Women's
World Chess Championship
Elista, 21st May – 8th June 2004
The semi-final round of the FIDE Women's World Championship in Elista saw
Bulgaria's top seed and former European women's champion Antoaneta Stefanova
defeat former women's world champion Maia Chiburdanidze of Georgia in the regular
knockout games (Stefanova won the second game with black).
In the other semifinal 17-year-old Indian chess prodigy Koneru Humpy fought
back after losing the first game to draw level. In the tiebreak, however, she
lost to the 30-year-old Russian WGM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya.
The final between Stefanova and Kovalevskaya will start on June 3rd.

The women's world championship in the Chess City of Elista

The semi-final game between India's chess prodigy Koneru Humpy and Ekaterina
Kovalevskaya

Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, who defeated Indian hopeful Koneru Humpy in the rapid
chess tiebreak games.

Koneru Humpy,
who two years ago became the youngest female player ever to achieve the male
GM title (at the age of at the age of 15 years, 1 month and 27 days, beating
Judith Polgar's record of 15 years, 4 months and 28 days)

Antoaneta Stefanova, Bulgaria's top female player (who has often played in
the national men's team). Stefanova won the 2002
European Women's Championship in Varna.

Former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze, who faltered in the semifinals

The two finalists: Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Russia) and Antoaneta Stefanova
(Bulgaria). The first game of the final will be played on June 3rd at 14:00h
local time (GMT+3, 13:00h Berlin/Paris, 12:00h London, 7 a.m. New York). You
can watch it on the FIDE live
coverage site or on the Playchess.com
server.
“MonRoi” to unite the chess world
In an unusual press conference in Elista's City Chess Hall FIDE's long-time
president Florencio Campomanes introduced a new electronic system which is
intended to "replace paper score sheets, speed up and modify the process
of writing down the chess moves during the game." The device (actually
a WinCE handheld with special software) was developed by Ms. Brana Malobabic,
manager of the Canadian company Mon Roi.

FIDE's honorary president Florencio Campomanes (middle) during the introduction
of the “Mon Roi” electronic chess notation system

Brana Malobabic, who is “a passionate chess player” and developed
the “Mon Roi” technology, demonstrates it in operation. More information
on the press conference and the "Mon Roi" system are available on
the FIDE site.
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