Peng and Kosteniuk in the lead

The European Women's Chess Championship is being held from March 21st until April 3rd 2004. The rounds start at 13:00h and will be covered on the Playchess.com server – with Radio ChessBase bringing periodic audio feed directly from the tournament hall. The tournament will be over 12 rounds, with a rest day on March 29th.

General links

• Here is the official web site with live coverage, information, games, scores and standings. Naturally we will also be covering the event on ChessBase.com and Playchess.com.
• Here's a list of all the players. You can click on each name to get a picture, short biographical information and the results so far.
• Pairings and results
• Interview with GM Uwe Bönsch, who is in charge of the German Women's team.
• Information on the city of Dresden.

Round 11 report

One day before the last round of the championship two players are in the lead: Peng Zhaoqin (WGM 2419 NED) and Alexandra Kosteniuk (WGM 2469 RUS). In round 11 they faced each other and played a hard-fought draw. Their hottest pursuers Irina Slavina (WGM 2413 RUS) and Cristina Adela Foisor (WGM 2404 ROM), each half a point behind, also drew. Two other players with the same number of points were Natalia Zhukova (WGM 2462 UKR) and Tatiana Kosintseva (WGM 2447 RUS). Natalia drew against GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2478 BUL) while Tatiana beat Jovanka Houska (WGM 2370 ENG). Local favourite Elisabeth Pähtz (WGM 2399 GER) won for a second time in a row to keep near the top, beating Elina Danielian (WGM 2428 ARM) in a fine attacking game.

The standings after round 11 and before the final round on Friday are as follows:

The pairings for round 12 see Kosintseva vs Kosteniuk, Foisor vs Peng, Zhukova vs Slavina, Stefanova vs Pähtz and Peptan vs Dzagnidze. If there is a tie for first then there will be tie-break games on Saturday.

Picture Gallery

All of the following pictures were taken by Dagobert Kohlmeyer, Berlin

Leading player Peng Zhaoqin of the Netherlands (WGM, 2419)

R ussian WGM Tatiana Kosintseva, 2447, who moved to striking distance in round 11

One of the two GMs in this tournament: Antoaneta Stefanova, 2478, BUL

The other GM, reigning champion Pia Cramling, 2488, SWE

Other picture reports:

• Women play in Dresden
• Picture Gallery – the Damsels of Dresden
• Watch the girls play on ChessBase TV
• The Damsels of Dresden revisited
• Kasparov mobbed in Dresden

If you are interested in more – lots and lots of – pictures of the ladies of Dresden, here are some secret links. The pictures are being posted by our colleagues on the German ChessBase site. The reports are in the language of Goethe and Schiller, but the pictures and names can be viewed by anyone.

• Opening report
• Round one pictures
• Round two report and pictures
• Round three report and pictures
• Round four report and pictures
• Round five report and pictures
• Little Gaponenko
• Round six report
• Round seven report
• Round eight report
• Round nine report
• Round ten report