Top draw
Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS GM 2507 1/2 / 1/2 / 0-1 / 1/2 (Kosteniuk is eliminated)
Ruan, Lufei CHN WGM 2480
Harika, Dronavalli IND IM 2525 1/2 / 1/2 / 1-0 / 0-1 (2-2 tie after 2 playoff games)
Muzychuk, Mariya UKR IM 2462
Skripchenko, Almira FRA IM 2460 1/2 / 1/2 / 1/2 /1/2 (2-2 tie after 2 playoff games)
Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU GM 2514
Bottom Draw
Hou, Yifan CHN GM 2591 1-0 / 0-1 / 1/2 / 1-0 (Zhu Chen is eliminated)
Zhu, Chen QAT GM 2477
Humpy Koneru, Katerina Lahno, Ju Wenjun and Zhao Xue all advanced to the 4th round.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
This is exciting.
So Kosteniuk lost to a lower rated player who hasn’t played chess for a long time due to university study? This shows her 2008 performance was pure luck and the system should be changed.
Congrats to Ruan. She’s studying her PhD, and is only semi-professional now.
A pity Alexandra is out …
Well maybe the girl she defeated in 2008 in the final wil be the new World Champion.
What happen to Yifan -Zhu Chen result?
Congrats to Ruan Lufei, now a full-time graduate student at prestigious Carnegie Mellon University! Superb job in balancing school and chess!
Can anyone explain why Hou Yifan won the second tie-break again Zhu Chen as she was in a desperate position at last count? I think the moves shown on the chess board must be wrong.
Oh noes! The queen is dead! Who shall replace her? I’m putting my money on Skripchenko, because she’s the cutest. 🙂
what will happen to Chess Queen ™ Trademark now , it will be embarrassing for her to still have that title
An All-Chinese Final 4 is Possible!
Kosteniuk was the best in 2008, and proved it clearly in the final against Yufan, with a complete domination over the board on ALL 4 games!
Anyway, the most important conclusion is that chess is shifting towards the East, with the Chinese and also Indian players ruling this WWC, so far.
May be Lahno will challenge them… I am counting on her from now on! 🙂
Chess Queen CANNOT be trademark. Just ask any trademark attorney or check with the trademark office. Her management team just manipulated the way how it is spelled and pretend that’s the case. This is like they tried to sell that she’s a GM at 14.
You cannot copyright or trademark every day use words. Therefore, the word Chess Queen can’t be done. Just because someone puts the word TM, it doesn’t mean that it’s officially a trademark.
In response to leprechaun’s comment
“Kosteniuk was the best in 2008, and proved it clearly in the final against Yufan, with a complete domination over the board on ALL 4 games!”
A win over a then 14-year-old Yifan by the smallest margin 2.5:1.5 was not a “complete domination”! I would call 2006 WWC final between Xu Yuhua and Alisa Galliamova a complete domination by Xu winning 2.5:0.5 with one round to spare.
The second tie-break between Hou Yifan and Zhu Chen contains transmission error. For actual moves see:-
http://wwcc2010.tsf.org.tr//images/DOSYALAR/PGN/pgnviewer/view.php?dname=r3_tiebreak.pgn