ACP Women Cup 2012 announced

The Association of Chess Professionals and the Georgian Chess Federation today announced the ACP Women Cup 2012 - the final tournament of the ACP Women Series 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 to be staged at Sheraton Hotel, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, from the 17th to 22nd of February 2012.

This will be one of the strongest tournaments in the history of women chess with three world champions and five Olympic champions participating among twelve world top women chess players. The list of participants include:

- eight qualifiers from the ACP Women Series:

1. Kosintseva Nadezhda (Russia)
2. Kosintseva Tatiana (Russia)
3. Muzychuk Anna (Slovenia)
4. Cmilyte Viktorija (Lithuania)
5. Stefanova Antoaneta (Bulgaria)
6. Cramling Pia (Sweden)
7. Lahno Katerina (Ukraine)
8. Zatonskih Anna (USA)

- four nominees of the Georgian Chess Federation :

9. Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia)
10. Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia)
11. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia)
12. Zeinab Mamedyarova (Azerbaijan)

The rate of play is G-20'+5'' (20 minutes for a game for a player, with an increment of 5 seconds per move).

The event has the highest ever prize fund for a women rapid round-robin competition that amounts to 40000 USD, with 10000 USD going for a winner.

Official website: http://gcf.org.ge