U.S. Women's Championship - Round 8 - Zatonskih Clinches Title

Submitted by strani on Mon, 10/12/2009 at 12:03pm.

Will Anna Zatonskih continue on undefeated and without chance of being caught today? Or will she stumble and let Camilla Baginskatie play catch up in this 2nd to last round. That'll be tough however as she's playing former U.S. Women's Championship Irinia Krush who trails in a tie for 3rd with Alisa Melekhina. Who knows? I don't. But I'm here in the basement of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center watching it all go down live. 

UPDATE: Yes, Yes she can. Anna Zatonskih clinches the 2009 U.S Women's Championship today. No amount of finishing round results will change this, but there's still a lot of prize money to play for. 

Anyhoo - follow it all live at www.uschesschamps.com 

Results! 

 

Zenyuk destroyed Alisa Melekhina today, bumping the ballerina to 4th place overall, check it out below. Great tactics by Iryna Zenyuk. 


 

Below the photo update for round 8, courtesy of Betsy Dynako, you'll find todays pairings and the current standings. 

Top two finishers garner spots on the U.S. Women's Olympic team. 

 

#NameUSCFFIDE12345678910Score
1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 ½ 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 -
2 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 ½ - ½ - ½ 1 1 1 1
3 Irina Krush 2490 2458 0 ½ 1 1 1 - ½ ½
4 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ - 1 - 1
5 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 - - 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 1
6 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ - -
7 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 0 0 0 - 1 0 - ½ 1
8 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 0 0 - 0 ½ ½ - 1 0 2
9 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 0 0 ½ - 0 - ½ 0 1 2
10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 - 0 ½ 0 0 - 0 1 0

 

Comments:

by amitprabhale - 2 months ago
Mumbai India
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 287

Congrats Anna Zatonskih! Better luck next time Irina

by Abhilash_007 - 2 months ago
Bangalore India
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 36

I hope irana to be at the top!

by PhilipN - 2 months ago
Oregon United States
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 869

If I'm not mistaken, the Polgar sisters prefer to play in events that are open to both sexes.

by SerbianChessStar - 2 months ago
Belgrade Serbia
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 2524

Why wasnt Polgar in this?

by iliosis - 2 months ago
Pskov Russia
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 1293

I feel bad for Alisa, great play however, despite her lower rating!

by chirp55 - 2 months ago
Kendall Park United States
Member Since: Jul 2009
Member Points: 141

and zatonskih wins the championship with a round to spare

by strani - 2 months ago
St. Louis United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 334

Great comment Matt! 

by mll2k3 - 2 months ago
United States
Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 75

I posted this in the live blog for the last round, but if people are interested I'm reposting it:

"The field for the US Women's Championship was based entirely on rating. The top 10 females were chosen, and if any of those couldn't make it, it went down the list. 

As for the US Championship, there are a few different ways to qualify for next year's tournament:

-Defending US Champion (Hikaru Nakamura)

-Rating (Top 10 available per the Feb. supplement, unless qualified by other means. If it was right now: Onischuk, Kamsky, Akobian, Shulman, Ehlvest, Shabalov, Hess, Kaidanov, Benjamin, Ibragimov. Nakamura,and Christiansen have qualified through other means)

-Top 5 from the US Open in Indianapolis (Kudrin, Yermolinsky, Kraai, Lenderman, and Gurevich)

-The US Women's Championship (Zatonskih, likely)

-The US Junior Closed Champion (Ray Robson)

-The ICC State Champion of Champions Winner (Chess.com's own Sam Shankland last year, undecided for next year)

-The US Senior Champion (Larry Christiansen)

-4 Wild Card spots (at the discretion of the organizers)"

by obregon26 - 2 months ago
Northern Virginia United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 418

Hope Alisa finishes on the top 3!

 

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