
The 2nd Women's World Team Chess Championship took place in Yinzhou, China, from September 2nd to 11th 2009. The time controls were FIDE: 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest with a 30 second increment per move.

A little entertainment at the free day dinner: the participants competed
at throwing
ping-pong balls into paper cups (in the foreground Valentina Gunina NS Nadezhda
Kosintseva)

A newspaper game: two girls put their head in the holes in the paper and start
pulling.
The unbroken side is the winner. In the picture Zhang Xiaowen beats Ju Wenjun.

Organiser Tian Hongwei (left) presents the trophy...

...which is a beautiful Chinese glass scuplture
The trophy's general structure is a chess piece – a pawn. On the top is a golden butterfly, the butterfly being the symbol of Yinzhou, gold means riches and plenty. The body of the trophy is colored glaze lazurite, its value is around 10,000 Euros.

The winners, China One, with GM Ye Jiangchuan, IM Li Wenliang, Hou Yifan,
Zhao Xue, Shen Yang, Ju Wenjun, Huang Qian, GM Yu Shaoteng, and GM Yu Shaoteng

IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, 2493, Russia, 6.5/9, with a staggering
2608 performance on the second board for Russia

WIM Alisa Melekhina, 2220, America, 4.0/6, 2463 performance

IM Inna Gaponenko, Ukraine, vs Wang Yu, China Two in a key round six game
(Gabonenko won)

WIM Zhang Xiaowen, 2391, China Two 3.5/9, 2364 performance. Xiaowen
is the
Asian Women Champion and played on Board two for her team.

India's Harika kibitzes in the game Danielian vs Tan Zhongyi in round eight
(Tan won)

Nadezhda Kosintseva, best performance in this event (2608)

Her sister IM Tatiana Kosintseva, 2536, Russia, 4.5/9, 2458 performance

Oh those eyes! Tatiana in sepia

GM Zhao Xue, 2542, China One, 4.5/8, 2472 performance

WGM Shen Yang, 2453, China One, 3.0/5, 2504 performance

IM Iweta Rajlich, 2465, Poland, 4.0/9, 2423 performance

The Indian team with Eesha Karavade, Kruttika Nadig, Harika Dronavalli,
Mary Ann Gomes

IM Harika Dronavalli, 2474, India, 4.5/9 with a 2465 performance. Harika
and Eesha Karavade helped us to identify many of the players or associated persons
in this pictorial report. Many thanks to these charming young ladies.

Thanks also to WGM Zhang Jilin, rated 2290, who was in Ningbo
as an arbiter and who supplied additional information

IM Rusudan Goletiani, 2391, America, 4.0/9, 2357
Our friend IM Guil Russek of Mexico City informs us that it is wrong to call the team (as done on the official site and in the bulletins) the "American Team". America is not a country name and it is inconsiderate or arrogant to use it for the United States. Other South Americans have drawn our attention to this common semantic inaccuracy. However, in this article we will use the official nomenclature taken from the organisers – with apologies to our Canadian, Middle and South American friends – and especially to Maria José of Chile, who has given us bruises for this transgression in the past.

Rusudan always has a trademark green scarf

IM Anna Zatonskykh, 2462, America, with 2.0/7 and a 2288 performance

Anna checking out a Panasonic digital camera

IM Irina Krush, 2458, America, 4.0/8, 2471 performance. In the
picture above Irina is singing at the dinner party on the free day.

WIM Alisa Melekhina received a gold medal for the fourth board

Alisa pensive and in colour

WFM Valentina Gunina, 2437, Russia, 6.5/8, 2560
Valentina lost her second round game due to the new zero tolerance rule, having arrived a few seconds late at her board. That was her only loss of the tournament – she scored a brilliant 6.5 points in the next seven rounds and received the gold medal for fifth board.

GM Maia Chiburdanidze, 2506, Georgia, 4.0/7, 2531 performance

Untitled Ju Wenjun, 2443, China One, 4.0/8, 2364 performance

WGM Nataliya Zhukova, 2457, Ukraine, 5.5/9, 2522

WIM Karina Szczepkowska-Horowska, 2321, Poland 1.5/3, 2263 performance

Karina was a reserve player on the Polish team

32: IM Elina Danielian, 2489, Armenia, 3.5/9, 2387 performance
| Rk. | Team | 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
TB1 |
TB2 |
| 1 | China One | * |
2 |
1 |
3½ |
3½ |
2½ |
3 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
21.5 |
| 2 | Russia | 2 |
* |
2 |
2½ |
2 |
2 |
1½ |
3 |
3 |
3 |
12 |
21.0 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 3 |
2 |
* |
1 |
2½ |
2 |
2½ |
2 |
2 |
3½ |
12 |
20.5 |
| 4 | Georgia | ½ |
1½ |
3 |
* |
1½ |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2½ |
11 |
20.0 |
| 5 | Armenia | ½ |
2 |
1½ |
2½ |
* |
3½ |
2 |
½ |
2½ |
3½ |
10 |
18.5 |
| 6 | Poland | 1½ |
2 |
2 |
1 |
½ |
* |
3 |
2½ |
2½ |
2½ |
10 |
17.5 |
| 7 | India | 1 |
2½ |
1½ |
1 |
2 |
1 |
* |
3 |
2½ |
3 |
9 |
17.5 |
| 8 | America | 3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3½ |
1½ |
1 |
* |
1½ |
2 |
6 |
16.5 |
| 9 | China Two | 1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1½ |
1½ |
1½ |
2½ |
* |
3 |
6 |
16.0 |
| 10 | Vietnam | 2 |
1 |
½ |
1½ |
½ |
1½ |
1 |
2 |
1 |
* |
2 |
11.0 |
|
|
China wins World Women's Team Championship |
Links
To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. |