2010 U.S. Women's and Junior Closed Championships begin on Friday

U.S. Women's defending chess champion Anna Zatonskih

Hello Everyone,

The 2010 U.S. Women's and Junior Championships are taking place from July 9-20 in St. Louis. IM Anna Zatonskih and GM Ray Robson would be defending their crowns in the two championships respectively.

The event will feature live commentary by WGM Jennifer Shahade and GM Ben Finegold on the St. Louis Chess Club website. You can also read an interesting article on the history of the U.S. Women's Chess championship at the website.

Players under the age of 21 compete for the U.S. Junior Closed Championship and previous winners have included Bobby Fischer, Larry Christiansen, Patrick Wolff, Joshua Waitzkin, Tal Shaked, Hikaru Nakamura, Robert Hess and the 2009 Champion GM Ray Robson.

Meanwhile, here is a nice game by Zatonskih that she played against Irina Krush in the U.S. Women's Championship 2009.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com