2010 Women's World Chess Championship

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Preview
12.11.2010 – The 2010 Women's World Chess Championship is about to start in Hayat, Turkey, heralding either a new champion, or confirming the incumbent. In 2008, Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk survived the knockout match system, and defeated the youngest finalist in history, the Chinese GM Hou Yifan. 64 players are now gathering to fight for the 2010 title. See who they are and read the preview.

The 2010 Women's World Chess Championship will be held from December 2nd, 2010 (Arrival), to December 25th, 2010 (Departure) in Hatay, Turkey. Time control: 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one. Schedule: the games start at 3 PM local time (2 PM Paris - 8 AM NY time - 5 AM Pacific)

 

Women's World Chess Championship 2010

The 2010 Women's World Chess Championship will be held from December 2nd, 2010 (Arrival), to December 25th, 2010 (Departure) in Hatay, Turkey.

There are 64 qualifiers for the event:

• The Women's World Champion,
• the runner-up and semi-finalists of the previous Women's World Championship (4 players),
• the World Junior Girl Champions U-20 of 2008 & 2009 (2 players),
• the five best rated players from the average of the FIDE rating lists of July 2008 and January 2009 (5 players),
• fifty-one qualifiers from the Women's Continental Championships and Zones (51 players).
• and two nominees by the FIDE President (2 players).

Players

No.	Name	Fed.	Tit.	W. tit.	Rtg
1	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	RUS	g	wg	2507
2	Koneru, Humpy	IND	g	wg	2600
3	Hou, Yifan	CHN	g	wg	2591
4	Kosintseva, Tatiana	RUS	g	wg	2581
5	Dzagnidze, Nana	GEO	g	wg	2551
6	Stefanova, Antoaneta	BUL	g		2548
7	Muzychuk, Anna	SLO	m	wg	2530
8	Cramling, Pia	SWE	g		2526
9	Harika, Dronavalli	IND	m	wg	2525
10	Ju, Wenjun	CHN	wg	wg	2524
11	Lahno, Kateryna	UKR	g	wg	2522
12	Cmilyte, Viktorija	LTU	g	wg	2514
13	Chiburdanidze, Maia	GEO	g	wm	2502
14	Socko, Monika	POL	g	wg	2495
15	Sebag, Marie	FRA	g	wg	2494

Complete player list (Excel file)

Official poster of the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship

Tournament format

The time control shall be 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.

There shall be five (5) rounds of matches, comprising two (2) games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The 6th and final round shall be played over four (4) games and the winner will be declared Women's World Champion.

Round 1: there will be 64 players
Round 2: there will be 32 players
Round 3: there will be 16 players
Round 4: there will be 8 players
Round 5: there will be 4 players
Round 6: there will be 2 players

Complete general pairings (Excel file)

Round one pairings

Tbl	No.	Name	Fed.	Tit.	Rtg	No.	Name	Fed.	Tit.	Rtg
1	1	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	RUS	g	2507	64	Mezioud, Amina	ALG	wm	2029
2	2	Koneru, Humpy	IND	g	2600	63	Greeff, Melissa	RSA	wg	2082
3	3	Hou, Yifan	CHN	g	2591	62	Heredia Serrano, Carla	ECU	wm	2087
4	4	Kosintseva, Tatiana	RUS	g	2581	61	Mona, Khaled	EGY	wg	2093
5	5	Dzagnidze, Nana	GEO	g	2551	60	Kagramanov, Dina	CAN	wm	2101
6	6	Stefanova, Antoaneta	BUL	g	2548	59	Aliaga Fernandez, Ingrid Y	PER	wf	2154
7	7	Muzychuk, Anna	SLO	m	2530	58	Zuriel, Marisa	ARG	wm	2208
8	8	Cramling, Pia	SWE	g	2526	57	Yildiz, Betul Cemre	TUR	wm	2225
9	9	Harika, Dronavalli	IND	m	2525	56	Nadig, Kruttika	IND	wg	2230
10	10	Ju, Wenjun	CHN	wg	2524	55	Caoili, Arianne	AUS	wm	2242
11	11	Lahno, Kateryna	UKR	g	2522	54	Ozturk, Kubra	TUR	wm	2264
12	12	Cmilyte, Viktorija	LTU	g	2514	53	Demina, Julia	RUS	wg	2323
13	13	Chiburdanidze, Maia	GEO	g	2502	52	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	wg	2328
14	14	Socko, Monika	POL	g	2495	51	Soumya, Swaminathan	IND	wg	2332
15	15	Sebag, Marie	FRA	g	2494	50	Vasilevich, Irina	RUS	m	2333

Complete round one pairings (Excel file)

The world’s strongest 64 women players will come together here in historical city of  Turkey. The first five of those eminent women players are Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia, who is the reigning World Champion, Humpy Koneru from India, Chinese star Hou Yifan, Russian GM Tatiana Kosintseva and Georgian Grandmaster Nana Dzagnidze.

2008 World Women Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk

23 years old Indian GM Humpy Koneru won the 2009 Is Bankasi Women GP in Istanbul

Chinese star Hou Yifan, 2008 Ataturk Woman Masters Champion

Winner of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Nalchik. Russian
GM Tatiana Kosintseva finished third in the ACP Women's
World Rapid Cup in Konya, Turkey.

Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze, leader of the 2010 FIDE Women GP – Jermuk

The History of the Women's World Chess Championships

In 1996 Zsuzsa Polgar beat Xie Jun at Jaen to become the last World Champion to win the title in a classic match played on the same terms that had been in effect since 1953.

The next Candidates Tournament in Groningen 1997, was organized concurrent with the first of the FIDE World Championship Knockout tournaments. Alisa Galliamova and Xie Jun finished 1st and 2nd, seeding them into the final match.The final match in the Women's Championship was scheduled to be played in Shenyang. After Galliamova refused to play the entire match in China, the win was awarded by default to Xie Jun. The title match would be Polgar - Xie Jun.

By the time FIDE announced the date and venue for the title match, Polgar had given birth to her first child. She considered that the time to recover from childbirth and to prepare for the new match was insufficient. She requested that the match be postponed, FIDE refused, and negotiations broke down. After the contract deadline passed, FIDE declared that the title match would be played between Xie Jun and Alisa Galliamova. The forfeited Candidates match was to be resurrected as a title match! The 1999 match, with a venue split between Kazan and Shenyang, was won by Xie Jun.

A year later, at New Delhi 2000, Xie Jun defended her title by winning the first Women's Championship played with the knockout format. She beat her compatriot Qin Kanying in the final match of the six rounds event. The Chinese dominance was reconfirmed when Zhu Chen beat Alexandra Kosteniuk in the final match of the Moscow 2001 knockout event.

On July 7, 2004, Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria became the 10th World Champion at the Championship held in Elista, The president of FIDE, the President of the republic of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilymzhinov, set a diamond crown on her head. Then on March 2006, Xu Yuhua became the next Champion in Ekaterinburg.

The next championship which was organized in Nalchik in 2008 was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk, the current reigning champion, and in the closing ceremony the President of Kabardino-Balkaria, Arcen Kanokov, and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov awarded the winners of the Championship. In third place came Pia Cramling (Sweden) and Humpy Koneru (India), and in second, the youngest-ever finalist, Hou Yifan (China) was warmly applauded by the audience. The longest applause was naturally reserved for the new Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia. All the prizes were presented and the Champion was crowned with a very beautiful and luxurious crown, hand-made in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Here are some pictures of the 2010 venue, Hatay, Turkey:

Upland of Samandağ

Mozaic Museum

Mozaic Museum

Delicious Hatay Cuisine

Map of Hatay