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Chess Femme News |
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Our Coverage of the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship News/Results/Standings
(scroll down for latest news) Round 8, May 20, 2008 (report posted May 22, 2008):
Photo (right): From Chess Life Online - credit Betsy Dynako (?): Facing camera, first table: Esther Epstein, playing Tatev Abrahamyan; player to Epstein's left is Iryna Zenyuk; table behind Epstein, facing camera is Irina Krush, playing Anna Zatonskih; on Zatonskih's left is Katerine Rohonyan). Standings (from Susan Polgar's blog - I missed copying the cross-table at The Week in Chess last night because I was so busy watching the games in Round 9!): 1 Krush, Irina IM 2515 USA
7.0 This was the premiere match-up round - Zatonskih (W) v. Krush (B). This game ended in a draw, the same as when these two met in the 2007 Championship at Stillwater, Oklahoma, but the circumstances this time around were so much more dramatic! Krush needed only a draw to maintain her half-point lead of Zatonskih, while Zatonskih could not afford to lose. In the background, not attracting much attention, Tatev Abrahamyan has moved into solid third place by winning her sixth game in a row, and constitutes a threat should either of the leaders stumble tomorrow. Tatev has the black pieces tomorrow against the always dangerous Tuvshintugs. Tom Braunlich's summary of Round 8 from Monroi. Jennifer Shahade's summary from Chess Life Online, featuring the games of Zatonskih v. Krush, Rohonyan v. Tuvshintugs, and Airapetian v. Battsetseg. Once again, the Chess Life Online report contains great photos by Betsy Dynako, and Braunlich's report has another stunning portrait of one of the women players - this one is Katerine Rohonyan. TOMORROW IS THE DENOUEMENT!
Round 9, May 21, 2008 (report posted May 22, 2008): Well, I was blogging my head off last night. When I got home from the office and sat down at the computer about 6:30 p.m., I visited the Monroi website thinking that I would find the final results and standings posted and be able to declare the 2008 U.S. Women's Chess Champion. Lo and behold, I discovered that two of the women's games were still in progress! And so, trying to follow the action, I confess that yes, I broke down and actually did sign up at Monroi to view the games. (Will I now have seven years bad luck???) As per usual, I was also trying to do laundry, update Chess Femme News, watch Law and Order and at 9:00 p.m., when I'd discovered I was starving because I hadn't fed myself, I made a Hamburger Helper casserole in addition to trying to view the games and blog. I screwed up! When Zatonskih abruptly resigned on move 31 (more or less) after hanging her Queen, I thought it was all over and Krush had won the title! And so I reported! LOL! WRONGO, Jan. Well, it wasn't the first one and it sure won't be the last mistake I'll ever make. When I discovered that Krush and Zatonskih were still playing, much later after I'd made my post - I nearly had a stroke - and scrambled around to try and correct my error while also trying to watch the play-off games that seemed to go on and on forever, trying to make sense of what seemed to me a hopeless jumble of moves. I mean, yes, I'm a crappy player but sometimes I do "predict" the correct moves and every now and then I can sort of, kind of see how a game is going (or should be going). After a bit, I said oh the heck with it - I wasn't going to delete the prior postings I'd made at the blog - or at Chessville's message board, although I did change yesterday's brief summary info here at Chess Femme News - but I can't remember if I actually published the changes or not, lol! And while I was staring at the games on my computer screen it was as if I were in a daze - nothing was registering. And then it was suddenly over. Zatonskih had won the title! Here are the results:
Here are the final standings (from The Week in Chess):
Okay - I confess - can someone explain to me why Abrahamyan ended up in 4th place when she has a higher performance rating than Rohonyan - a performance rating more than 100 points above her ELO? Of the top four finishers, only Abrahamyan's PR was that much higher! Here is the Round 9 summary by Tom Braunlich at Monroi (containing another fabulous photo, this one of Irina Krush), also a special wrap-up article by Braunlich at Chess Life Online. Here is Jennifer Shahade's Round 9 report at Chess Life Online, which features the Round 9 games of Krush and Zatonskih as well as all FIVE of their play-off games. I wish I would have read Jen Shahade's Round 8 report before I started watching the women's games last night - but I got so wrapped up in everything, darlings, I never read that report until tonight! If I'd read it last night, I would have been adequately informed about the play-off structure - the fact that 2 games would be played, and then 2 more, if necessary, and then an "Armageddon" game if needed. As it turned out, all those games WERE needed. Tom Braunlich did a wrap-up report at Chess Life Online - with kudos and thank-yous and - he also answered my question about how the tables had been rearranged to allow more elbow room for the players. GODDESSCHESS FIGHTING
CHESS AWARD: Not that GM Polgar had an easy decision - I'm sure she didn't, as the women exhibited an incredible degree of tenacity and fighting spirit through the entire tournament. This spirit carried right through to the end of an excruciatingly long final day of chess play for two players in particular, culminating in the play-off games between Krush and Zatonskih. Katerine Rohonyan also deserves mention for the long game she played in Round 9 with Krush - 108(?) moves before a draw was agreed upon. This and That:
Post-Armageddon Match Controversy:
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Here are the results:
