The 2007 Frank K. Berry U.S. Women’s Championship will be taking place in Stillwater, Oklahoma from July 16-20. The top 10 USCF rated women players from the May rating list will be qualified for a round robin event with $25,000 in prizes.
Prizes
1st $7000
2nd $5000
3rd $3000
4th $2500
5th $2000
6th $1500
7th $1000
8th $1000
9th $1000
10th $1000
Total: $25,000
Zonal qualification:
There are three women’s zonal qualifying spots for U.S. women players this year. If the top woman finisher in the U.S. Championship scores at least 4.5 points or higher, she will automatically qualifies. The other two spots will be determined in the U.S. Women’s Championship. If no women players score at least 4.5 points, all 3 zonal spots will be decided in the U.S. Women’s Championship.
There will be two other exciting events, a blitz open with a $1,500 prize fund on Friday, July 20th and a $2,500 weekend five round Swiss event on July 21-22.
The U.S. Women’s Championship Schedule is as followed:
Opening Ceremony – Monday 11 AM
Round 1+2 – Monday the 16th at Noon and 6 PM
Round 3+4 – Tuesday the 17th at 11 AM and 5 PM
Round 5+6 – Wednesday the 18th 11 AM and 5 PM
Round 7+8 – Thursday the 19th at 11 AM and 5 PM
Round 9 – Friday the 20th at 11 AM
Blitz Tournament (Open) July 20 and the Weekend Swiss (Open) July 21-22
Thanks for letting us know.
It seems strange to me that the US Chess Championship, which is open to both men and women would have 36 players and a prize fund of $65k, and a top prize of $12K, while the Women’s Championship, open only to women, will have 10 players and $25K prize fund, with a top prize of $8K. Yet the 10 women are much lower-rated, on average, than the people in the US Championship.
Why is this? It seems reasonable to encourage women’s chess, but Susan and her sisters’ careers have shown that women develop into stronger players when they play against men. I see having segregated Girls events when female players are first developing, since I think this helps to overcome some problems that young girls encounter when playing with young boys. But why have a segregated event for adult female players at the championship level? And one with proportionally more money to boot?