This great event featured 126 chess femmes fighting through 9 rounds. Whew! When it was all over the lady on top was 
IM Anna Muzychuk (SLO 2460), with 7.0/9 and a performance rating of 2574; she beat out IM Sopiko Khukhashvili 
(GEO 2387) and the highest rated chess femme in the event, veteran IM Elina Danielian (ARM 2480), who also finished 
on 7.0. Thanks to the sponsors of this event – we need more of these! Muzychuk won the "Ladies C Event" at the Moscow 
Open in February, so she’s maintaining her winning form.

(Photo: Hou Yifan, 2008 Ataturk International Women Masters) Darlings, I can’t tell 
you how disappointed I was to learn that GM Maia Chiburdanidze did not play in this event after all. Sigh. It seems instead she sent a proxy, IM Lela Javakhishvilia (GEO 2455), who finished in 5^th place overall with 4.5/9.

My disappointment over not seeing chess legend Chiburdanidze play was more than made up by the level of chess played by the chess femmes who participated. Talk about a tough event, geez! The ladies went out of their way to beat-up each other – few "courtesy" draws - ahhhh, such a refreshing change from the men-only events…

No. Name FED Rtg Pts Rtg+/-
1 WGM Hou Yifan CHN 2527 7.0 17
2 GM Pia Cramling SWE 2524 6.0 7
3 WGM Zhao Xue CHN 2517 5.5 3
4 IM Ekaterina Atalik TUR 2408 5.0 13
5 IM Lela Javakhishvili GEO 2470 4.5 -1
6 IM Harika Dronavalli IND 2455 4.0 -4
7 GM Zhu Chen QAT 2548 4.0 -16
8 IM Anna Ushenina UKR 2484 3.0 -18
9 IM Irina Krush USA 2473 3.5 -11
10 WIM Betul Cemre Yildiz TUR 2207 2.5 15

(Photo: Dronavalli Harika and Anna Ushenina, 2008 Ataturk International 
Women Masters) This was not a good event for Harika (-4), Zhu Chen (-16!), 
Ushenina (-18!) - a nasty fall from her excellent play at Aeroflot, and Krush (-11). Harika (she prefers this over her family name, Dronavalli), Ushenina and Krush have been playing non-stop since the beginning of the year, and wear-and tear may be showing. Everyone beat up on sacrificial lamb WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz – but I’ll bet she’s still smiling after playing against so many top-rated chess femmes – she didn’t just roll over and play dead, either. What an experience for her and, considering the competition, she didn’t do too badly.

23rd Reykjavik Open
March 3 – 11, 2008

Final standings (after 9 round, winner plus women’s final standings):
89 players, Open won by GM Wang Hao CHN 2665 7,0
9 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2464 6,0
18 IM Gaponenko Inna UKR 2422 5,5
24 IM Tania Sachdev IND 2417 5,0
28 IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2420 5,0
37 WIM Nemcova Katerina CZE 2342 5,0
41 IM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan SCO 2457 4,5
49 WFM Limontaite Simona LTU 2152 4,5
52 IM Vasilevich Tatjana UKR 2370 4,5
60 WIM Hagesaether Ellen NOR 2234 4,0
64 IM Jackova Jana CZE 2375 4,0
67 WGM Sanchez Castillo Sarai VEN 2312 4,0
71 WIM Andersson Christin SWE 2194 3,5
72 IM Zozulia Anna BEL 2344 3,5
73 WFM Steil-Antoni Fiona LUX 2122 3,5
82 Frank-Nielsen Marie DEN 1969 3,0
86 Almer Julia SWE 1914 2,5
87 Kristinardottir Elsa Maria ISL 1721 2,5

(Photo: Elizabeth Paehtz, 2007 North Urals Cup) Stefanova gave the men a run for the money 
and she and Sachdev continued their winning ways in this event. Stefanova won $750 USD for her 
9^th place finish overall. I’m not sure if she also won an additional $750 USD for best female finish overall. (Prize Structure). Germany’s uber-cool lady of chess IM Elisabeth Paehtz (2429) finished in 28^th place overall (4^th place of the chess femmes) with 5.0, but out of the money. Paehtz has always shown much promise but she just can’t seem to get over that final hump that will compel her into the top ranks of chess femmes. Well, darlings, girls just want to have fun, oooh ohhh, girls just want to have fun, but fun and top-rank chess unfortunately don’t often mix. Sigh. According to the Prize Structure, the top female finishes under 2400 and under 2200 won $750 USD each. That would award prizes to – if I’m reading the final standings list correctly – WIM Katerina Nemcova (CZE 2342), who finished in 37^th place with 5.0, for top finisher of the ladies under 2400, and WFM Simona Limontaite (LTU 2152), who finished in 49^th place with 4.5, top finisher of the ladies under 2200.

Upcoming Events:

2008 Women’s World Chess Championship

Recently as I was checking my favorite chess websites for news on women’s chess, I found information at Susan Polgar’s 
popular blog about the scheduled Women’s world Chess Championship, which she had learned from an article at Chessbase. 
Thanks to Susan Polgar for publicizing this information and thanks to Chessbase for the initial report.

I call this event "scheduled" because – although it is supposed to begin on June 18^th in Argentina, no official website has been 
posted at FIDE (I checked again while I was compiling this column on March 29, 2008; I have checked periodically, looking for news from FIDE). No venue has been listed. No prize structure has been given. This is the premiere event in women’s chess – and there’s nothing published on it! What gives?

Well, darlings, I was not holding my breath that this event would ever take place. Kirsan doesn't care about women's chess. He’s more interested in aliens.

Now we know why there hasn’t been any news! It’s because Argentina crapped out. But – lo and behold – "Don’t cry for me, 
Argentina" because Chessbase reported that the no-news 2008 Women's World Chess Championship has perhaps been rescued by a last minute offer from Turkey to host the event after Turkey successfully hosted the fabulous Ataturk International Women Masters Tournament.

The story gets even better! Can you imagine – Iran – IRAN – offered to host the Women’s World Chess Championship after 
Argentina bowed out – and not a word of this was published anywhere!. It turns out that Iran demanded that all of the women 
players wear head scarves – even non-Muslim women – and no Jewish players would be allowed to play. Say what? What a 
bunch of frigging hypocrite Nazis! Darlings – I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried! The a-holes in charge of Iran have pushed 
what was formerly a country with a glorious past, where men and women were equals, back into the Dark Ages. Here’s the news story, published at the Turkish Daily News on March 29, 2008.

I can only say thank you to the government of Turkey (specifically, the Sports Ministry) and to Isbank for stepping forward with an offer to host the Women’s World Chess Championship.

2008 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship
May 13 – 21, 2008 Tulsa, Oklahoma

The USCF website recently published an article about the "qualifier" event for the 2008 U.S. Chess Championships. To quote 
directly from USCF's press release: the top female finisher will receive a nod to the Women's Championship. Math 
tiebreaks will be used to determine those slots, if necessary.

The following women played in the Qualifier (104 players), vying for the sole wild-card spot in the Women's Championship 
(final standings given):

(31) WFM Iryna Zenyuk 4.0/7;  (41) WFM Chouchanik Airapetian 3.5;  (46) WFM Bayaara Zorigt 3.5;  (48) WFM Hana Itkis 
3.5;  (64) Jennifer Acon 3.0;  (78) WIM Mila Mokryak 2.5; (92) Julie O'Neill 2.0; and (94) WIM Alexey Root 2.0.

Dr. Alexey Root was blogging from the tournament for the US Chess Federation website and said:  Iryna Zenyuk was the top 
woman, with 4 of 7. She won $1000, and the Wild Card spot. However, she may qualify for the women's based on rating. 
CLO will report on which of the seeded players for the women's have declined, and whether Iryna therefore gets a rating 
spot. If she does, then Chouchanik Airapetian, who had the best tiebreaks of the women finishing with 3.5 of 7, will get an invitation to the May event.

Information on the The Frank K. Berry U.S. Women’s Chess Championship:

Prizes -$25,000
Seeding - The 10 contenders for the title will be determined as follows:
U.S. Women's Champion (Irina Krush)
6 Top-Rated Women players on the March Rating List
3 Wild Cards selected by Frank K. Berry (One of these wild cards will be top female finisher at the Qualifier Open).

(Photo: Rusudan Goletiani, 2008 Scandinavian Ladies Open, a candidate for the Frank K. Berry U.S. Women's Chess Championship) 

As of the date of writing this column, the March, 2008 ratings list has not been published at 
USCF. Here are the ladies who would qualify from the February, 2008 ratings list (Krush is the #1 rated woman in the USA, she already qualifies as the winner of the 2007 Championship):

2 Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2490
3 Goletiani, Rusudan (12807449) NY USA 2392
4 Baginskaite, Camilla (12716466) CA USA 2342
5 Rohonyan, Katerine (12973020) MD USA 2318
6 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg (12925481) CA USA 2289
7 Abrahamyan, Tatev (12851435) CA USA 2280

In 2007, Goddesschess sponsored a $300 brilliancy prize at the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship, which was won by 
one of my favorite chess femmes, Liz Vicary.

This year Goddesschess is sponsoring a $350 "Fighting Chess" award/prize for the best game among the women at the 2008 
U.S. Women's Chess Championship. We are incredibly pleased to announce that, thanks to an introduction effected by 
Chessville’s very own Parrot between GM Susan Polgar and yours truly, GM Polgar has graciously agreed to be the judge of 
the game best fitting the "Fighting Chess" title in the style epitomized by the Polgar sisters. The prize will be awarded under the auspices of the Susan Polgar Chess Foundation. All the Goddesschess folks are just tickled pink about this! Whoooo whoooo! We intend even bigger and better things in the future. Hey – our chess femmes deserve it!

2008 3rd Kolkata Open
March 23 – April 2, 2008

One of my favorite chess femmes, GM Koneru Humpy (IND 2612) is playing in the Kolkata Open on the top boards, against an overwhelming force of GMs and IMs!

Here's a list of the 114 players – I’ve tried to pick out the chess femmes (posted below):

SNo. First Name Last Name Title Rating FED
3 Humpy Koneru GM 2612 IND
29 Nisha Mohota WGM 2409 IND
75 Manisha Mohanty Kiran WIM 2270 IND
78 Mary Ann Gomes WIM 2255 IND
88 Rout Padmini WIM 2210 IND
89 Kruttika Nadig WIM 2208 IND

I'm sure there are several other chess femmes playing but I’m not very good at picking out chess femme names from other 
countries where the language isn’t familiar – India and China pose particular problems for yours truly! Note to all webmasters 
out there – please put a big "F" after a chess femme’s name – it makes my (and your readers’) work a lot easier!

In the News:

2008 Bulgarian Women’s Chess Championship
March 14 – 24, 2008

2008 Russian Under-20 Girls’ Chess Championship
March 8 – 18, 2008
The winners of the boys and girls Under-20 represent Russia at the World Juniors Championship.

2008 Ukrainian Under-20 Girls’ Chess Championship
Odessa, Ukraine March 5 -15, 2008

2008 Mediterranean Flowers WGM Tournament
Rijeka, Croatia March 1 - 9, 2008
Up and coming chess femmes – a few may become stars.

65h Georgian Women’s Chess Championship
February 28 – March 12, 2008
The Mother of all women’s chess events! Georgian women are among the world’s best chess players – it’s expected, as a chess set is a part of nearly every Georgian’s girl dowry "hope chess" – oops – chest!

2008 Russian Women’s First League
February 27 – March 6, 2008, in Smolensk, Russia

March 23, 2008: Dylan Loeb McClain, who uncritically quotes Sam Sloan (geez!), got one thing right when he published this 
article about 14 year old Hou Yifan.

March 16, 2008:  The Economic Times of India  A great article on international chess star IM Tania Sachdev of India.  
Wow – a woman makes The Economic Times, all right!

March 13, 2008: A sort of overview article on the Ataturk International Women Masters Chess Tournament from Today’s 
Zaman, with good coverage of some of Turkey’s up and coming young chess femmes. They’re all so beautiful!

March 6, 2008: GM Susan Polgar receives a "Women in History" Award from the City of New York

Featured Chess Femme:

WFM Iryna Zenyuk (USA 2227)

I’m featuring Iryna this month because she is a young woman who is, I think, indicative of a 
"USA-type" of chess player. She’s not a chess "superstar" but she plays hard and tough, witness her performance in the February, 2008 Aeroflot in the "B Group" (135 players), where she finished in 73^rd place with 4.5 (50%). On the February, 2008 USCF Women’s Ratings List Iryna is ranked 11^th (2189). She’s got tons of potential but going to college full time (she plans to pursue a masters degree when she graduates this June), it’s hard to fit in chess events. Even so, she’s managed to play in at least a couple of events a year.

Without some higher-rated women on the U.S. ratings list declining their invitations to play 
at the 2008 Frank K. Berry U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in Tulsa this May, Iryna will 
be closed out of an opportunity to compete in that event. Thus, she’s trying for a spot by 
playing in the 2008 U.S. Qualifier Open for a wild-card spot in the Women’s Championship.

Iryna did not play in the 2007 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship, she competed instead in 
the "Men’s" event – the 2007 U.S. Chess Championship, where she finished 32^nd (out of 36) 
with 3.5. (Irina Krush and Chouchanik Airapetian also competed in that event, Krush finishing in 24^th place with 4.0 and Airapetian finished in last place with 1.0).

Iryna was born in the Ukraine in 1986.  Taught chess by her grandfather in her native Ukraine, Iryna has been competing 
worldwide since she was 8.  Her performance at the 2007 Foxwoods Open was good enough to earn her a WIM norm (she 
finished in 62nd place out of 131 players with 4.5, and now has two WIM norms).  Iryna is a student at Polytechnic University 
(New York), majoring in mechanical engineering with aerospace concentration, scheduled to graduate this year.  Iryna is a 
member of the New York Knights, U.S. Chess League, and it appears this playing experience has sharpened her game in 
recent months.

More information about Iryna:

Ten Questions with New York Knight NM Iryna Zenyuk, November 12, 2007, from Liz Vicary’s chess blog.

Oklahoma Gives the Open a Twist, February 26, 2007, at the USCF website, by Liz Vicary.