FIDE Women's Grand Prix starts in Kazan

by ChessBase
6/10/2012 – This twelve-player round robin has a 40,000 Euro prize fund, is part of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix circuit, and has most of the world's elite female players – Hou Yifan, Muzychuk, Humpy, Lahno, the Kosintseva sisters, Stefanova – at the start. Sunday is the first round, and the organisers have promised HD video broadcasts. The opening ceremony was yesterday – here's an illustrated report.

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June 2012
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From June 9 to 23, 2012 Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, will play host to the FIDE Women's Grand Prix, part of a series of elite events organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be six tournaments over two years in various countries around the world. The winner of each tournament takes home 6,500 Euros, the total prize fund is 40,000 Euros. The overall winner will get a further 15,000 Euros at the end of the series. Starting time of the games is 15:00h (check your local time here).

Twelve top women players are competing in Kazan, which is an eleven-round all-play-all event. Among them is women's world champion Hou Yifan, former world champions Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova as well as current number three and four among women by rating Anna Muzychuk and Humpy Koneru. Four members of National Russian team, current Olympic champions Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alisa Galliamova will represent Russian Federation.

No.
Name
Title
Fed
Rtg
w-rnk
1
Hou Yifan
GM
CHN
2623
2
2
Anna Muzychuk 
GM
SLO
2598
3
3
Humpy Koneru
GM
IND
2589
4
4
Kateryna Lahno
GM
 UKR
2546
7
5
Tatiana Kosintseva 
GM
 RUS
2532
8
6
Nadezhda Kosintseva
GM
 RUS
2528
11
7
Antoaneta Stefanova
GM
BUL
2518
13
8
Viktorija Cmilyte
GM
 LTU
2508
15
9
Elina Danielian 
GM
 ARM
2484
20
10
Alisa Galliamova 
IM
 RUS
2484
22
11
Alexandra Kosteniuk 
GM
RUS
2457
29
12
Betul Cemre Yildiz 
WGM
TUR
2333
-


The participants: Nadezhda, Tatiana Kosintseva, Viktorija Cmilyte, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Elina Danielian, Alisa Galliamova, Antoaneta Stefanova, Betul Cemre Yildiz, Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lahno, Hou Yifan, Humpy Koneru.


View Larger MapKazan Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. It is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,161,308, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia.

Opening ceremony


Music and dance in the style of the Republic of Tatarstan


The women in white flowing apparel


The four tenors of Tatarstan


The first President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, now Senior Advisor
to the FIDE President welcomes the participants on behalf of chess lovers of Tatarstan.

Shaimiev recalled that a year ago Kazan hosted the Candidates Matches which determined the challenger Boris Gelfand for the recently finished world chess championship match. "And now we have been entrusted to carry out one of the stages of FIDE Women Grand Prix”, said the State Advisor of the Republic of Tatarstan. He also announced that during World Universiade 2013, which will be held in Kazan, chess will be included to the program as one of the sports

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament Sultan Al Tahir conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each participant chose an ornamental plate with different views of Kazan, with the number on the bottom. Women's world champion Hou Yifan, above, drew the 11.


At the ceremonial banquet Mintimer Shaimiev proposes a toast


The ladies, with Humpy's father Ashok on the left


Finally the technical meeting, led by Sultan Al Tahir and Global Chess CEO Geoffrey Borg

Video stream of the round

The Russian organisers are providing a HD video stream
of the action with expert commentary from Kazan.

Photos and reports by Anastasiya Karlovich, with kind permission of FIDE

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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


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