3/30/2008 – It was as bold as brass, the intention of the Swedish organizers enter the Guinness record book with the largest women's event ever. In attendance: 46 women grandmasters and 44 international masters (the Moscow Women Open 2008 in February had 26 WGMs and 12 WIMs). The winner in this and the Moscow Open: IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia. Illustrated report by Valery Golubenko.
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Täby – a place to remember
By Valery Golubenko
Opening ceremony, with the anthem of Sweden, of SCT, and the Trooping the
Colours
The organizers of the Scandinavian Chess Tournament 2008 (SCT-2008) was staged
as a Ladies Open and attracted chess beauties by giving them special conditions
– free room with a breakfast in four-star Best Western Park Hotel near
the Stockholm Airport Arlanda, plus a start money of SEK 3,000 (around EUR 300)
for grandmasters and 2,000 for international masters. They collected 126 participants
a total of 33 countries, among them 20 from Sweden, 18 from Russia, and 16 (!)
from Georgia. In Moscow one month ago there were 136 participants from 16 countries
– 111 from Russia, 6 from Ukraine and 4 from Georgia. In my opinion, just
looking at these numbers proves that the Scandinavian Ladies Open 2008 was not
only the strongest but also the biggest women open in history.
All the ladies were presented with plush toys and pretty-pretties provided
by the Swedish company Pearls for Girls. Wally is made from semi-precious
stones, crystals, pearls and silver.
The events was held in little town (60,000 inhabitants) of Täby situated
between Stockholm and Arlanda Airport. In fact, this small town is famous thanks
to its church with 1480-year chess ceiling fresco Man playing chess with
Death.
The great Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman then used this motif in his
famous drama The Seventh Seal, 1957.
Chess game with death: Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal
After six rounds the women grandmasters Jana Jackova (CZE), Harriet Hunt (ENG),
Dana Reizniece (LAT) and Sopiko Khukhashvili (GEO) had five points each. After
seven rounds Sopiko took the sole leadership and kept it before the decisive
ninth round, as well.
Harriet Hunt (ENG) vs Julia Gromova (RUS) in round one (Harriet won)
Regrettably, not only for the great event, but more importantly for the players
involved, who simply lost their chance to became the winner, the first board
game Khukhashvili-Hunt ended with a five move anticlimactic draw: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3
d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3.
Despite this little masterpiece, English grand master played probably the best
game of the event – in the 6th round versus the future tournament winner
Anna Muzychuk (SLO):
19.Bxh6! First sacrifice. 19…f5. 19...gxh6
20.Nxh6+ Kg7 21.Nxf7 Qf4 (21...Kxf7 22.Qh7+ followed by mate) 22.Nxd8 Nxd8 and
White wins. 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Ne3 Qd6 22.d5 gxh6 23.dxc6 Qc5 24.Qb3 Bd6
25.Nc2 Kf7 26.Nd4 Qc4 27.Qc2 b4?
28.Rxe6. The second and decisive sac. 28.Nxe6 would have been
even more davastating. 28…Rxe6 29.Qxf5+ Ke7 30.Qh7+ Ke8 31.Qg8+
Ke7 32.Nf5+ Kf6 33.Qg7+ Kxf5 34.g4+ Kf4 35.Qf7+
And it's mate in two. 1–0.
Will or will not the Ladies Open 2008 be regarded as greater than the Moscow
Open 2008? This doesn’t really matter at least for one chess beauty, namely
Anna Muzychuk, who managed to win both them both! She won the decisive game
versus WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova (AZE) when her main opponents Sopiko Khukhashvili
and Harriet Hunt kissed of the fight.
Anna Muzychuk (SLO), taking the second great event in a row!
Finally, three players scored 7 points from 9 games, and shared 1-3 places.
The Buhholz tiebreaker decided Anna Myzychuk (SLO) is the first, Sopiko Khukhashvili
(GEO) is the second, and Elina Danielian (ARM) is the third.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
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