Baltic Queen International Tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia
This women's event took place from August 11th-20th 2009. It was a Category
eight tournament, attracting some of the top female talents in the world.
The winner, with 6.0 points from nine games, and a performance of 2558, was
second seed GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant of Scotland, rated 2506.
This lady has a sparkling chess background: she was junior girls' world champion,
three times the champion of her native Georgia, and she participated in the
World Championship Candidate Tournament. After having settled in Scotland she
won the British Women's Championship four times and secured the bronze medal
of the European Championship 2001. She has an aggressive style of play and always
aims at extremely complicated positions.
Second was IM/WGM Ekaterina Atalik, 2434, originally from
Russia, today living in Turkey with her husband,
GM Suat Atalik. Ekaterina Polovnikova (her original name) was five times Russian
girls champion, European girls champion 1997. Her best achievement came after
she had become a Turkish citizen – a sensational victory at the women's
European Championship 2006. Solid opening repertoire and bright positional style
was the foundation of this success.
Final standings
The winner, GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, receives the trophy
IM Ekatrina Atalik, GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant and IM Elisabeth Pähtz with
their prizes
First: Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, 6.0/9, perf. 2558; second: Ekaterina Atalik,
5.5/9, perf. 2524
Third: Elisabeth Pähtz, 5.0/9 , perf. 2479; fourth: Pia Cramling, 5.0/9,
perf. 2475
Fifth: Viktorija Cmilyte, 5.0/9, perf. 2480; sixth: Anastasia Bodnaruk,
4.5/9, perf. 2450
Seventh: Natalia Zhukova, 4.0/9, perf. 2404; eighth: Julia Demina, 3.5/9 , perf.
2374
Ninth: Irina Turova, 3.5/9, perf. 2373; tenth: Peng Zhaoqin, 3.0/9, perf. 2328
An outing in St Petersburg on the free day
The Grand Cascade and Grand Palace, modeled after Louis XIV's Château
de Marly
"First of all, I am a mother, and only then a chessplayer"
Interview with winner GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
Kirill Levkin: You were born in Georgia and were playing
for the country for a long time. Why have you changed your citizenship?
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant: The point is that in 1996 I married
a Scottish citizen. My husband is a chessplayer too, an amateur. And I've been
living in Scotland for 13 years already, but have continued to play for the
Georgian Chess Federation in championships. I changed the federation last year
only. The decision had many reasons, and the main one is that long since I'm
a habitant and a chessplayer of Scotland, and it would be right to play for
the country where I live with my family.
And where is there more competition at the national level: in Scotland
or in Georgia?
As for men's chess, there are five grandmasters in Scotland, six counting
me – it is a good staff for a small federation. But most participants
of national championships still play at amateur level, so, of course, competition
in Scotland does not reach that in Georgia, and popularity of chess is much
less.
You are in St. Petersburg for the second time this year. What are your
impressions of our city?
I played chess in Leningrad many years ago, but I was a schoolgirl then and
have only hazy recollections. I was very glad to hear that Petersburg is to
play host to the European Championship [held in March 2009]. And now when I
said at home I'm invited to this tournament, everybody envied me. They said,
'Oh, no, you are lucky! You are going to Petersburg again!' Your city has a quite
fair name all over the world, and many people of different countries want to
come here and see all this beauty themselves.
Many sportsmen are superstitious. How about you?
I got rid of it even in my childhood. When a little girl, I had some tokens,
lucky things to take to important games, but all this has gone now. Though I
agree that many chessplayers are superstitious.
What hobbies have you apart from chess? I guess chess is number one?
I think it is not the case now already. First of all, I am a mother, and only
then a chessplayer. I have a family, a daughter – Elena. She is ten already.
I played much chess earlier, now I try to spend more time with my family.
Does your daughter play chess?
She can play chess, but she has not much interest in it. My husband play chess,
I play chess, and she seems to have cultivated some immunity to it. She often
goes to tournaments with us, but has quite different hobbies. She is very musical,
she goes to a music school, and I'd say she infected her parents with music.
Now we are keen classical music listeners, often go to concerts, music is constantly
sounding at our home. Also, I like to see movies; I often see them on DVD together
with my husband, but usually late in the evening, when our daughter is sleeping.
What do you plan to take with you as a keepsake of Petersburg?
Don't know yet. Last time I've bought a matreshka
[Russian nesting doll]. I'm very glad they presented to us a book about your
city at the opening ceremony. It was an excellent gift, and I shall keep it
solicitously. What else? It's hard to say now, I must fulfill my cultural plans.
I've managed to visit only Hermitage in March. I thought I could walk around
in the morning as we live in the very center, but I failed so far. Hope to visit
Peterhof on the rest day.
Kirill Levkin was a press officer of the "Baltic Queen"
tournament
