24 November 2009

Raisa Barria is Panama Women Chess Champion 2009


The second and third weekend of November, the Panamanian Women Chess Championship Finals took place in Panama-city.

The Championship Finals was a 6 player round-robin, played the 14,15,20,21 and 22 of November. Five of the finalists came from the qualification tournament and, together, with the Panamanian 2008 champion, Betty Arosemena, fought for the 2009 chess title.

Betty Arosemena, 2008 Panama Women Champion

After five rounds of hard fought games, the final standings were as follows:

1. Raisa Barría 5.0 pts
2. Betty Arosemena 4.0 pts
3. Alba Muñoz 3.0 pts
4. Yesuri Foster 1.5 pts
5. Yaribeth Gonzalez 1.0 pts
6. Yaleika Chung 0.5 pts

Great performance done by Women National Master, Raisa Barría, who won all of her games, showing great tactical skills!
Raisa Barría, 2009 Panamá Women Champion

The first 5 girls of this championship qualified to play for the Panamanian team that will participate in the coming Central American Games in March of 2010, and the first 8 places have gained valuables points, for the race to become a member of the team that would represent the country on 2010 chess Olympiad.

I met most of the participants of this championship during my visit to Panama in June of this year.


Me playing in Panamá in a Hot simul against Betty, Yaribeth and Raisa

I’m very happy to see that the girls continue playing chess and fight hard to become better chess players. I wish all the participants the very best in their chess careers and live and hope to be able to meet them in live one more time.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women’s World Chess Champion