The first Chinese women chess grandmasters tournament is taking place from April 16 to April 24 (free day on April 21) in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, in China. Ten top Chinese women grandmasters, including Women's World Champion Hou Yifan, are participating. The event is a round robin with time controls of 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30 second increment for each move. Draw offers are only allowed with the permission of the chief arbiter and will only be granted in theoretically drawn positions. Games start at 14:00h local time. The participants are:

Giant photos of the players in the lobby

Group photo of participants, trainers and organisers

A short ceremonial game with the Women's World Champion Hou Yifan

Fourth seed WGM Shen Yang, rated 2443, drew the two

Handshakes all around at the start of round one

Top seed and favourite, GM Hou Yifan, rated 2602 – 83 points above...

... second seed WGM Ju Wenjun, rated 2519

Third seed GM Zhao Xue, rated 2495

Fifth seed WGM Tan Zhongyi, rated 2428

WGM Gu Xiaobing, rated 2369

WGM Shen Yang, 2443, playing 4.Bd2 in a Bogo-Indian (which she won in round one)

WGM Ding Yixin, rated 2376

WGM Zhang Xiaowen, rated 2344

WGM Ju Wenjun, WGM Gu Xiaobing and WGM Shen Yang

Pictures provided by participant WGM Gu Xiaobing

Standings after the first three rounds

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN (courtesy of TWIC) 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 PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

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