Gaziantep: Foisor, Gunina, Muzychuk lead

The European Individual Women Chess Championships are being held from 2 to 13 March, 2012, in the Anatolian Hotel in Gaziantep, Turkey. The event will be followed by the European Rapid Championship and European Blitz Championship (15-18 of March). The EIWCC consists of eleven games. The rate of is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. Games start at 16:00h local time.

Organizers and prize fund: The Turkish Chess Federation, with the sponsorship and support of the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, under the auspices of the City of Gaziantep and the European Chess Union, provided a prize fund of 150,000 Euro for all three events. This is the biggest prize fund in the history of European Women's Chess events. For the first time in the chess history the European Women's Champion will get a higher prize sum, 20,500 Euros, than the Champion of the (Open or "Men's") European Individual Championship, which will be held in Plovdiv after this event.

Free day

Thursday (March 8th, International Women's Day) was a day off. Most of the participants, trainers and organizers embarked on the rest-day's activities but some of them preferred to stay in the hotel and relax before round seven. The cultural program included visiting of Zeugma Mosaic Museum, the Medusa Museum, the Cuisine Museum, Gazientep Castle and Coppersmiths' Bazaar.

The Deputy General Secretary of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Ibrahim Evrim,
who loves the history of his region and knows a lot about it...

was the very special guide for players and guests in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum,
the biggest mosaic museum on the world.

The famous "Gypsy Girl" is in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum. Some archaeologists
think this may be the face of Alexander the Great.

Valentina Gunina and Anastasiya Savina climb up to Gaziantep Castle...

...which was built in the 6th century A.D.

Coppersmiths' Bazaar (Bakircilar Çarsisi), where artisans work at and sell their crafts

At the end of the cultural program all guests were invited to one of the best restaurants
in Gazientep, "Imamcagdas", where everyone could taste traditional Turkish baklava.

Round seven

On the first board, playing white, Valentina Gunina beat the leader Thanh Trang
Hoang and replaced her opponent on first place.

Cristina-Adela Foisor defeated Viktorija Cmilyte in a game that lasted 93 moves

On the third board Marie Sebag could have obtained good winning chances in the game against Solvanian IM Anna Muzychuk (above), but did not play aggressively enough. Later on Muzychuk got a comfortable position, increased her edge and was able to chalk up a victory. As a result rating favorite Anna Muzychuk improved her tournament situation and shares the third place together with Thanh Trang Hoang.

• Full results of round seven

Round eight

Cristina-Adela Foisor and Valentina Gunina agreed to a draw after 42 moves

Cristina-Adela Foisor, who now leads with Valentina Gunina and Anna Muzychuk

Thanh Trang Hoang, playing white against Anna Muzychuk, tried to transfer the game into the equal ending. But her Slovenian opponent played precisely and got a decisive advantage.

As a result of her win Anna Muzychuk climbed to equal first in the the standings, joining a group of three leaders with 6.5/8 points each.

Viktorija Cmilyte (above) defeated Nazi Paikidze, who didn't play accurately in the opening and let her opponent to create strong attack on her king. Viktorija Cmilyte, Tatiana Kosintseva, Nino Khurtsidze share the fourth place with six points.

• Full results of round eight

Top standings after eight rounds

• Full results with all 103 players here

Remaining schedule

All photos by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, with kind permission of the TCF

Links Official tournament site Games in PGN: R01, R02, R03, R04, R05, R06, R07, R08 All games (zipped). The game file is non-standard (e.g. first half in CAPS) and will be cleaned up at the end of the event. 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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