Kosteniuk Out Of World Championship
Reigning women's world chess champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) has crashed out of the 2010 competition after losing on tie-breaks to Chinese player Ruan Lufei in round three.
Kosteniuk's departure means that shockingly there are no Russians left to challenge for the title. On the other hand, half of the eight remaining players through into the quarter-finals are Chinese! China is certainly a dominant force in modern women's chess.
Former champions Antoaneta Stefanova and Maya Chiburdanidze lost in round two to Huang Qian and Xue Zhao respectively. With yet another former champion Zhu Chen also falling by the wayside in round three, we now know that we will have a new name as the world champion.
The full results from round three:
| Name | FED | Elo | G1 | G2 | Rp1 | Rp2 | Bz1 | Bz2 | SD | Total |
| Rd 3 Match 1 | ||||||||||
| Kosteniuk, Alexandra | RUS | 2507 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1½ | |||
| Ruan, Lufei | CHN | 2480 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2½ | |||
| Rd 3 Match 2 | ||||||||||
| Koneru, Humpy | IND | 2600 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | |||||
| Zatonskih, Anna | USA | 2478 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |||||
| Rd 3 Match 3 | ||||||||||
| Hou, Yifan | CHN | 2591 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 2½ | |||
| Zhu, Chen | QAT | 2477 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1½ | |||
| Rd 3 Match 4 | ||||||||||
| Zhao, Xue | CHN | 2474 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | |||||
| Dembo, Yelena | GRE | 2454 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |||||
| Rd 3 Match 5 | ||||||||||
| Cmilyte, Viktorija | LTU | 2514 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Skripchenko, Almira | FRA | 2460 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Rd 3 Match 6 | ||||||||||
| Lahno, Kateryna | UKR | 2522 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | |||||
| Huang, Qian | CHN | 2402 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |||||
| Rd 3 Match 7 | ||||||||||
| Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2530 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |||||
| Ju, Wenjun | CHN | 2524 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | |||||
| Rd 3 Match 8 | ||||||||||
| Harika, Dronavalli | IND | 2525 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2462 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
'Chess Queen' Kosteniuk loses her crown on tie-breaks to Ruan Lufei
So the quarter-final draw is:
| Ruan, Lufei | CHN |
| Harika, Dronavalli | IND |
| Koneru, Humpy | IND |
| Ju, Wenjun | CHN |
| Hou, Yifan | CHN |
| Lahno, Kateryna | UKR |
| Zhao, Xue | CHN |
| Skripchenko, Almira | FRA |
There is therefore a chance that all the semi-finalists could be Chinese! Round four starts tomorrow (13 December) at 15:00 local time in Turkey (13:00 GMT).
Picture from the official website.
