Tatev Abrahamyan Wins 2010 US Women's Fighting Chess Spirit Award

Tatev Abrahamyan creating "fighting chess"

Hi Everybody!

I want to give my heartfelt congratulations to Tatev Abrahamyan for her extreme fighting spirit at the 2010 U.S. Women's Championship!

Jennifer Shahade sent me the original link to her article where you can find a great fighting game she won against Alisa Melekhina.

Tatev Abrahamyan

Here is the text of the article:

At the 2010 US Women’s Chess Championship, Tatev Abrahamyan, 22, was awarded this year’s $1,000 Fighting Spirit Award.

The prize, co-sponsored by 9queens and goddesschess was judged by Women’s World Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.

Kosteniuk, who updated results of the US Women's on her blog, said “Congratulations to all the winners! The tournament was excellent an lots of "fighting chess" throughout!”

Kosteniuk singled out Tatev for her decisive results (she drew only one game in the event, to Anna Zatonskih), and her aggressive play. Kosteniuk’s favorite Abrahamyan game was her round three win against Alisa Melekhina.

You can copy and paste the pgn moves below in the pgnplayer.

US Women's Championship, Saint Louis 2010

White: WFM Tatev Abrahamyan

Black: WIM Alisa Melekhina

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.Re1 d6 7.c3 Kh8 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9.d4 Bf6 10.Nf1 Nb6 11.Bb3 Bg4 12.d5 Ne7 13.h3 Bc8 14.c4 a5 15.Qe2 g6 16.Bc2 Bg7 17.b3 h6 18.a3 f5 19.Bb2 Nd7 20.b4 Nf6 21.N3d2 f4 22.c5 g5 23.Nh2 h5 24.f3 Rf7 25.Nc4 Ng6 26.Qf2 Bf8 27.cxd6 Bxd6 28.Nxa5 Rh7 29.Bd1 Qf8 30.Nc4 Qh6 31.Nxd6 cxd6 32.Qb6 Qf8 33.Rc1 g4 34.fxg4 hxg4 35.Nxg4 Bxg4 36.hxg4 Qh6 37.Qxd6 Qh2+ 38.Kf1 Qh1+ 39.Kf2 Qh4+ 40.Ke2 Qxg4+ 41.Kd3 Qg5 42.Bf3 Rd7 43.Rh1+ Kg7 44.Rc7 Rad8 45.Rh5 Nxh5 46.Rxd7+ Rxd7 47.Qxd7+ Kh6 48.Qh3 Nh4 49.Qe6+ Kh7 50.Qxe5 Nxf3 51.gxf3 Qh4 52.Qh8+ Kg6 53.Qg8+ Kh6 54.Bg7+ Nxg7 55.Qh8+ Kg5 56.Qxg7+ 1-0

Tatev is no stranger to fighting chess. In 2008 Tatev also won the goddesschess award at the US Women's Championship, held that year in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2009, all of Tatev's games were decisive! For a survey of Tatev Abrahamyan's career since she moved to the Los Angeles area from her native Armenia, see the goddesschess blog.

In Irina Krush’s winner’s speech, she singled out her nearest competitors Tatev and Anna for motivating her to play her best chess. Abrahamyan scored 7.5/9, a score that is usually enough for at least a tie for first in a 10-player round robin. In this amazing event, Tatev actually only tied for second with last year’s Champion and goddesschess prize winner, Anna Zatonskih. Tatev had a 2621 USCF performance rating and raised her rating almost 60 points to 2430.

Although Tatev is more focused on earning IM and GM norms, it should also be noted that she picked up her final WGM norm. She also earned the 9queens scholarship prize (for a student under the age of 25) of $400 for a total bonus prize of $1400, which in combination with her 2nd-3rd place finish, gave her a takehome of $11,900.

9 Queens is a non-profit organization devoted to bringing chess to those most in need of its benefit, especially girls and at-risk youth. Goddesschess has been sponsoring Fighting Spirit Awards since 2007. See goddesschess.com for articles, links and much more with a special emphasis on the women of chess.

9 Queens co-founder and executive director Jean Hoffman presented the award at the US Women's Championship closing ceremony and she said,"If we want to encourage more women and girls to play chess, we need more prizes like the Fighting Chess Award. Not only does the award bring well-deserved recognition to Tatev and other professional female chess players, it also sends the message that competitive, confident and intelligent women should be celebrated."

Find out more about the US Women’s Chess Championship including games and photos on uschesschamps.com.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com & www.chessqueen.com