Hello from Panama and Women's Chess Kaleidoscope

Hi everybody!

I'm in Panama right now, having a very good time and promoting chess. Today I had the honor to meet the Mayor of Panama who handed me a diploma of distinguished visitor of Panama City. After that I gave a press-conference about my trip to Panama and why did I decide to visit this country. In the afternoon I gave a one hour lecture in the University of Panama about how chess helps in life and business. There were over 300 hundred people who attended this lecture and everything went very well.

Tomorrow at 9 AM I will give a simul to 20 players. We will have more nice photos soon.

Meanwhile many interesting women's chess tournaments are going on or just finished.

The Maia Chiburdanidze Cup

(International Open Women's Chess Tournament) took place in Tbilisi, Georgia on June 4-12, 2009. It was a very strong tournament with 57 women's players participating it it.

Final Standings:

1-2. Khotenashvili (GEO, 2364) and Javakhishvili (GEO, 2463) (on photo on the right)– 7 out of 9.
3-5. Muzychuk (SLO, 2533), Purtseladze (GEO, 2327) and Melia (GEO, 2440) – 6½.
6-9. Dzagnidze (GEO, 2541), Galojan (ARM, 2323), Khukhashvili (GEO, 2424) and Khurtsidze (GEO, 2424) - 6 etc.

Marisa Zuriel (photo on the right) won the 2.5 zonal tournament that was held in Asunció (Paraguay) from June 10 till June 18, 2009. She finished first with 8.5 points out of 10, ahead of Carolina Lujan and Maria Plazaola who had 7 points.

The zonal tournament 2.4 that was held in Brasil from June 8 till June 18, 2009 was won by Juliana Terao.

The zonal tournament 3.4 is going on right now in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It will finish on June 26, 2009.

The winners of the zonal tournaments qualify for the Women's World Chess Championship 2010.

The international chess festival "Ruy Lopez" just ended today in Zafra (Spain) and was won by Ivan Cheparinov from Bulgaria who finished with 5 points out of 7. Pia Cramling was 6th with 3 points out of 7. Humpy Koneru shared the last place with 2.5 points.

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