@silentwalker

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)

My favorite is the beautiful Alisa Melekhina.

What a great play from Irina Krush!

the thing i love about girl chess is that its almost always decisive.. almost never a draw

Alisa beauty!

Congratulations and three cheers for the Ladies. Great games.

Well the raising of the prize fund is definitely a step in the right direction.  I think I heard something about that before.

I was aware that Anna and Irina competed in the US Championships in May.

I am not exactly sure what the process for qualifying for either tournament is.  I am sure there is some sort of selection process, as otherwise the field of participants would be much higher.  I do not really know enough about that to speak on that though.

Camilla continues to play superbly. I really hope she can win it. Her play has been solid since the first day.

Why in the world did Rusudan play 10. Na3!? I thought that move was only good if the opponent accepted the 2. c4 gambit.

In any case after Na3 that knight did nothing. d2 would have been a better place for it.

15. Rh5 was also dubious, allowing black's bishop to eventually come to f6 with a tempo.

@ Silentwalker. 

This year is a record prize fund for the tournament, so there was a pay increase this year. With $15,000 going to the winner of the $65,000 fund. That's a lot of money for this level of competition. The U.S. Championship prize fund is so much higher because it's the national tournament and as such is a very different tournament. Higher rated players, higher prize funds. It's not as though the women are barred from competing in the U.S. Championship, in fact Zatonskih and Krush both played in it. 

I think it is a positive thing to have ladies receive attention for their beauty, so long as it is positive and and in good taste (i.e. not obnoxious or vulgar).

I do not see any value in "crushes" though; they really get nowhere.  

What I would really like to see, though, is a rise in pay for the ladies competing in this championship.  There have been some spectacular games, and this tournament has been just as entertaining for me as the US Championship in St. Louis held in May.  So the pay should be the same as what the competitors of that tournament received.

A lot of master level players have played Queen's Gambit for a long time, except Fischer of course...

Is it just my imagination or are a lot of master level players playing the QG these days?  I noticed it a lot in the tourney Carlson just won.

It seems a lot of chess enthusiasts have never seen a pretty girl before . . . thanks for upholding the stereotype guys.

hehe alisa melekhina is my 'chess crush' =)

Why do you want to delete a positive comment? 

There's nothing wrong with appreciating the beauty of a chess goddess.

Mind your own business.

I wish I could delete comments...

I love you Alisa Melekhina. You're the most beautiful ever.