Tenth European Women's Championship in Saint Petersburg

3/12/2009 – This event, an 11-round Swiss, has 168 players and a prize fund of 87,500 Euros. There are also 14 places in the next World Championship knockout tournament up for grabs. After five rounds four players are in the lead with 4.5 points, followed by eleven with 4.0 points. One participant is just ten. The husband of one of the favourites (can you guess who?) is providing us with photos and videos.

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10th European Individual Women's Chess Championship, Saint Petersburg 2009

The 10th European Individual Women's Chess Championship is taking place from March 7 – 21, 2009, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The venue is the Park Inn Pulkovskaya Hotel (Pobedy or Victory Square 1) in a huge Soviet style playing hall, just a stone's throw away from where top GM Peter Svidler lives (factoid).

The players are in two differents rooms, downstairs the top 20 boards, with their games broadcast live on the Internet (thanks to Evgeny Tkachiev), and upstairs the rest of the players. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move number one. The prize fund is 87,500 Euros, with € 10,000 going to the winner, € 7500 for second place, € 6000 € for third, etc., with € 1000 going to the twentieth place.

The athmosphere is good, pretty relaxed, but very concentrated! After five rounds four players are leading with 4.5/5 points. Eleven players are just behind the pair, with 4.0/4 points. Kosintseva Tatiana looked in better shape in Aeroflot than here. Her sister Nadezhda declined to play before the tournament.

Top standings after five rounds (3.0/5 and higher)

# Player Pts Nat. Rtng Perf
1 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 4.5 HUN 2483 2709
2 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 4.5 ARM 2460 2694
3 GM Socko, Monika 4.5 POL 2449 2728
4 IM Melia, Salome 4.5 GEO 2422 2688
5 IM Arakhamia-Grant, K. 4.0 SCO 2500 2559
6 GM Lahno, Kateryna 4.0 UKR 2488 2591
7 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 4.0 RUS 2467 2518
8 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 4.0 RUS 2442 2565
9 IM Ovod, Evgenija 4.0 RUS 2430 2554
10 IM Khurtsidze, Nino 4.0 GEO 2421 2555
11 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 4.0 ROU 2412 2548
12 IM Rajlich, Iweta 4.0 POL 2399 2515
13 WGM Kovanova, Baira 4.0 RUS 2386 2508
14 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 4.0 POL 2385 2555
15 WGM Demina, Julia 4.0 RUS 2361 2448
16 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 3.5 GEO 2518 2510
17 IM Ushenina, Anna 3.5 UKR 2499 2480
18 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 3.5 RUS 2497 2417
19 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 3.5 GER 2455 2434
20 WGM Romanko, Marina 3.5 RUS 2451 2466
21 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 3.5 GEO 2437 2456
22 IM Khukhashvili, Sopiko 3.5 GEO 2416 2470
23 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 3.5 RUS 2416 2478
24 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 3.5 RUS 2384 2444
25 WGM Stepovaia, Tatiana 3.5 RUS 2379 2388
26 IM Gvetadze, Sopio 3.5 GEO 2377 2428
27 WGM Cherednichenko, S. 3.5 UKR 2367 2426
28 IM Zaiatz, Elena 3.5 RUS 2364 2453
29 WGM Motoc, Alina 3.5 ROU 2358 2420
30 WIM Majdan, Joanna 3.5 POL 2351 2374
31 IM Vasilevich, Irina 3.5 RUS 2340 2318
32 WGM Grabuzova, Tatiana 3.5 RUS 2332 2348
33 WGM Shumiakina, Tatiana 3.5 RUS 2324 2410
34 WGM Kochetkova, Julia 3.5 RUS 2315 2356
35 WFM Tomilova, Elena 3.5 RUS 2300 2426
36 WFM Fominykh, Maria 3.5 RUS 2279 2459
37 WIM Iljushina, Olga 3.5 RUS 2269 2509
 
38 IM Muzychuk, Anna 3.0 SLO 2540 2370
39 GM Peng, Zhaoqin 3.0 NED 2461 2312
40 IM Gaponenko, Inna 3.0 UKR 2450 2364
41 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 3.0 UKR 2427 2346
42 IM Peptan, Corina-Isabela 3.0 ROU 2401 2293
43 IM Turova, Irina 3.0 RUS 2379 2404
44 WGM Stojanovic, Andjelija 3.0 SRB 2372 2278
45 WGM Calzetta, Monica 3.0 ESP 2371 2260
46 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 3.0 POL 2352 2305
47 WFM Malgina, Tatiana 3.0 RUS 2342 2327
48 WFM Gritsayeva, Oksana 3.0 UKR 2341 2399
49 WGM Aginian, Nelly 3.0 ARM 2335 2316
50 WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 3.0 RUS 2327 2215
51 WIM Solovjova, Valentina 3.0 RUS 2324 2317
52 WIM Charochkina, Daria 3.0 RUS 2316 2384
53 WIM Paulet, Iozefina 3.0 ROU 2315 2339
54 WGM Nebolsina, Vera 3.0 RUS 2312 2366
55 Savina, Anastasia 3.0 RUS 2297 2272
56 WGM Kadziolka, Beata 3.0 POL 2295 2333
57 WIM Dolzhikova, Kateryna 3.0 UKR 2294 2275
58 WIM Komiagina, Maria 3.0 RUS 2283 2273
59 WIM Guramishvili, Sopiko 3.0 GEO 2281 2322
60 WFM Paikidze, Nazi 3.0 GEO 2280 2228
61 WIM Daulyte, Deimante 3.0 LTU 2278 2334
62 WFM Lomako, Anna 3.0 RUS 2277 2200
63 WIM Cherenkova, Kristina 3.0 RUS 2270 2262
64 WGM Kursova, Maria 3.0 RUS 2268 2143
65 WGM Makropoulou, Marina 3.0 GRE 2262 2334
66 WIM Akatova, Ekaterina 3.0 RUS 2261 2298
67 WIM Tarasova, Viktoriya 3.0 RUS 2257 2312
68 IM Kostiukova, Liubov 3.0 UKR 2235 2492
69 WFM Mammadova, G. 3.0 AZE 2175 2193
70 Kazimova, Narmin 3.0 AZE 2165 2196
71 WFM Brunello, Marina 3.0 ITA 2106 2421
72 WFM Sorokina, Anastasia 3.0 RUS 2087 2379
73 Balaian, Alina 3.0 RUS 2037 2365

Some impressions from the tournament

The following pictures are from round five. Since the names of the players are clearly visible on the name cards, no captions are provided – except in once case where the name card tipped over. And one where the contestant is remarkably young.


Ten-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina already sports a rating of over 2000 Elo


IM Tatiana Kosintseva from Russia

Video reports by Europe Echecs

All pictures on this page and the video reports are by GM Robert Fontaine and the Europe Echecs team. The videos give us a unique view of the tournament, with daily wrap-ups and atmosphere reports. Robert is reporting, while his wife Kateryna Lahno is playing in the tournament.

Links

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 the PGN games.