North Urals Cup 2008 Underway

The North Urals Cup was established 6 years ago and is now one of the strongest women-only chess events on the calendar.  Held annually in Krasnoturinsk, north of Yekaterinburg in the Ural region of Russia, this single round-robin event is a female super-tournament between eight of the strongest female players in the world.

The participants in 2008 are:

Humpy Koneru, Antoaneta Stefanova, Pia Cramling, Marie Sebag (first picture set, clockwise from top left)

and Anna Muzychuk, Xu Yuhua, Anna Ushenina and Natalia Pogonina (second picture set, clockwise from top left)

Humpy Koneru of India is the top seed in the event.  Rated at 2622 Elo she is the second highest ranked woman in the world - only bettered by Judit Polgar.

The Bulgarian star Antoaneta Stefanova is a former Women's World Champion, ranked 2550 Elo.

The experienced campaigner Pia Cramling is a former European Champion, ranked 2544 Elo.

Marie Sebag from France recently qualified as a (Men's) Grandmaster and is rated 2529 Elo.

Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia won the Moscow Open earlier this year and is rated 2504 Elo.

Xu Yuhua from China is the current Women's World Champion, rated 2483 Elo.

Anna Ushenina is a member of the gold medal winning Ukranian Olympiad team, rated 2476 Elo.

Natalia Pogonina of Russia is an International Grandmaster.

Good luck to all the ladies participating in this exciting event.  The official site is here.  Look out for updates at Chess.com!

Update: The first round games are now available.  Top ranked Humpy Koneru lost her first round match.