August 15, 2008:

In the News:

31st Taminco International Open
July 19 - 23, 2008
Ghent
This 315-player event was won by IM G. Vander Stricht (BEL 2426)with 8.0/9.  Here are the chess femmes and their final standings - not many played:

5 MUHREN B. (NED 2282) WGM 7.5

138 DEGRANDE M. (BEL 1940) 4.5

174 VAN HOECKE E. (BEL 1896) 4.5

203 DE WEIRD E. (BEL 1627) 4.0

217 PEELMAN I. (BEL 1260) 4.0

221 SALIGO L. (BEL 1746) 4.0

264 LAGAERT L. (BEL 1524) 3.0

288 DOLPHIJN M. (NED 1389) 2.5

292 VANDEKERCKHOVE A. (BEL 1482) 2.5

294 DE MEYERE K. (BEL 1323) 2.5

310 KARAYILAN N. (NED 0) 1.5

311 CALLEBAUT A. (BEL 0) 1.5

(Photo: Bianca Muhren facing camera; I found this photo at Flickr.  I don't know where or when it was taken, it was uploaded on January 15, 2005).

Chessvista: English Translation of Interview with WGM Alexandra van der Mije-Nicolau
I found this interview while looking for a photograph of WGM Bianca Muhren.  It's very interesting.  I had no idea of this player, but in the days when she played professionally, she was one of the top five women players in the world!  van der Mije-Nicolau was born in 1940, making her now 68 years old. She was women champion of Romania six times (1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973) and of the Netherlands five times (1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979). In 1969 Alexandra van der Mije-Nicolau had the fifth position in the women’s ELO listing. She was born in Romania and in 1974 married Hendrik Cornelis van der Mije and obtained Dutch citizenship. The original interview appears to have been published by the Romanian Chess Federation in 2005.  The English translation was done in April, 2008.  Here's an enlightening section:

13th Balaguer Open 
July 14 - 23, 2008
106 players.  
(1) GM Vladimir Baklan (UKR 2630), 8.0/10.  
(19) WIM Nadig Kruttika (IND 2241), 6.5;  
(29) WGM Emlia Djingarova (BUL 2305), 6.0;  
(31) WFM Keti Tsatsalashvili (GEO 2271), 6.0;  
(35) WIM Sopiko Guramishvili (GEO 2302), 5.5;  
(36) WIM Soumya Swaminathan (IND 2293), 5.5;  
(37) WIM Mary Ann Gomes (IND 2316), 5.5;  
(40) WIM Nadya Karolina Ortiz (COL 2249), 5.5;  
(41) WFM Mariam Danelia (GEO 2185), 5.5;  
(48) WIM Nieves Garcia Vicente (ESP 2214), 5.0;  
(49) WIM Tatiana Kasparova (BLR 2176), 5.0;  
(65) Francesca Nieto Farreny (ESP 1948), 4.5;  
(66) Laia Barbosa Rubies (ESP 1835), 4.5;  
(76) Yeva Kasparova (BLR 1752), 4.0;  
(77) Imma Montoliu Daroca (ESP 1897), 4.0;  
(95) Nuria Grau Mayoral (ESP unr), 3.0.

(Photo: WIM Nadig Kruttika, from Maharashtrachess.com)

Curacao Chess Festival 2008
July 26 - August 4, 2008
If I had to play chess in a foreign location, I'd vote for this place!  Anna Zatonskih (USA 2446) finished in 10th place with 6.0/9.  The only other chess femme in the event, Natasha Christiansen (USA 1963), spouse of GM Larry Christiansen (USA 2577) who won the event with 7.0, finished in 30th place with 3.5. GM Joel Benjamin (USA 2577) finished in 3rd place, also with 7.0.  It's a strange new world - these venerable guys of U.S. chess now find themselves outranked and outflanked by several chess femmes from around the world.

Paleochora International Open
July 21st - 28, 2008
Southern Crete
225 players.

August 16, 2008:

In the News:

August 17, 2008:

2008 World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)
August 2 - 16, 2008
I published a lot of round by round results and standings at the Goddesschess blog.  USA's Tatev Abrahamyan finished in 15th place with 7.5/13.  Here are the top final standings after Round 13:

Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts
1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10½ (photo, right, from 2007)
2-5 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 9
    31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 9
    7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 9
    14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 9
6-10 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8½
    12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 8½
    4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 8½
    38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 8½
    3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 8½
11-13 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 8
    8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 8
    25 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 8
14 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½   

Chessdom reported the following norms earns by the chess femmes (those are tournament Performance Ratings listed):

GM Norm: 
WGM Hou Yifan CHN 2561  (Hou played in the Juniors Championship)

WGM Norm:
Kübra Öztürk TUR 2413
Miranda Mikadze GEO 2410

WIM Norm:
Preethi Rajkumar IND 2277
Sarah Hoolt GER 2283
Khayala Isgandarova AZE 2254
Zusana Borosova SVK 2256
Narmin Kazimova AZE 2321
Anastasia Bodnaruk RUS 2294
Zoja Severiukhina RUS 2296
Guliskan Nakhbayeva KAZ 2297
Tatev Abrahamyan USA 2266
Adriana Nikolova BUL 2269
Nafisa Muminova UZB 2261
Homa Hour Alavi IRI 2266
Sona Pertlova CZE 2256

The official website reported that this is Hou Yifan's second GM norm (first earned earlier this year at Aeroflot) and the norm earned by Kubra Ozturk is the first ever WGM norm earned by a Turkish female chessplayer.  I said she was having an excellent tournament, and I was right :)  Narmin Kazimova also earned a WIM norm, crowning her excellent second-half performance at the tournament.