18 January 2010
The year 2010 just began but many interesting women’s chess events are in full swing right now.
From January 9 to 17, 2010 the Polish Women’s Chess Championship took place. It was played with the knock-out system and in the final round Monica Socko (on the photo below)
won 2-0 against the reigning Polish champion Iweta Rajlich and got the title 2010, congratulations!
The Women’s Georgian Chess Championship is taking place right now. 14 of the strongest players of Georgia are participating in this round-robin event. After 8 rounds Melia Salome is in the lead with 6.5/8.
The Belarus Women’s Chess Championship is under its way as well. After 4 rounds Olga Gerasimovich and Elena Khomiakova are leadin the event with 3,5 points.
The super strong Corus Chess Tournament started on the 16th of January in Wijk-aan-Zee. In the A-group with an average rating of 2719, top world grandmasters such as Anand, Carlsen, Kramnik among others take part. After 2 rounds Alexei Shirov is in the sole lead with 2 out of 2. In the “B” group, in the tournament with an average rating of 2629, after 2 rounds Anish Giri is in the lead with 2 out of 2. There is also one female representative in this group – Anna Muzychuk (on the photo below).
She is doing pretty well for the moment, with 2 draws out of 2. Her younger sister Maria Muzychuk, as well as the world girls champion under 20 Soumya Swaminathan are taking part in a very interesting “C” group. The average rating of the “C”-group is 2455, and for the moment Ray Robson is in the lead in this group with 2 out of 2. The tournament has a very nice video coverage by WGM Bianca Muhren, you can watch it on the official web-site, here.
The chess year is about to begin for me as well. This Tuesday I will be leaving Miami and will head to Europe where I will have quite a busy schedule. On January 21, 2010 my best friend Almira Skripchenko and I will be giving a tandem simul in Monaco, then on January 23 we will have another simultaneous exhibition in Brussels, after that on January 25 I will fly to Gibraltar where will take part in a super-strong open-tournament, with very attractive prizes for women. I promise to keep you updated on my traveling and games so make sure to come and visit my blog often 🙂
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women’s World Chess Champion
