There will be a new Women’s World Champion in a few weeks. There will be no Russian in the final 8. There are 4 Chinese, 2 Indian, 1 French, and 1 Ukrainian remain.
Top draw
Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS GM 2507 1/2 / 1/2 / 0-1 / 1/2 Ruan Lufei advances to face Harika, Dronavalli
Ruan, Lufei CHN WGM 2480
Harika, Dronavalli IND IM 2525 1/2 / 1/2 / 1-0 / 0-1 / 0-1 / 1-0 / 1-0 Harika advances to face Ruan, Lufei
Muzychuk, Mariya UKR IM 2462
Zhao, Xue CHN GM 2474 1-0 / 1/2 Zhao, Xue advances to face Almira Skripchenko.
Dembo, Yelena GRE IM 2454
Skripchenko, Almira FRA IM 2460 1/2 / 1/2 / 1/2 / 1/2 / 1-0 / 1-0 Skripchenko advances to face Zhao, Xue
Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU GM 2514
Bottom Draw
Zatonskih, Anna USA IM 2478
Koneru, Humpy IND GM 2600 0-1 / 1/2 Humpy Koneru advances to face Ju, Wenjun
Muzychuk, Anna SLO IM 2530
Ju, Wenjun CHN WGM 2524 0-1 / 1/2 Ju, Wenjun advances to face Humpy Koneru
Hou, Yifan CHN GM 2591 1-0 / 0-1 / 1/2 / 1-0 Hou, Yifan advances to face Kateryna Lahno
Zhu, Chen QAT GM 2477
Lahno, Kateryna UKR GM 2522 1-0 / 1/2 Kateryna Lahno advances to face Hou, Yifan
Huang, Qian CHN WGM 2402
Perhaps we’ll finally have a real women’s world champion, one who’s ranked at the top. We don’t need anymore Kasimdzhanov, Khalifman, and Kosteniuk. Enough of this FIDE experiment.
It is interesting that of the four Chinese among the top eight, none are playing each other!
Ravi
Does anyone actually believe that the short match format determines anything but a title, which may have little or nothing to do with actual overall strength versus opposition at a given time.
Witness high ranked Kosintseva falling to a lesser opponent in a shirt match. Is she not a “real”
strong player?
Kosteniuk won the previous title in the given format…she was WCC,
remarks to the contrary are just so much axe grinding.
This is the very SAME system that crowned Kosteniuk 2 years ago, where she proved to be best than her direct oponents… without a doubt!
Of course, more than just 2 classical games would be a fairer system, but only the finalists will play 4 such games.
Lahno vs. Yufan is bound to be a very exciting match and I guess the winner is bound to be the new World Champion… let’s see! 🙂
I actually would like to see the Cinderella story of an unknown to go thru and win the World Championship. I actually love this format where it is a bit more random and it’s anyone’s big chance. I won’t cry if the top seeds get beat.
It is interesting that of the four Chinese among the top eight, none are playing each other!
Ravi
Sunday, December 12, 2010 1:26:00 PM CST
if they had played each other, how could they all qualify for Round 4? hahaha! they will play each other in Round 5, if they all win in Round 4, get it? by the way Ruan Lufei beat other Chinese player Zhang Xiaowen in Round 2.
It’s good to promote chess, but a world champion needs to work hard with her own chess to stay as world champion. Kosteniuk showed already in Gibraltar 2010 that she didn’t make here homework enough longer. And nothing changed to the better the rest of this year. So many chances in the games against last opponent in WCC, but missing them all.
Wow Almira in QF! I would have never predicted that. It seems poker helps 🙂 I wish her a good hand for the next rounds too.
And she is 1 of only 2 Europeans destined to stop the asian invasion. Good luck to both!
Anonymous at 1:21:00, while I agree with you in principal that knock-out tournaments are baloney, The players who participated in those events, including GM Alexander Khalifman and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, did so under the existing rules and won those events fair-and-square. Why diss them? Diss the system, not the players. The players just want to play, and if they get paid for it, so much the better. I will never forget witnessing some of the play of Khalifman at the 1999 FIDE World Chess Championship in Las Vegas. He was superb.
It’s very easy for Anonymous to take pot shots at GMS who have been there and done that. Put a real name and a face to your posts and man (or woman) up to your opinions. If not, you’re just so much smoke in the wind.
What are you implying, Ravi? Do you think the “fix in in” regarding this Women’s Chess Championship? If you do, then come out and say so.
I agree with many of the posters here. The players cannot choose the format. That was the decision of FIDE. Therefore, we should not demean any champion. While there may be some luck involved, that is just a part of the game.
As I said in the past, I don’t mind the knockout system if the field is smaller and there would be more games, especially in the final 8, 4, and 2.
Best wishes,
Susan
Jan,
There is no fix. It’s impossible to do so. It is just a coincidence. We could have 4 Chinese players in the semifinal or 2 Indian players in the final. That’s the luck of the draw.
Best wishes,
Susan
@Jan: 4 Chinese facing four non-Chinese in the Quarter Finals was just a coincidence. As pointed out by the “BlogAdmin”, it’s just the luck of the draw, which could result in two Indians in the final, or none!
This is simply a coincidence that struck me and I pointed it out.
Ravi
Did Kosteniuk tweet and make posts on her blog while playing again?
Es un dia muy triste para todos los que somos fans de alejandra kosteniuk…
is a very sad day for all who are fans of Alexandra Kosteniuk….
What is the “uncharted water”?
I’m with China! But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna put down any of the other players. Some players have streaks and slumps, so performances fluctuate, that might be the case with Kosteniuk.
Too bad for the Russians this time, but there’s always next time. The beauty of chess that you can play it for years and years, unlike most sports where you’re past your prime at 25.
good the cup will go to another country. alicia
it’s a world championship cup not a russin cup.
pyare lala, fiji islands