unmistakeable way, however, one must admit that it might be a bit disconcerting at times.
Not your usual spectators
The event was started with the usual fanfare
Top-rated Indian Humpy Koneru (2600 Elo) played South African Melissa Greeff (2087)
Mariya Muzychuk (2462) prepares for her first round game
Tatiana Kosintseva (2581) is also a top contender, after coming equal first at the
Russian Women's Championship and helping lead the national squad to victory at the
Olympiads.
Hou Yifan, second Elo (2591), and finalist at the previous World Championship, had
a spiffy start.Standing beside her is her mother.
Hou Yifan (2591) - Heredia Serrano,C (2087) [B19]
WCh Women Antakya TUR (1), 04.12.2010
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.0-0-0 Be7 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qd3 b5 16.Ne5 Qd5 17.Kb1 0-0 18.g4 Nd7 19.Nf3 c5 20.g5 hxg5 21.Rdg1 c4 22.Qe3 b4
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23.Bxb4! That Hou Yifan overpowers her opponent is not surprising, but she sets a good tone for the rest of the tournament by showing how sharp her tactical eye is. 23...Bxb4 24.Rxg5 f5 [24...Qc6 25.Rhg1 g6 26.Rxg6+!! fxg6 27.Rxg6+ Kf7 28.Ng5+ Ke7 29.Rxe6++-] 25.h6 Rf7 26.hxg7 Rxg7 27.Rhg1 Bf8 28.Rxg7+ Bxg7 29.Qh6 Kf8 30.Rxg7 Ke8 31.Qh4 Qd6 32.Ng5 Qb4 33.Qh5+ Kd8 34.Nxe6+ Kc8 35.Qe8+ 1-0 [Click to replay]
Cheparinov is coaching Bulgarian compatriot Stefanova
Russian Nadezdha Kosintseva (left) is seconding her sister Tatiana Kosintseva
Betul Cemre Yildiz (Turkey) started with a positive result, drawing Pia Carmling, who
outrates her by over 300 Elo.
Two madonnas and a chessboard
With so much beauty in one place, there is no excuse for not visiting the museum
WGM Xiaowen Zhang (2339) drew in the opening round against Lilit Mkrtchian (2479)
Yixin Ding (2370) overcame her higher-rated opponent Hoang Thanh Trang (2473)
Peruvian Deysi Cori was unable to hold against Mariya Muzychuk
Women's World Speed Chess champion Kateryna Lahno (2522) won her first game
Pictures by Turkish Federation and Antakya Archaeological Museum
Europe Echecs is providing daily video reports
| Name | Fed. | Ti. | Rtng | Result |
Name | Fed. | Ti. | Rtng |
| Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | g | 2507 | 1-0 |
Mezioud, Amina | ALG | wm | 2029 |
| Greeff, Melissa | RSA | wg | 2082 | 0-1 |
Koneru, Humpy | IND | g | 2600 |
| Hou, Yifan | CHN | g | 2591 | 1-0 |
Heredia Serrano, Carla | ECU | wm | 2087 |
| Mona, Khaled | EGY | wg | 2093 | 0-1 |
Kosintseva, Tatiana | RUS | g | 2581 |
| Dzagnidze, Nana | GEO | g | 2551 | 1-0 |
Kagramanov, Dina | CAN | wm | 2101 |
| Aliaga Fernandez, Ingrid Y | PER | wf | 2154 | 0-1 |
Stefanova, Antoaneta | BUL | g | 2548 |
| Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | m | 2530 | 1-0 |
Zuriel, Marisa | ARG | wm | 2208 |
| Yildiz, Betul Cemre | TUR | wm | 2225 | ½-½ |
Cramling, Pia | SWE | g | 2526 |
| Harika, Dronavalli | IND | m | 2525 | ½-½ |
Nadig, Kruttika | IND | wg | 2230 |
| Caoili, Arianne | AUS | wm | 2242 | - + |
Ju, Wenjun | CHN | wg | 2524 |
| Lahno, Kateryna | UKR | g | 2522 | 1-0 |
Ozturk, Kubra | TUR | wm | 2264 |
| Demina, Julia | RUS | wg | 2323 | 0-1 |
Cmilyte, Viktorija | LTU | g | 2514 |
| Chiburdanidze, Maia | GEO | g | 2502 | 1-0 |
Meenakshi Subbaraman | IND | wg | 2328 |
| Soumya, Swaminathan | IND | wg | 2332 | 0-1 |
Socko, Monika | POL | g | 2495 |
| Sebag, Marie | FRA | g | 2494 | 1-0 |
Vasilevich, Irina | RUS | m | 2333 |
| Baginskaite, Camilla | USA | wg | 2336 | 0-1 |
Ruan, Lufei | CHN | wg | 2480 |
| Mkrtchian, Lilit | ARM | m | 2479 | ½-½ |
Zhang, Xiaowen | CHN | wg | 2339 |
| Lomineishvili, Maia | GEO | m | 2347 | 0-1 |
Zatonskih, Anna | USA | m | 2478 |
| Zhu, Chen | QAT | g | 2477 | 1-0 |
Muminova, Nafisa | UZB | wm | 2360 |
| Fierro Baquero, Martha L. | ECU | m | 2363 | 0-1 |
Zhao, Xue | CHN | g | 2474 |
| Paehtz, Elisabeth | GER | m | 2474 | ½-½ |
Zawadzka, Jolanta | POL | wg | 2368 |
| Ding, Yixin | CHN | wg | 2370 | 1-0 |
Hoang Thanh Trang | HUN | g | 2473 |
| Pogonina, Natalija | RUS | wg | 2472 | 0-1 |
Kovanova, Baira | RUS | wg | 2380 |
| Shadrina, Tatiana | RUS | wg | 2384 | 1-0 |
Danielian, Elina | ARM | g | 2466 |
| Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | m | 2462 | 1-0 |
Cori T., Deysi | PER | wg | 2384 |
| Ovod, Evgenija | RUS | m | 2387 | 1-0 |
Shen, Yang | CHN | wg | 2461 |
| Ushenina, Anna | UKR | m | 2460 | ½-½ |
Huang, Qian | CHN | wg | 2402 |
| Foisor, Cristina-Adela | ROU | m | 2403 | ½-½ |
Skripchenko, Almira | FRA | m | 2460 |
| Dembo, Yelena | GRE | m | 2454 | ½-½ |
Munguntuul, Batkhuyag | MGL | m | 2409 |
| Romanko, Marina | RUS | m | 2414 | ½-½ |
Zhukova, Natalia | UKR | g | 2447 |
| Rajlich, Iweta | POL | m | 2446 | - + |
Houska, Jovanka | ENG | m | 2421 |
| Khukhashvili, Sopiko | GEO | m | 2430 | ½-½ |
Turova, Irina | RUS | m | 2439 |
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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