Women's World Rapid and Blitz in Batumi

6/2/2012 – The Women's World Rapid and Blitz championships have started in Batumi, Georgia. It brings together many of the top female players around the world, including Anna Muzychuk (2598) and Koneru Humpy (2589), though not Hou Yifan, who is currently playing in Danzhou. Both events are well-funded with $12000 to the rapid winner and $10000 to the blitz winner. Illustrated report with videos.

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The Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2012 is taking place from May 30 to June 6 in Batumi, Georgia. The event is organized and conducted by the ACP and the Georgian Chess Federation, and is approved by FIDE. Format: eleven round rapid Swiss at 25 min + 10 seconds, 11 rounds; 15 round blitz at 4 min + 2 seconds. FIDE rules without the unpopular zero tolerance rule – the game is lost by the player who arrives at the chessboard after her flag has fallen.


Picture from the opening ceremony

Every female player with the Elo of 2500+ in the official FIDE rating lists as well as well as all former World Champions and Olympic Champions had the right to participate in these Championships. In addition every national federation could nominate one player and up to five more from the same federation, provided they had an Elo of
2300+ in the official FIDE rating lists in 2012. The Georgian Chess Federation gpot three additional wildcards as a host of the event.

The total prize fund for the Championships is US $100,000, with the winner of the Rapid getting $12,000 and the winner of the Blitz $10,000. All the players who have an official right of participation are provided with full board and accommodation in the Sheraton Hotel, Batumi. All other participants were free to choose from the variety of the hotels in Batumi. The organizers will offer a special price for the official hotels.

Schedule

30 May Arrival, Opening Ceremony, Technical meeting
31 May Rapid (rounds 1-3) 15:00, 17:00, 19:00
1 June Rapid (rounds 4-6) 15:00, 17:00, 19:00
2 June Rapid (rounds 7-9) 15:00, 17:00, 19:00
3 June Rapid (rounds 10-11) 15:00, 17:00
4 June Blitz (rounds 1-8) 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, etc...
5 June Blitz (rounds 9-15), 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, etc... Closing Ceremony.
6 June Departure

Standings after six rounds

Rk. Name FED Rtg
Pts.
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2589
5.0
17.0
24.5
2708
2 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2518
5.0
14.5
21.5
2720
3 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2457
4.5
15.5
23.0
2714
4 WGM Huang Qian CHN 2417
4.5
15.0
22.5
2716
5 Wang Jue CHN 2364
4.5
12.5
20.0
2706
6 GM Lahno Kateryna UKR 2546
4.5
12.5
18.5
2623
7 GM Zhao Xue CHN 2549
4.0
16.0
24.0
2596
8 GM Cramling Pia SWE 2478
4.0
15.5
21.5
2588
9 GM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2598
4.0
13.0
19.0
2510
10 IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2491
4.0
12.5
17.5
2545
11 WGM Guo Qi CHN 2360
4.0
12.0
18.5
2635
12 IM Khurtsidze Nino GEO 2456
4.0
11.5
18.0
2604
13 IM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2456
4.0
11.0
16.5
2565
14 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2430
4.0
11.0
16.0
2585
15 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2508
4.0
9.5
15.0
2523
16 IM Gunina Valentina RUS 2530
3.5
15.0
22.0
2484
17 GM Chiburdanidze Maia GEO 2500
3.5
14.0
21.0
2468
18 IM Mkrtchian Lilit ARM 2449
3.5
13.0
20.0
2474
19 GM Socko Monika POL 2484
3.5
10.5
17.0
2450
20 IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 2449
3.0
14.0
21.0
2477
21 GM Zhu Chen QAT 2491
3.0
14.0
20.5
2408
22 IM Ushenina Anna UKR 2454
3.0
13.5
20.0
2456
23 GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2547
3.0
13.0
20.0
2425
24 IM Gvetadze Sofio GEO 2338
3.0
12.0
18.5
2477
25 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan SCO 2426
3.0
11.0
16.5
2444
26 IM Lomineishvili Maia GEO 2366
3.0
11.0
15.5
2399
27 WGM Batsiashvili Nino GEO 2436
3.0
10.5
17.5
2399
28 WGM Pogonina Natalija RUS 2447
3.0
10.0
14.5
2332
29 WGM Ding Yixin CHN 2353
3.0
9.0
14.0
2412
30 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina RUS 2417
2.5
14.0
21.0
2457
31 GM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2442
2.5
13.0
18.5
2387
32 IM Klinova Masha ISR 2318
2.5
12.0
18.5
2352
33 IM Khotenashvili Bela GEO 2500
2.5
12.0
17.5
2324
34 WGM Mammadova Gulnar AZE 2345
2.5
11.5
17.5
2383
35 GM Danielian Elina ARM 2484
2.5
11.5
17.0
2304
36 GM Kosintseva Tatiana RUS 2532
2.5
11.5
16.5
2260
37 IM Melia Salome GEO 2410
2.5
10.5
16.5
2373
38 WIM Arabidze Meri GEO 2351
2.5
9.5
14.5
2338
39 IM Khukhashvili Sopiko GEO 2414
2.5
9.0
13.0
2314
40 WGM Charkhalashvili Inga GEO 2334
2.0
11.5
16.5
2321
41 IM Purtseladze Maka GEO 2348
2.0
10.5
16.5
2308
42 IM Matnadze Ana ESP 2446
2.0
10.5
15.0
2222
43 WIM Janjghava Natia GEO 2306
2.0
9.5
14.0
2244
44 WIM Mikadze Miranda GEO 2323
2.0
9.0
12.5
2243
45 WIM Bezgodova Svetlana RUS 2120
1.5
12.0
18.0
2272
46 WGM Cori T Deysi PER 2386
1.5
12.0
18.0
2261
47 IM Krush Irina USA 2457
1.5
9.5
14.0
2170
48 GM Gaprindashvili Nona GEO 2356
1.0
12.5
18.5
2157
49 IM Gurieli Nino GEO 2329
1.0
12.0
18.0
2134
50 WIM Umudova Nargiz AZE 2231
0.5
10.0
14.5
2022

GM Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt have castled from the World Championship in Moscow to the Women's Rapid and Blitz in Batumi. They are producing video reports and interviews after each round for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs. We are grateful to receive these reports and that they include interviews with players.

Opening ceremony

Round one report

Interviews with the sponsor and with top seed GM Anna Muzychuk

Interviews with the ACP President

Day two, interviews with GMs Pia Cramling and Harika Dronavalli

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 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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