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Rostov-on-Don is port of five seas, industrial, scientific and cultural centre of the south of the country, an important railway junction. The City was founded in 1749 on the right hilly bank of the river Don, in 65 kilometres from its emptying in Azov Sea. First, there were only the custom house, but then in 1760 to protect southern borders began the building of the fortress, which got a name of Rostov and Yaroslav metropolitan-Dmitri. Full description on the tournament site.

The Rostov Chess Federation in collaboration with FIDE and Global Chess is organising the first event for the 2011/2012 Women's Grand Prix series. The tournament is being held in the Don-Plaza Hotel and runs from August 1st (arrival, opening) until August 15 (departure). The eleven rounds are between August 2nd and 14, with rest days on the 6th and 11th. The start of the games from of rounds 1-10 is 3:00 p.m. local time, round 11 at starts at noon local time. The winner receives 6,500 Euros out of a total prize fund of 40,000 Euros, and the overall winner of the Women's Grand Prix will win a further 15,000 Euros at the end of the series.

Alisa Galliamova, Kateryna Lahno, Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Hou Yifan, Koneru Humpy, Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoneta Stefanova, Elina Danielian, Ruan Lufei, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya

The Rostov Women's Grand Prix is one of the strongest women tournaments of all times. The participants include current Women World Champion Hou Yifan, two former Women World champions: Alexandra Kosteniuk and Antoaneta Stefanova, as well as challenger in the World Championship Match Humpy Koneru who are all among the highest ranked women players in the world.

Grandmasters Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova and Elina Danielian

GM Kateryna Lahno, Ukraine and WGM Ruan Lufei, China

Ruan Lufei is one of the “newcomers” in FIDE Grand Prix Series. Her appearance in World Chess scene was bright – she reached the final in the 2010 Women's World Championship, having won on tiebreaks in every round (eliminating previous champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in the process), and faced fellow Chinese Hou Yifan in the final.

English language video, provided by Eugene Potemkin, of the press conference
with Nastasia Karlovich interviewing the top players Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan...

... as well as WGM Ruan Lufei and GM Antoaneta Stefanova

Opening ceremony in the assembly hall of the “Don-Plaza” Hotel on the August 1st

The traditional black-and-white chess theme in the dance recital...

... especially in this ballet performance

The drawing of lots, under the watchful eye of chief arbiter Igor Bolotinsky

As fate would have it the two top seed, Hou and Humpy, drew Russian “matryoshka”
(nesting) dolls with the numbers 11 and 2, and thus faced each other in the first round

Round one

The Mayor of Rostov-on-Don, M.A. Chernyshov, makes the first symbolic move on the top board. In the background another former Women World champion, Nona Gaprindashvili, who is a technical adviser.

Koneru Humpy-Hou Yifan was a particularly tense game: the two are the tournament favourites, but they will also soon be competing for the world chess title. The game was a Nimzovich Defence/Rubinstein. At the end of the opening, at move 14, the players repeated the position, but the Indian grandmaster was unhappy with the prospect of drawing with white and continued the game. Both of the opponents were trying to keep the maximum pieces on board but closer to the time trouble they started the active exchanges. At the end of the first time control the Indian blundered into a mating attack.

An important first-round win for reigning Women's World Champion Hou Yifan

Alisa Galliamova-Kateryna Lahno (above) was a Gruenfeld in which White chose a rare variation with 5.Qa4 and then sacrificed a queen for three pieces. In the complicated piece play that followed White could not solve the problem of the knight on f3 that was out of play. In time trouble White tried to develop an attack on the enemy king, but it turned out that Black's position Black was easy to defend, and in the end the material advantage has ensured her victory.

Antoaneta Stefanova-Ruan Lufei was a Slav looked like a draw when the after the queens were exchanged, but Black got herself into some trouble with an errant knight. White gained a winning advantage but then failed to see a forcing continuation in the endgame. The 98-move marathon ended in a draw.

Alexandra Kosteniuk-Tatiana Kosintseva was a Ruy Lopez in which Black sacrificed a pawn for an initiative but got a weakened king as a result. Later Black tried to blast open the centre (20...d5) and then sharpen the game with an exchange sacrifice (23...Rxb5). After the exchange of queens White was better but blundered with 33.f4 and the game was drawn.

Anna Muzychuk-Ekaterina Kovalevskaya was keenly anticipated by the spectators, since Kovalevskaya is the "local lady" who is loved and appreciated by chess fans in Rostov-on-Don. She played a very risky variation of Sicilian Defence but came into the ending with a fairly equal position. The draw was agreed after 61 moves.

Nadezhda Kosintseva-Elina Danielian was a Caro-Kann in which Black won an exchange and had a very promising position, before she blundered in time trouble (32...f4?). White got an endgame with knight and pawn vs two pawns, which was drawn after 76 moves.

Here is something to think about: the average length of the six games of round one was sixty moves!

Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich and
Kema Goryaeva with kind permission of FIDE

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.

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