Fifth FIDE Women's Grand Prix starts in Jermuk

From July 16 to 29, 2012 the southern Armenian hamlet of Jermuk is playing host to the Fifth 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). A full shedule with all results is given at the bottom of the page. Monday, July 23 is a free day.

Jermuk

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Jermuk was a popular destination during the Soviet era and nowadays is still famous for its hot springs and its brand of mineral water that is bottled in the vicinity. It has a huge waterfall, a natural bridge, a lake, forests with its walking trails and mineral water pools.

Jermuk is located at an elevation of 2000m (6,800 ft) hand has a population of 6,200

Jermuk is currently being redeveloped to become a modern centre of tourism and health services. It is also being set up to become a sort of chess centre, with numerous chess tournaments hosted or scheduled to be hosted. The current event is the third FIDE Grand Prix in Jermuk – the first was in 2009, the second in 2010.

Participants of the 2012 Women's Grand Prix in Jermuk

Opening ceremony

The participants lined up for the start of the opening ceremony

Dignitaries: GM Smbat Lputian, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Armenian (and Chess Federation) President Serge Sargsyan, five-time women's world champion Nona Gaprindashvili, Global Chess president Geoffrey Borg.

Drawing of colours: women's world champion Hou Yifan gets the 4

Youthful musical presentation...

Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun and Nadezhda Kosintseva have mixed feelings

Group photo. Front: Nona Gaprindashvili, Munguntuul Batkhuyag, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Hou Yifan, Kateryna Lahno; second row: Elina Danielian, Nino Khurtsidze, Lilit Mkrtchian, Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun, Ruan Lufei

Results of the first round

Chinese WGM Ju Wenjun beat Georgian IM Nino Khurtsidze with the black pieces

WGM Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolia and GM Hou Yifan, China, discussing
their game and the round with GM Smbat Lputian

Schedule

Current Women's Grand Prix standings

Jermuk, Armenia, is the fifth leg of the second series of the Women's Grand Prix. So far the current Women World Champion Hou Yifan of China leading followed by Ana Muzychuk of Slovenia. Hou Yifan will be looking to win the Grand Prix in Jermuk clearly ahead of the other competitors, as in this way she would secure first place and a guaranteed match next year if she then fails to retain her title in the Women World Championship later on this year in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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.