Women Grand Prix Series in Istanbul

İş Bankası - Women Grand Prix Series in Istanbul

The Turkish Chess Federation in collaboration with FIDE and Global Chess is organising the first event for the new Women Grand Prix series 2009/2010. The tournament will be held in Istanbul, Turkey beginning on the 6th of March 2009. It will also be the second in a series organised by the Turkish Chess Federation commemorating the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

In conjunction with the tournament, the organisers will show their customary hospitality and will be hosting the FIDE Presidential Board for the 1st Quarter meeting of 2009 from 5-8 March. The sponsor of the event is Türkiye İş Bankasi.

The event will be held in İş Sanat Gallery (İş Bankasi Art Gallery) on the entrance floor of İş Bank Towers in Istanbul. The Opening Ceremony will be held on the 41st floor of Is Bank Towers which is the highest place of Istanbul and Southern Europe. İş Bankasi is the corporate sponsor of the Turkish Chess Federation and has supported the "Turkish Chess in School Curriculum" for the last four years.

Tournament venue: the 41st story of the Is Bankasi towers overlooking Istanbul

A view from the İş Bankası Tower over the city of Istanbul

The Turkish Chess Federation is one of the most active national Federations and has already organised in 2009 the Mediterranean Championships and the Turkish Youth Championships with 996 players.

Turkey has also host some other prestigious FIDE tournaments this year including the World Men's Team Championship, the World Youth Championships and the world U-16 Olympiad. The TCF is granted to host the 2012 World Chess Olympiad Istanbul, during the 79th FIDE Congress in Dresden on 24th November 2008.

The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a new series of elite tournaments which will be organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be six legs over two years in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned in Nanjing, China at the end of September.

The winner of each tournament will win 6,500 Euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 Euros. The overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series.

This is the first time that such a series is being organised and is a significant development for the chess world. The introduction of the Grand Prix series means that there will be a World Championship contest annually now from 2010. In that year, the Champion will be determined from the World Championship Knockout which will also be held in Turkey and the following year, 2011, the World Champions will face the Winner of the Grand Prix series 2009/2010 in a match for the title.

This will be one of the strongest women tournaments of all times and it is important to point out that there are three ex-world Champions taking part as well as the highest ranked women players in the world.

Participants in Istanbul 2009

Schedule

The players in pictures

	Humpy Koneru (India) Birth Year: 1987 Rating: 2621 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 2
	Hou Yifan (China) Birth Year: 1994 Rating: 2571 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 3
	Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) Birth Year: 1979 Rating: 2557 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 4
	Pia Cramling (Sweden) Birth Year: 1963 Rating: 2548 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 5
	Marie Sebag (France) Birth Year: 1986 Rating: 2529 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 9
	Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia) Birth Year: 1961 Rating: 2518 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 9
	Zhao Xue (China) Birth Year: 1985 Rating: 2508 Title: Grandmaster (GM) World ranking (Women): 11
	Elina Danielian (Armenia) Birth Year: 1978 Rating: 2496 Title: International Master World ranking (Women): 16
	Shen Yang (China) Birth Year: 1989 Rating: 2448 Title: Women Grandmaster (WGM) World ranking (Women): 39
	Martha Lorena Fierro Baquero Birth Year: 1977 Rating: 2403 Title: International Master World ranking (Women): 64
	Zeinab Mamedyarova (Azerbaijan) Birth Year: 1983 Rating: 2362 Title: Woman Grandmaster (WGM) World ranking (Women): 103
	Betül Cemre Yildiz (Turkey) Birth Year: 1989 Rating: 2214 Title: Woman International Master World ranking (Women): 426

Links Official tournament page Main sponsor: Türkiye Is Bankasi You can use ChessBase Light to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. It also gives you immediate access to play and watch events on Playchess.com server.