Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Begins Quest Sept 15

GM Koneru Humpy

India's highest-ever rated woman chess player and only World Chess title challenger Koneru Humpy will begin a new quest at the sixth Women's Chess Grand Prix 2011-12 cycle on September 15. The sixth in the series is a round-robin event and runs from September 15-29 in Ankara, Turkey. Reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan won the first two women's chess grand prix events in the series in Rostov and Shenzen. Zhao Xue of China won the third in Nalchik. Konery Humpy and Anna Muzychuk were joint winners in Kazan, while Hou Yifan won again in Jermuk.

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad: Indian Men Finish 35th, Women 4th! Abhijeet Gupta Wins Individual Silver; Tania Sachdev Wins Individual Bronze

Armenia is World Chess Olympiad Champions 2012

Photos: David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan

The last round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul was as exciting as it could get with the results being decided with tiebreaks after all the final games were played! Indian men finished with the 35th place below their seeding of ninth. Indian women finished with the fourth place above their seeding of sixth. National Champion Abhijeet Gupta picked up an individual Silver Medal as board prize for the fourth board. Tania Sachdev picked up an individual bronze medal as board prize for the third board.

Indian women on their way to beating France in the last round and finishing fourth at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

The Final round saw India lose to Azerbaijan with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Pentala Harikrishna. All other boards were draw. Indian women beat France in an exciting match.

Bo.	7	Azerbaijan (AZE)	Rtg	-	13	India (IND)	Rtg	2½:1½
9.1	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	2620	-	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	½ - ½
9.2	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2729	-	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	1 - 0
9.3	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2634	-	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	½ - ½
9.4	GM	Guseinov, Gadir	2613	-	GM	Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	2550	½ - ½

Bo.	14	France (FRA)	Rtg	-	6	India (IND)	Rtg	1½:2½
4.1	IM	Skripchenko, Almira	2442	-	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	0 - 1
4.2	IM	Milliet, Sophie	2411	-	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	½ - ½
4.3	WGM	Maisuradze, Nino	2284	-	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	1 - 0
4.4	WIM	Bollengier, Andreea	2253	-	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	0 - 1

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Chess Video: Judit Polgar Presents her book 'How I Beat Fischer’s Record'

World's No. 1 woman chess player Judit Polgar is the only woman to ever play in the open section of the Chess Olympiad and the Candidates Matches. She has scaled the highest-ever chess rating a woman has reached on the planet. Polgar presented her new book at the 40th Chess Olympiad. Here is a video of Judit Polgar from the official website of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 10: Indian Men Draw with Cuba, Women Beat Israel; Abhijeet, Tania in with Chance to Win Board Prize!

Tania Sachdev-Going for 
gold medal Board prize for 
India! Photo: David Llada

The tenth round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul saw the Indian men drawing with Cuba and the Indian women beating Israel 3.5-0.5. Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta and Parimajan Negi beat Yuniesky Quezada Perez and Yusnel Bacallao Alonso on the third and fourth boards. Both Sasikiran and Harikrishna lost.  Abhijeet Gupta and Tania Sachdev are in with a chance for a board prize! Saturday is a rest day and the final round will be played on Sunday.  Here are the tenth-round results: 

Top Board Harika Dronavalli. Photo: David Llada 

Bo.	13	India (IND)	Rtg	-	15	Cuba (CUB)	Rtg	2 : 2
9.1	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	-	GM	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	2725	0 - 1
9.2	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	-	GM	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	2711	0 - 1
9.3	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	-	GM	Quesada Perez, Yuniesky	2626	1 - 0
9.4	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2637	-	IM	Bacallao Alonso, Yusnel	2583	1 - 0

Bo.	6	India (IND)	Rtg	-	25	Israel (ISR)	Rtg	3½: ½
5.1	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	-	WIM	Porat, Maya	2295	1 - 0
5.2	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	-	WIM	Efroimski, Marsel	2174	1 - 0
5.3	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	-	IM	Klinova, Masha	2317	½ - ½
5.4	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	-	WFM	Shvayger, Yuliya	2202	1 - 0

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