Chess Femme News
 News About Women in Chess

April, 2008 (scroll down for most current news)

News starting April 7, 2008 
News starting April 13, 2008 
News starting April 20, 2008

April 2, 2008:

News from Indonesia:  (Photo:  WIM Irene K. Sukandar, from Chessbase, Electric Woman Stars Brainy Beauties International Chess Tournament, June, 2007) The Indonesian Chess Association (PB Percasi) said it has hired a chess coach from Hungary, IM Tibor Karolyi, to train Indonesian woman chess player WIM Irene Kharisma Sukandar (INA 2243).  Irene will take part in the Grandmaster Woman`s JAPFA Chess Festival to be held here on April 15-20.  "We have hired Tibor for a month to train Irene," PB Percasi said in a statement made available here on Monday.  Tibor started to train Irene on Monday for eight hours per day.

Chicago, Chicago...  The 1st North American Challenge Match (March 31-April 3) features current and two-time U.S. Women's Champion IM Irina Krush (USA 2479) and IM Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM 2413), four time Armenian women's champion.  Story at USCF (April 1, 2008) - Betsy Dynako has a couple of really nice photos of Krush and Mkrtchian.  Announcement of match from North American Chess Association.  Last game is tomorrow.  How are the chess femmes doing?  Susan Polgar reported a draw on Game 2 (1st game was also a draw) (nothing on Game 3 yet).  For the record, I refuse to "join" MonRoi so I can view live games, etc. even though it's free.  In my opinion, the "enrollment" process is burdensome and unduly intrusive into my privacy.

(Photo, right, IM Lilit Mkrtchian from Armenian Chess, January, 2006 - cannot identify from what event it was taken). IM Mkrtchian has grown up - great bone structure (it was always there, she just had to grow into it); and she's a beauty. In chessplaying terms, she's always been beautiful.

The Future of Women's Chess in the USA!  Great photo at Susan Polgar's chessblog: WGM Rusa Goletiani (USA 2383) and IM Anna Zatonskih (USA 2458) and their daughters Sophie and Sofia.

How did GM Koneru Humpy (IND 2612) do at the 3rd Kulkata (Calcutta) Open (March 23 - April 2, 2008)?  The event was won by GM Viktor Laznicka (CZE 2595) with an astounding 8.5/9 after tie breaks.  GM Sasikiran Krishnan (IND 2677) came in 2nd place also with 8.5, after tie breaks.  Humpy finished in a respectable 6th place with 7.0 (but her performance rating was slightly below her ELO, coming in at 2604).  Final Crosstable.  

April 3, 2008:

An, Tu head to World Chess Cup
(from Vietnamnet.vn)
Vietnamese Grand Master Nguyen Thi Thanh An and FIDE master Le Thanh Tu secured tickets to take part in the World Women's Chess Cup, which will be organised in Argentina in June.  Tu took her ticket thanks to her great performance at last year's tournament, where she triumphed at the 2007 World Chess Championship qualifiers (zone 3.3). An will be entering the tournament after grabbing the bronze medal at the Asian Chess Championship.  (Source: Viet Nam News)

Iranian Women's Chess Championship
(Photo: WIM Atousa Pourkashiyan IRI 2282, from Chessbase.de)  The Iranian Championships took place 18th-27th February 2008. Atousa Pourkashiyan won the women's event with 7.5/11.  Story and photos at Chessbase.  Final results:

Ruy Lopez Chess Festival 
GM Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan will be playing in the Magistral Ruy Lopez (Merida) April 5 - 11, 2008, along with Michael Adams, Gabriel Sargissian, Zhang Pengxiang, Julio Granda Zuniga, Fabiano Caruana and Manuel Perez Candelario.

Individual European Chess Championships 
163 women will be competing in the European Individual Chess Championships, April 20 - May 4, 2008.  Here are the top 21:

April 4, 2008:

1st North American Challenge Match (March 31-April 3) features current and two-time U.S. Women's Champion IM Irina Krush (USA 2479) and IM Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM 2413).  Irina Krush won the final game of the 4-game match, to win the event 2.5/1.5.  Congrats to Irina!

Judit Polgar Sightings
I don't read/speak Italian (and the Babelfish translation I did wasn't much help) so I'm basically guessing what this is all about!  It appears that GM Judit Polgar will be playing a simul with VIPs in what I think is called something the "Scacco al Casino" International Chess Tournament which begins April 12, 2008.  

Judit will also be playing in the XIV Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" with Veslin Topalov, Alexei Shirov and Francisco Vallejo, April 18 - 20, 2008.

Bulgarian Women's Chess Championship
Held in Plovdiv, March 14 - 24, 2008. 
Final standings:
1 WGM Elista Raeva (2258) 9.0/11
2 WGM.Maria Velcheva (2266) 7.5
3 WFM Iva Videnova (2188) 7.5
4 WFM Adriana Nikolova (2194) 6.5
5 WIM Pavlina Chilingirova (2213) 6.0
6 WIM Lyubka Genova (2232) 6.0
7 WGM Margarita Voiska (2333) 5.5
8 WFM Svetla Jordanova (2145) 5.5
9 WIM Stefka Savova (2165) 4.0
10 Sandra Trifonova (1957) 3.5
11 Maria Vladimirova (1971) 3.5
12 Stefi Bednikova (2088) 1.5

April 5, 2008:

Magistral Ruy Lopez
April 4 - 12, 2008
Today the first game of seven was played.  Here are the results after Round 1:

Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan will be playing each other in Round 4.

The Dutch Women's Chess Championship 
April 2 - 12, 2008

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