Women's World Championship Reaches Quarter-Finals
The Women's World Championship in Nalchik, Russia is starting to get to the business end of the tournament and the top 4 rated players have all survived intact to reach the quarter-finals. They are Humpy Koneru (2622), Hou Yifan (2557), Antoaneta Stefanova (2550) and Pia Cramling (2544).
Both the Kosintseva sisters from Russia have now been eliminated - Tatjana lost to compatriot Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) and Nadezhda to China's Shen Yang (pictured below) on blitz tie-breaks.
Anna Ushenina of Ukraine convincingly beat Svetlana Matveeva to claim her place in the quarter-finals, and Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia completes the line-up. The pairings for the quarter-finals are:
| Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) | 2510 | Anna Ushenina (UKR) | 2476 |
| Humpy Koneru (IND) | 2622 | Shen Yang (CHN) | 2445 |
| Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) | 2436 | Hou Yifan (CHN) | 2557 |
| Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | 2550 | Pia Cramling (SWE) | 2544 |
Official site here.
Shen Yang celebrates reaching the quarter-finals.
UPDATE: Q-FINALS FIRST ROUND: PIA CRAMLING BEATS ANTOANETA STEFANOVA AND HUMPY KONERU BEATS SHEN YANG. GAMES ADDED BELOW. OTHER GAMES DRAWN.
