Pages

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Top women chess players to challenge men at Gibraltar Chess Congress

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The strongest ever gathering of female chess players in a mixed event takes place on the Rock in a week's time at the Gibraltar Chess Congress. Never before have so many of the world's top women joined leading male players to compete in the same tournament.

Led by Judit Polgar, this year's female contingent includes champion players from China, India, Russia, the Ukraine, and the USA.

All eyes will be on the reigning Women's World Champion, 17 year-old HouYifan, coming to Gibraltar for the first time. Indian sensation Humpy Koneru will be keen to score well - if things go her way she could take home the special £5,000 Commonwealth prize. Anna Muzychuk, from Slovakia, has been in scintillating form lately, and looks a good bet for a high placing.

Other female stars to follow include former World Champions Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) and Zhu Chen (Qatar), former European Champion PiaCramling, and American rivals Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih.

From Georgia, a nation famous for its support of women's chess, come four top players, including last year's joint female winners: Nana Dzagnidze and Salome Melia. Let's also not forget British Women's champion Jovanka Houska, who in December recorded a career-best performance at the London Chess Classic Open.

As well as the elite women chess players, there are lesser-ranked females from Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Montenegro, and France, as well as from further afield: Chile and Pakistan are both sending players. You can access the official website here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

2 comments:

  1. now thats a cool one

    ReplyDelete
  2. I want to see a judit-yifan match - is it possible? and world championship with yifan judit chess queen and humpy - a nice blend of attacking chess - it would be good if we had a way to select four instead of two and then have a world title match

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.