2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Preview

by ChessBase
11/12/2010 – The 2010 Women's World Chess Championship is about to start in Hatay, Turkey, heralding either a new champion, or confirming the incumbent. In 2008, Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk survived the knockout match system, and defeated the youngest finalist in history, the Chinese GM Hou Yifan. 64 players are now gathering to fight for the 2010 title. See who they are and read the preview.

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The 2010 Women's World Chess Championship will be held from December 2nd, 2010 (Arrival), to December 25th, 2010 (Departure) in Hatay, Turkey.

Time control: 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.

Schedule: the games start at 3 PM local time (2 PM Paris - 8 AM NY time - 5 AM Pacific)

Women's World Chess Championship 2010

The 2010 Women's World Chess Championship will be held from December 2nd, 2010 (Arrival), to December 25th, 2010 (Departure) in Hatay, Turkey.

There are 64 qualifiers for the event:

  • The Women's World Champion,
  • the runner-up and semi-finalists of the previous Women's World Championship (4 players),
  • the World Junior Girl Champions U-20 of 2008 & 2009 (2 players),
  • the five best rated players from the average of the FIDE rating lists of July 2008 and January 2009 (5 players),
  • fifty-one qualifiers from the Women's Continental Championships and Zones (51 players).
  • and two nominees by the FIDE President (2 players).

Players

No. Name Fed. Tit. W. tit. Rtg
1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra
RUS
g
wg
2507
2 Koneru, Humpy
IND
g
wg
2600
3 Hou, Yifan
CHN
g
wg
2591
4 Kosintseva, Tatiana
RUS
g
wg
2581
5 Dzagnidze, Nana
GEO
g
wg
2551
6 Stefanova, Antoaneta
BUL
g
2548
7 Muzychuk, Anna
SLO
m
wg
2530
8 Cramling, Pia
SWE
g
2526
9 Harika, Dronavalli
IND
m
wg
2525
10 Ju, Wenjun
CHN
wg
wg
2524
11 Lahno, Kateryna
UKR
g
wg
2522
12 Cmilyte, Viktorija
LTU
g
wg
2514
13 Chiburdanidze, Maia
GEO
g
wm
2502
14 Socko, Monika
POL
g
wg
2495
15 Sebag, Marie
FRA
g
wg
2494

Complete player list (Excel file)


Official poster of the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship

Tournament format

The time control shall be 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.

There shall be five (5) rounds of matches, comprising two (2) games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The 6th and final round shall be played over four (4) games and the winner will be declared Women's World Champion.

Round 1: there will be 64 players
Round 2: there will be 32 players
Round 3: there will be 16 players
Round 4: there will be 8 players
Round 5: there will be 4 players
Round 6: there will be 2 players

Complete general pairings (Excel file)

Round one pairings

Tbl
No.
Name
Fed.
Tit.
Rtg
No.
Name
Fed.
Tit.
Rtg
1 1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra
RUS
g
2507
64 Mezioud, Amina
ALG
wm
2029
2 2 Koneru, Humpy
IND
g
2600
63 Greeff, Melissa
RSA
wg
2082
3 3 Hou, Yifan
CHN
g
2591
62 Heredia Serrano, Carla
ECU
wm
2087
4 4 Kosintseva, Tatiana
RUS
g
2581
61 Mona, Khaled
EGY
wg
2093
5 5 Dzagnidze, Nana
GEO
g
2551
60 Kagramanov, Dina
CAN
wm
2101
6 6 Stefanova, Antoaneta
BUL
g
2548
59 Aliaga Fernandez, Ingrid Y
PER
wf
2154
7 7 Muzychuk, Anna
SLO
m
2530
58 Zuriel, Marisa
ARG
wm
2208
8 8 Cramling, Pia
SWE
g
2526
57 Yildiz, Betul Cemre
TUR
wm
2225
9 9 Harika, Dronavalli
IND
m
2525
56 Nadig, Kruttika
IND
wg
2230
10 10 Ju, Wenjun
CHN
wg
2524
55 Caoili, Arianne
AUS
wm
2242
11 11 Lahno, Kateryna
UKR
g
2522
54 Ozturk, Kubra
TUR
wm
2264
12 12 Cmilyte, Viktorija
LTU
g
2514
53 Demina, Julia
RUS
wg
2323
13 13 Chiburdanidze, Maia
GEO
g
2502
52 Meenakshi Subbaraman
IND
wg
2328
14 14 Socko, Monika
POL
g
2495
51 Soumya, Swaminathan
IND
wg
2332
15 15 Sebag, Marie
FRA
g
2494
50 Vasilevich, Irina
RUS
m
2333

Complete round one pairings (Excel file)

The world’s strongest 64 women players will come together here in historical city of  Turkey. The first five of those eminent women players are Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia, who is the reigning World Champion, Humpy Koneru from India, Chinese star Hou Yifan, Russian GM Tatiana Kosintseva and Georgian Grandmaster Nana Dzagnidze.


2008 World Women Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk


23 years old Indian GM Humpy Koneru won the 2009 Is Bankasi Women GP in Istanbul


Chinese star Hou Yifan, 2008 Ataturk Woman Masters Champion


Winner of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Nalchik. Russian
GM Tatiana Kosintseva finished third in the ACP Women's
World Rapid Cup in Konya, Turkey.


Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze, leader of the 2010 FIDE Women GP – Jermuk

The History of the Women's World Chess Championships

In 1996 Zsuzsa Polgar beat Xie Jun at Jaen to become the last World Champion to win the title in a classic match played on the same terms that had been in effect since 1953.

The next Candidates Tournament in Groningen 1997, was organized concurrent with the first of the FIDE World Championship Knockout tournaments. Alisa Galliamova and Xie Jun finished 1st and 2nd, seeding them into the final match.The final match in the Women's Championship was scheduled to be played in Shenyang. After Galliamova refused to play the entire match in China, the win was awarded by default to Xie Jun. The title match would be Polgar - Xie Jun.

By the time FIDE announced the date and venue for the title match, Polgar had given birth to her first child. She considered that the time to recover from childbirth and to prepare for the new match was insufficient. She requested that the match be postponed, FIDE refused, and negotiations broke down. After the contract deadline passed, FIDE declared that the title match would be played between Xie Jun and Alisa Galliamova. The forfeited Candidates match was to be resurrected as a title match! The 1999 match, with a venue split between Kazan and Shenyang, was won by Xie Jun.

A year later, at New Delhi 2000, Xie Jun defended her title by winning the first Women's Championship played with the knockout format. She beat her compatriot Qin Kanying in the final match of the six rounds event. The Chinese dominance was reconfirmed when Zhu Chen beat Alexandra Kosteniuk in the final match of the Moscow 2001 knockout event.

On July 7, 2004, Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria became the 10th World Champion at the Championship held in Elista, The president of FIDE, the President of the republic of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilymzhinov, set a diamond crown on her head. Then on March 2006, Xu Yuhua became the next Champion in Ekaterinburg.

The next championship which was organized in Nalchik in 2008 was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk, the current reigning champion, and in the closing ceremony the President of Kabardino-Balkaria, Arcen Kanokov, and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov awarded the winners of the Championship. In third place came Pia Cramling (Sweden) and Humpy Koneru (India), and in second, the youngest-ever finalist, Hou Yifan (China) was warmly applauded by the audience. The longest applause was naturally reserved for the new Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia. All the prizes were presented and the Champion was crowned with a very beautiful and luxurious crown, hand-made in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Here are some pictures of the 2010 venue, Hatay, Turkey:


Upland of Samandağ


Mozaic Museum


Mozaic Museum


Delicious Hatay Cuisine


Map of Hatay

Photos by Turkish Chess Federation

Sponsors

Turkish Chess Federation

Antakya Municipality


Links

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