EU Women's Championship: Hoang Thanh Trang leads

3/15/2009 – After seven rounds of the European Individual Women's Championship, an 11-round Swiss with 168 players which is taking place from March 7–21 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the sole leader is GM Hoang Thanh Trang with 6.0/7 points. Twelve players follow half a point behind. We bring you results and games, new videos by Europe Echecs and beautiful player portraits by WGM Irina Sudakova.

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10th European Individual Women's Championship,
Saint Petersburg 2009

The 10th European Individual Women's Chess Championship is taking place from March 7 – 21, 2009, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The venue is the Park Inn Pulkovskaya Hotel (Pobedy or Victory Square 1) in a huge Soviet style playing hall. The players are in two different rooms, downstairs the top 20 boards, with their games broadcast live on the Internet (thanks to Evgeny Tkachiev), and upstairs the rest of the players. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move number one. The prize fund is 87,500 Euros, with € 10,000 going to the winner, € 7500 for second place, € 6000 € for third, etc., with € 1000 going to the twentieth place.

Report after round seven

After seven rounds the sole leader with 6.0/7 points is GM Hoang Thanh Trang, originally of Vietnamese extraction, now living in and playing for Hungary. Lilit Mrktchian, who was leading after six rounds, lost her game to Hoang in round seven and joined eleven other players in second place.


In the lead: Hungarian GM Hoang Thanh Trang

Top standings after seven rounds (3.0/5 and higher)

# Player Pts Nat. Rtng Perf
1 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 6.0 HUN 2483 2680
2 GM Socko, Monika 5.5 POL 2449 2609
3 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 5.5 ARM 2460 2598
4 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekat. 5.5 RUS 2442 2574
5 IM Melia, Salome 5.5 GEO 2422 2588
6 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 5.5 ROU 2412 2572
7 IM Khurtsidze, Nino 5.5 GEO 2421 2593
8 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 5.5 RUS 2467 2540
9 IM Rajlich, Iweta 5.5 POL 2399 2563
10 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 5.5 RUS 2416 2586
11 WGM Kovanova, Baira 5.5 RUS 2386 2555
12 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 5.5 RUS 2384 2545
13 WGM Grabuzova, Tatiana 5.5 RUS 2332 2508
14 IM Ovod, Evgenija 5.0 RUS 2430 2484
15 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 5.0 GEO 2437 2469
16 IM Ushenina, Anna 5.0 UKR 2499 2498
17 IM Arakhamia-Grant, K. 5.0 SCO 2500 2495
18 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 5.0 GER 2455 2461
19 WGM Demina, Julia 5.0 RUS 2361 2419
20 WGM Nebolsina, Vera 5.0 RUS 2312 2425
21 WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 5.0 RUS 2327 2354
22 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 5.0 POL 2352 2400
 
23 GM Lahno, Kateryna 4.5 UKR 2488 2455
24 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 4.5 GEO 2518 2469
25 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 4.5 POL 2385 2462
26 IM Khukhashvili, Sopiko 4.5 GEO 2416 2424
27 WIM Charochkina, Daria 4.5 RUS 2316 2393
28 IM Turova, Irina 4.5 RUS 2379 2420
29 WIM Guramishvili, Sopiko 4.5 GEO 2281 2399
30 WFM Sorokina, Anastasia 4.5 RUS 2087 2409
31 IM Muzychuk, Anna 4.5 SLO 2540 2399
32 IM Gaponenko, Inna 4.5 UKR 2450 2392
33 WGM Kadziolka, Beata 4.5 POL 2295 2399
34 WFM Tomilova, Elena 4.5 RUS 2300 2415
35 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 4.5 RUS 2497 2405
36 WGM Romanko, Marina 4.5 RUS 2451 2432
37 WGM Shumiakina, Tatiana 4.5 RUS 2324 2404
38 WIM Majdan, Joanna 4.5 POL 2351 2358
39 IM Vasilevich, Irina 4.5 RUS 2340 2324
40 WGM Stepovaia, Tatiana 4.5 RUS 2379 2375
41 Savina, Anastasia 4.5 RUS 2297 2253
42 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 4.5 UKR 2427 2380
43 WGM Stojanovic, Andjelija 4.5 SRB 2372 2336

Player portraits by Irina Sudakova

The following pictures were kindly provided by WGM Irina Sudakova, who is working in the press center of the European Women's Championship in Saint Petersburg. We have sorted them according to the standings after round seven. Under each picture you see the standings, the player (with FIDE title), nationality, rating, points and performance.

# Player Pts Nat. Rtng Perf


5 IM Melia, Salome GEO 2422 5.5 2588


7 IM Khurtsidze, Nino GEO 2421 5.5 2593


8 WGM Pogonina, Natalija RUS 2467 5.5 2540


13 WGM Grabuzova, Tatiana RUS 2332 5.5 2508


33 WGM Kadziolka, Beata POL 2295 4.5 2399


38 WIM Majdan, Joanna POL 2351 4.5 2358


47 WGM Motoc, Alina ROU 2358 4.0 2353


49 WGM Aginian, Nelly ARM 2335 4.0 2329


58 WIM Solovjova, Valentina RUS 2324 4.0 2302


62 WGM Zhukova, Natalia UKR 2490 4.0 2276


92 Lelekova, Olga RUS 2222 3.5 2238


102 WIM Kirillova, Varvara RUS 2246 3.0 2241


144 WFM Zakharova, Alexandra RUS 2153 2.5 2014


145 WFM Sokolova, Vera RUS 2084 2.5 1994


161 Efremova, Daria RUS 1910 1.5 1844


162 Karasova, Daria RUS 0 1.5 1793



A glamour shot of our photographer, WGM Irina Sudakova, 26

Video reports by Europe Echecs

The video reports are by GM Robert Fontaine and the Europe Echecs team. They give us a unique view of the tournament, with daily wrap-ups and atmosphere reports. Robert is reporting, while his wife Kateryna Lahno is playing in the tournament.

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.