Chessville News - Les Echecs des Femmes - By and about Women in Chess - by Jan Newton

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Les Echecs
des Femmes

March, 2008

Every picture tells a story, story…Here I am in Madrid, October, 2002, before the Acala Gate (Hapsburg era). Dig the short hair and ballet flats. A fashion law onto myself, I carried a big handbag before they were made Fashionista must-haves by Coach (more about the importance of a lady’s handbag below). Ah, I can’t stand it, darlings, I’m so gorgeous – those cheekbones, that red hair!

I’ll be putting up new pics of Xena, Princess Warrior on her trusty steed, Horsey, as she continues her off-television quest of pursuing truth, justice, and the American Way. I decided to send Xena to finishing school, though; the photo she wanted me to use for this month’s column showed her menacing some children ice-skating at a local park – she said it was a joke. Hmmm, not exactly good public relations, if you know what I mean, so I pulled it. Now she is rather unhappy with me…

Please feel free to let Chessville know what you think about the column, pro and con. Fan mail is always appreciated, especially fan mail from unmarried hunky type men who make $100,000 USD or more annually – ah, well, on second thought, nix that, my fiancé for the past “x” years might get a wee bit upset. To the news!

Recent Events

First things first, darlings. Clearing up some unfinished business from prior columns:

(Photo: Dronavalli Harika, 2007 GibTel Chess Festival, monroi.com)

I promised to update you on how IM Dronavalli Harika (IND 2455) did in the Asian Team Chess Championships (January 2- 10, 2008) on the Women’s Indian “A” Team. It was called the “Red” Team, and the four women on team, captained by Dronavalli, did well enough to win the Silver Medal (the Chinese women took the Gold). On a personal level, she finished overall in 11^th place out of 31 female players, scoring 3.5/5, good enough for a 70% performance level. Her teammates on the India Women’s Red Team had even better performance levels, with Ramaswamy scoring 4/4 on Board 3:

No. Name Rtg Team Pts. Games % Board
4 WGM Mohota Nisha 2409 India Reds 4,5 6 75,0 1
5 WGM Tania Sachdev 2417 India Reds 4,5 6 75,0 2
7 WGM Ramaswamy Aarthie 2322 India Reds 4,0 4 100,0 3
11 IM Dronavalli Harika (C) 2455 India Reds 3,5 5 70,0 1

The Indian “Blue” team did rather well too, finishing in 5^th place overall:

No. Name Rtg Team Pts. Games % Bo
6 WGM Swathi Ghate (C) 2337 India Blues 4,5 7 64,3 1
18 Amrutha Mokal 2157 India Blues 2,5 5 50,0 3
21 Baisakhi Das 2056 India Blues 2,0 4 50,0 2
24 WIM Soumya Swaminathan 2315 India Blues 1,0 5 20,0 2

Here are the final standings for the 5th Asian Women Team Chess Championship 2007 (yeah, confusing, since the event was held in 2008!):

Rank Team Gam. + = - MP Pts.
1 China 7 7 0 0 14 19
2 India Reds 7 6 0 1 12 16½
3 Vietnam 7 2 3 2 7 11½
4 Iran 7 2 3 2 7 11
5 India Blues 7 2 3 2 7 10
6 Uzbekistan 7 1 3 3 5 8½
7 India Greens 7 2 0 5 4 7½
8 Sri Lanka 7 0 0 7 0 0

Here are the individual final standings:

No. Name Rtg Team Pts. Games % Board
1 WGM Zhao Xue (C) 2517 China 6,5 7 92,9 1
2 WGM Shen Yang 2429 China 6,5 7 92,9 3
3 WIM Huang Qian 2430 China 5,0 6 83,3 2
4 WGM Mohota Nisha 2409 India Reds 4,5 6 75,0 1
5 WGM Tania Sachdev 2417 India Reds 4,5 6 75,0 2
6 WGM Swathi Ghate (C) 2337 India Blues 4,5 7 64,3 1
7 WGM Ramaswamy Aarthie 2322 India Reds 4,0 4 100,0 3
8 WIM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2282 Iran 4,0 6 66,7 1
9 WGM Paridar Shadi 2225 Iran 4,0 6 66,7 1
10 Kanuri Tejaswi (C) 2057 India Greens 4,0 6 66,7 3
11 IM Harika Dronavalli (C) 2455 India Reds 3,5 5 70,0 1
12 WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram 2265 Vietnam 3,0 4 75,0 3
13 WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An 2346 Vietnam 3,0 5 60,0 1
14 WIM Le Thanh Tu 2336 Vietnam 3,0 6 50,0 1
15 WIM Sabirova O 2256 Uzbekistan 3,0 6 50,0 1
16 Muminova Nafisa 2164 Uzbekistan 3,0 7 42,9 2
17 WIM Ghader Pour Shayesteh 2185 Iran 2,5 5 50,0 2
18 Amrutha Mokal 2157 India Blues 2,5 5 50,0 3
19 WFM Hamrakulova Yulduz 2210 Uzbekistan 2,5 6 41,7 1
20 WIM Le Kieu Thien Kim 2302 Vietnam 2,5 6 41,7 2
21 Baisakhi Das 2056 India Blues 2,0 4 50,0 2
22 Sriharika Y.G. 1896 India Greens 1,5 4 37,5 2
23 Nlv Anusha 1995 India Greens 1,0 4 25,0 1
24 WIM Soumya Swaminathan 2315 India Blues 1,0 5 20,0 2
25 Sahajasri Ch 1899 India Greens 1,0 6 16,7 1
26 WFM Navabi Shirin 2120 Iran 0,5 4 12,5 3
27 Khamrakulova Iroda 2193 Uzbekistan 0,0 2 0,0 3
28 Herath G K 1785 Sri Lanka 0,0 4 0,0 3
29 Rajapaksha A 1827 Sri Lanka 0,0 5 0,0 2
30 Umesha B G D (C) 1886 Sri Lanka 0,0 6 0,0 1
31 Ranasinghe S A 1835 Sri Lanka 0,0 6 0,0 1

(Photo: WGM Tania Sachdev, 2007 National “A” Championships, India). As you see from the above results, January, 2008’s “Featured Chess Femme,” WGM Tania Sachdev (IND 2417), also did well in the Asian Team Chess Championships on the Indian “Red” Team, finishing with a 75% performance level, helping her India Red Team earn a Silver Medal and finishing in 5^th place overall. Tania continues her charge into the ranks of the elite female chess players.

The Russians sure do know how to throw a mid-winter party!

Two huge events (both player wise and prize wise) took place in February in Russia. Players flocking to Russia in the depths of winter (can you imagine?) just to participate. Only goes to show you chess players are nuts.

First up was the Moscow Open (February 2 - 10, 2008), which hosted a separate “Ladies ‘C’” Event featuring 136 players and a total prize package of 700,000 rubles (1 ruble equals approximately 0.0419546 USD, so the total prize package for the women was about $29,368. Hmmm, isn’t very much when rendered into USD. Sigh.

(Photo: IM Anna Muzychuk, winner of the 2008 Moscow Open, © Oksana Kosteniuk). Here are the “C” (Women’s) Event final standings for the top 20 (9 rounds) (space constraints to not allow to publish the complete final standings for all 136 women) (full final standings here):

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	IM	Muzychuk Anna	SLO	2460	8,0
2	IM	Ushenina Anna	UKR	2484	7,5
3	WGM	Zhukova Natalia	UKR	2443	7,0
4	IM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2455	7,0
5	GM	Lahno Kateryna	UKR	2475	7,0
6	IM	Tairova Elena	RUS	2386	6,5
7	WFM	Girya Olga	RUS	2342	6,5
8	WGM	Melia Salome	GEO	2362	6,5
9	IM	Turova Irina	RUS	2377	6,5
10	IM	Danielian Elina	ARM	2480	6,5
11	WFM	Ambartsumova Karina	RUS	2228	6,5
12	WFM	Bodnaruk Anastasia	RUS	2317	6,0
13	IM	Krush Irina	USA	2473	6,0
14	WFM	Severiukhina Zoja	RUS	2199	6,0
15	IM	Gvetadze Sopio	GEO	2352	6,0
16	WGM	Mongontuul Bathuyag	MGL	2389	6,0
17	WFM	Fominykh Maria	RUS	2305	6,0
18	IM	Matveeva Svetlana	RUS	2433	6,0
19	IM	Vasilevich Irina	RUS	2378	6,0
20	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	RUS	2476	6,0

Fighting chess! Two points separated the top 20 players after 9 rounds. Muzychuk was clearly the class of the Women’s Event, with Ushenina hot on her trail. I blogged about the final standings and the prize structure.

(Photo: Anna Ushenina, 2007 North Urals Cup) WGM Anna Ushenina, who got beat up in the January, 2008 Corus “C” event, had an outstanding showing against the women in the Moscow Open, finishing in second place, half a point behind the lead. A nice rebound for her, and maybe a confidence builder too??? Anna, if you can beat the 2400 rated gals, you can beat the 2400 rated guys. America’s sweetheart, IM Irina Krush, had a really good tournament going, until she was defeated in the final round by Ushenina, and fell out a tie for the lead. Krush, who finished with 8 other players with 6.0/9, won a prize of 10,000 rubles ($419.55 USD) for her 13^th place finish.

An interesting historical tidbit: 1^st place finisher Muzychuk and 4^th place finisher Dronavalli faced off for the Under-14 Girls’ World Championship Title back in 2005.

Now, about our lady’s handbags. Oksana Kosteniuk, younger sister of GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, did a series of photo-essays for the 2008 Moscow Open website. I recommend you check them out, they are quite witty. Her first – and I dare say most important report – was on the women players’ handbags. Well, darlings! Knock me over with a feather, but it only goes to show you that with the instantaneous communications of the 21^st century the Russians have (despite Putin) joined the world of true high fashion.

I was rooting a few cycles ago for Russian transplant Natasha Galkina (right), who was ~~a mail-order bride and~~ runner-up in America’s Next Top Model Cycle 8. Russian women have come a long way since bleached-blonde hair with dark roots showing and “kick-me baby one more time” high-heeled patent leather boots. (meow…)

For those of you not in the know (99.9% of the male audience), women’s designer handbags are de rigeur these days for any woman who has any pretensions to being fashionable. I am now hopelessly out of fashion still lugging around my five pound (without contents) Coach bag, but it’s built like a tank, will last forever and was worth the $400 I paid for it (and every fashionista knows instantly what I paid for it retail, a plus in the world of fashion despite it being old), and that sucker holds everything I’d ever need to survive a nuclear holocaust, including: one year’s worth of K-rations, safety pins, a sewing kit, a battery-operated heart defibrillator, Kleenex (new and used), miscellaneous foreign and domestic currencies, checkbook, credit cards, photographs, identification cards and passport, spare pantyhose, clean socks and underwear, lighter, matches, candles, hand-cranked emergency radio, hand lotion (you never know when scaly skin may strike), disinfectant hand-wipes and evaporating disinfectant, perfume, comb, brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, miniature toolkit, dental floss (for making emergency escape rope), spare pair of army boots, collapsible umbrella, Mario Lonza CD, a rain poncho, Totes waterproof boots (great for wading through post-holocaust muck), my 365-day planner, calculator, batteries, aspirin, antibiotics that I picked up in Madrid in 2002, an emergency black lace teddy, all of my diamond jewelry, one pair of black leather stilettos (they go with everything), 50 feet of cable rope, battery charger cables, and a plastic rain hat.

I think that’s everything, but I haven’t quite dug down to the very bottom yet. Let no man ever again make fun of a woman’s handbag, lest he be stuck in an elevator for a year with a woman who doesn’t carry one…

Of course, fashion does at times dictate that we femmes carry mini-purses – not large enough to hold one-twentieth of the above, which means one really has to whittle, whittle, whittle when changing handbags. Such a pain in the kiester trying to decide what to keep and what to discard! Ah, the things we do for fashion. Those tiny little things are the bags we carry when, goddess forbid, space is tight and we are socially conscious of what we owe to others by way of keeping our profiles as slim as possible. Oh you guys, you have no idea of the sacrifices we make…

2008 Aeroflot (February 13 – 23, 2008) was the next Russian super-event of the season. Aeroflot has the cachet of offering up its winner to the Dortmund super-tournament. Personally, I’d rather win a lot of money finishing high up in the big opens around the European circuit but what the heck do I know…

Aeroflot was huge! I’m only reporting on the women who participated in the four major sections: A-1, A-2, B and C! Whew! Without further adieu (and since this column is already running over space), here are their final standings:

Group A1 (66 players):

32 WGM Hou, Yifan 4.5 CHN 2527 2605
47 IM Sebag, Marie 4.0 FRA 2510 2551

Hou Yifan earned a GM norm by finishing at 50% with a performance rating of 2605. She finished in some very good company:

29 GM Dyachkov, Sergej 4.5 RUS 2559 2613
30 GM Frolyanov, Dmitry 4.5 RUS 2544 2615
31 GM Romanov, Evgeny 4.5 RUS 2543 2613
33 GM Bindrich, Falko 4.5 GER 2497 2591
34 GM Khalifman, Alexander 4.5 RUS 2638 2557 (former FIDE World Champion, 1999)
35 GM Lysyj, Igor 4.5 RUS 2593 2521
36 GM Evdokimov, Alexander A. 4.5 RUS 2569 2630
37 IM Safarli, Eltaj 4.5 AZE 2496 2576
38 GM Zhigalko, Andrey 4.5 BLR 2556 2597
39 GM Feller, Sebastien 4.5 FRA 2522 2605
40 GM Iordachescu, Viorel 4.5 MDA 2586 2566

Group A2 (92 players):

29 IM Ovod, Evgenija 5.0 RUS 2386 2532
48 IM Ushenina, Anna 4.5 UKR 2484 2437
53 Ju, Wenjun 4.0 CHN 2360 2435
63 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 4.0 RUS 2455 2385
75 WGM Mongontuul, Bathuyag 3.5 MGL 2389 2368
78 IM Tairova, Elena 3.0 RUS 2386 2321
91 IM Harika, Dronavalli 2.5 IND 2455 2490

For finishing in 29th place, Ovod won $450 USD. The other ladies finished out of the money. Ushenina had a fairly good event, but not as good as her performance at the Moscow Open. It seems that Dronavalli dropped out of the tournament, as she did not play in the last four rounds, but I could not find any news about that at the official website.

Group B (135 players):

8 WFM Gunina, Valentina 6.5 RUS 2295 2531
14 IM Vasilevich, Irina 6.0 RUS 2378 2430
16 WGM Romanko, Marina 6.0 RUS 2322 2408
18 WFM Paikidze, Nazi 6.0 GEO 2311 2470
31 Zhang, Xiaowen 5.5 CHN 2309 2415
38 WGM Kovanova, Baira 5.5 RUS 2348 2328
65 WGM Kursova, Maria 4.5 RUS 2333 2272
70 WIM Yanjindulam, Dulamsuren 4.5 MGL 2256 2353
73 Zenyuk, Iryna 4.5 USA 2227 2317
75 WIM Charochkina, Daria 4.5 RUS 2383 2306
77 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 4.5 RUS 2317 2296
79 WIM Tarasova, Viktoriya 4.5 RUS 2267 2230
100 WIM Kashlinskaya, Alina 3.5 RUS 2276 2245
103 WIM Iljushina, Olga 3.5 RUS 2268 2227
106 WIM Kharashuta, Ekaterina 3.5 RUS 2222 2225
110 WFM Nikolaeva, Alexandra 3.5 RUS 2201 2218
114 WFM Gasik, Anna 3.0 POL 2200 2168
116 WFM Kineva, Ekaterina 3.0 RUS 2204 2147
133 Lestari, Baiq Vina 1.0 INA 2263 1891

Group C (139 players):

24 Kushka, Alena 6.0 RUS 2052 2206 +1.50
40 WFM Fakhretdinova, Margarita 5.5 RUS 2160 2150 -0.01
52 Jussupow, Ekaterina 5.0 GER 2030 2144 +1.24
54 WIM Grigorova, Irina 5.0 RUS 2143 2084 -0.53
61 Batzaya, Yanjav 5.0 MGL 2039 2093 +0.37
63 Chkartina, Gerhana 4.5 INA 0 2095 2095
69 Gvilava, Maya 4.5 RUS 2039 1945 -0.66
80 Kuznetsova, Tatiana 4.0 RUS 2051 2092 +0.28
83 Korytina, Natalia 4.0 KAZ 1995 1802 -1.29
84 Yakupova, Aysyla 4.0 RUS 2003 1978 -0.23
101 Tomnikova, Lidia 3.5 RUS 1888 1929 +0.24
102 Severina, Maria 3.5 RUS 1918 1954 +0.15
113 Mukhina, Marina 3.5 RUS F 1872 1829 -0.16
118 Golban, Ludmila 3.0 MDA 1910 1895 -0.20
126 Estheria, Liana 2.5 INA 0 1778 1778
127 Artemenko, Rimma 2.5 RUS 1571 1602 +0.18
129 Abdumalik, Zhansaya 2.5 KAZ 0 1692 1692
130 Tikhomirova, Vera N. 2.5 RUS 1702 1317 -0.33
134 Duc, Marie 2.0 FRA 0 1639 1639
135 Zheleva, Milena 2.0 BUL 0 937 937
136 Valeva, Zlatina Hristova 2.0 BUL 0 1155 1155

(Photo: From left to right, Boyarchenko, Nebolsina and Rudolf, Vandoeuvre Open, December 26 – 30, 2007), Chessdom). Capelle la Grande (February 16 – 23, 2008) was another one of those huge European opens – 612 players! The final “Grille Americaine” that I printed out was 23 pages long! Here are the final standings for the top 33 chess femmes who participated in this event (won by GM Vugar Gashimov (AZE 2665) with 7.9/9 (because of space constraints, another 54 chess femmes’ results are not included):

43 IM Nana Dzagnidze (GE) 2429) 6.0

60 IM Elina Danielian (ARM 2429) 6.0

68 IM Nino Khurtsidze (GEO 2441) 6.0

77 WIM Mihaela Sandu (ROU 2313) 6.0

81 IM Martha Fierro Baquero (ECU 2341) 5.5

95 WGM Salome Melia (GEO 2362) 5.5

106 WGM Myroslava Hrbainska (UKR 2263) 5.5

127 WIM Anna Rudolf (HUN 2242) 5.5

135 WIM Elena Boric (BIH 2274) 5.5

136 WIM Iozefina Paulet (ROU 2285) 5.5

137 WGM Sabina Francesca Foisor (ROU 2386) 5.5

144 WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova (AZE 2332) 5.5

154 IM Yelena Dembo (GRE 2427) 5.0

156 MF Sarah Hoolt (GER 2220) 5.0

170 WIM Carolina Lujan (ARG 2365) 5.0

173 MF Petra Schuurman (NED 2271) 5.0

181 WGM Katerina Matseyko (UKR 2301) 5.0

182 WGM Angela Borsuk (ISR 2312) 5.0

187 WGM Maritza Arribas Robaina (CUB 2334) 5.0

188 WGM Turkan Mamedjarova (AZE 2313) 5.0

190 MF Melanie Ohme (GER 2267) 5.0

205 MF Vita Chulivska (UKR 2291) 5.0

206 WGM Tatiana Kostiuk (UKR 2227) 5.0

211 WGM Julia Kichetkova (RUS 2314) 5.0

215 MF Joanna Gorecka (POL 2117) 5.0

221 WGM Alina Motoc (ROU 2330) 5.0

222 MF Mauela Mader (GER 2158) 5.0

229 WIM Ioana-Smaranda Padurariu (ROU 2243) 5.0

230 CF Katrina Skinke (LAT 2180) 5.0

234 IM Iulia Mashinskaya (RUS 2370) 5.0

257 WIM Tatiana Kasparova (BUL 2167) 5.0

258 CF Nelli Tovmasian (GERm 1854) 5.

WIM Anna Rudolf (HUN 2242), a/k/a Little Red Rudolf, finished in a highly respectable 127^th place overall, and 5^th place of the chess femmes. And how did the jerks do who accused Rudolf of cheating at the Vandoeuvre Open (see the February 2008 “In the News”)? Of the three accusers (Oleg Krovonosov, Vladimir Lazarev and Ilmars Starostits) only Krivonosov played in this event, finishing in 102^nd place with 5.5. This time, no accusations of cheating by a chess femme using her lip balm were forthcoming from Mr. Krivonosov. Perhaps because he now realized that he could not get away with it???

Upcoming Events

Istanbul, Turkey will host the Ataturk Women Masters Chess Tournament, March 10 – 20, 2008. The list of players should be familiar to you by now, darlings, as their names have been cropping up in event after event since this column started in January (was it only January? It feels like I’ve been doing this for 100 years…) Here are the chess femmes:

GM Zhu Chen (Qatar 2548)
WGM Hou Yifan (China 2527)
GM Pia Cramling (Sweden 2524)
WGM Xue Zhao (China 2517)
GM Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia 2489)
IM Anna Ushenina (Ukraine 2484)
IM Irina Krush (USA 2473)
WGM Harika Dronavalli (India 2455)
IM Ekaterina Atalik (Turkey 2408)
WIM Betül Cemre Yildiz (Turkey 2207)

Prize fund is $16,000 USD, first place - $5,000, 10th place - $400. Total appearance fees of $18,850 USD. More information on the TCF website. What is it with these appearance fees? I sure wish they’d tell us how much they forked out appearance fee wise for each chess femme to appear! Why is this such a frigging secret? I’ll tell you why – it would cause an UPROAR if other chess players knew exactly what the other guys/gals were making to just show face at an event. What a racket! No wonder the organizers keep this so secret – it’s like the pay scale at a law firm!

To see GM Maia Chiburdanidze play – wow! This ground-breaking chess femme (one of the Georgian superstars in the 1980’s) doesn’t appear in many events these days. Oh, I wish I had a million dollars. I’d fly to Istanbul to see this mix of women playing chess. GM Pia Cramling was the second woman in the world, ever, to EARN the GM title (not WGM, GM). GM Susan Polgar beat her to being the first woman to earn the GM title by just a few months. I suppose you already know this, but just in case you don’t, Cramling took some time off chess to marry and have a family, but she started playing in national and international tournaments again around 2002 and has been playing in a steady stream of events ever since. We’ll again see Hou, Ushenina, Krush and Dronavalli up close and personal, slugging it out. And I won’t write off Ekaterina Atalik, a very strong player who shows occasional flashes of brilliance.

There was something of a scandal when it was learned from an article at Chessbase that the reigning Women's World Champion Xu Yuhua was accidentally left off the Ataturk Women Masters invitation list – duh (did the dude get fired?):

"The current world champion, GM Xu Yuhua, did not get an invitation due to a mistake on my part. I am very sorry for that. Since it is difficult to know the gender of a player by reading the Chinese name, and Xu Yuhua, who has the title of GM, was not on top 50 women list on the FIDE web site. When we send out the invitations we thought another Chinese player had the title. I was simply confused. Then, after we understood the mistake, it was already very late. It was my big mistake, and I am sorry for it."

The 2008 Reykjavik Open has begun in Iceland (March 3 - 11, 2008) and many top female players are participating. I’ve been reporting on this event at the Goddesschess blog, here are the standings of the chess femmes after Round 5 (89 players):

9 IM Gaponenko Inna UKR 2422 3,5
16 IM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan SCO 2457 3,5
21 IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2420 3,0
22 IM Tania Sachdev IND 2417 3,0
27 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2464 3,0
49 IM Zozulia Anna BEL 2344 2,5
52 IM Jackova Jana CZE 2375 2,5
55 WFM Limontaite Simona LTU 2152 2,0
61 WIM Nemcova Katerina CZE 2342 2,0
62 WIM Hagesaether Ellen NOR 2234 2,0
64 IM Vasilevich Tatjana UKR 2370 2,0
69 Frank-Nielsen Marie DEN 1969 2,0
79 Kristinardottir Elsa Maria ISL 1721 1,5
82 Almer Julia SWE 1914 1,0
84 WFM Steil-Antoni Fiona LUX 2122 1,0
87 WGM Sanchez Castillo Sarai VEN 2312 1,0

In the News

A brief tribute to IM Tania Sachdev.

An interview with GM Judit Polgar, by Vijay Tagore:

You aimed to become a world champion. How far you think you are from that goal?
Well after my kids were born, I have been wanting it less than before, and it is not only because I have less time to work on chess, but also because when you want to become number 1 you have to ignore everything else. Everything takes a backseat, at least for some period of time. For me, my family gets the preference right now.

Balancing family and career is a conundrum that women will face as long as they continue to be the primary care-givers of family by the societies into which they are born. It’s a double bind. If a mother chooses to devote her time and energy to pursuing career goals, she is accounted a bad mom, ignoring her children (although on the other side of the equation no one points a finger at a dad climbing the corporate ladder or traveling around the world playing in chess tournaments); if she stays at home with the kids, she’s written off as a has-been who couldn’t keep up and gave it up! Is biology destiny? Does it still come down to that for a woman? How utterly and absolutely depressing.

Featured Chess Femme

(Photo: Dronavalli Harisha from Guwahati Chess Association, at theWorld Junior Girls Chess Championship, Yerevan, October 2 – 17, 2007) Don’t let the quiet exterior, shy smile and demure looks of sixteen year old IM Dronavalli Harika (IND 2455) fool you. This young lady won five chess medals (two gold, two silver, one bronze) at the Asian Indoor Games, held in Macau, China from October 26 - November 3, 2007 and has been on a chess-playing tear lately!

Dronavalli is currently ranked 12th in the Women's World Ratings List and ranked 3rd on the Girls' World Ratings List according to FIDE. Her achievements include winning the titles of World Youth Champion in 2006 (Girls Under-18) and U-14 Girls Champion in 2004. At the World Junior Girls (Under 20) Chess Championships held in Yerevan, Armenia, October 2 - 17, 2007, Harika was cruising along with 8/5/10, but then she lost her last three games (to Jolanta Zawadzka in R. 11, Elena Tairova in R. 12 and Melia Salome in R.13), to finish in 5th place with 8.5/13. A quick Google search indicates that Dronavalli has been making headline news since 2002, when she was 10 years old.

This is a young chessplayer on a mission. In a non-stop schedule, Harika competed in the 34th National "A" Championship in Pune, India, November 6 - 13, 2007. She'd been cruising along in the top ranks but lost her last round match in a blown endgame and ended up in 5th place. Good enough to make the National Team but not good enough to represent India in next year's Chess Olympiad. A disappointing result for Harika, who wanted to make the Olympiad Team.

Harika participated in the 2008 Gibtelecom Chess Festival (Gibraltar) January 22 - 31, 2008, with some of the best chessplayers in the world, where she finished in 3^rd place with 6.5/9, an identical score with Arakhamia-Grant and Cimilyte who finished 1^st and 2^nd, and with Stefanova, who finished 4th. She then played in the 2008 Moscow Open (see above) and, in the women-only “C” Event, finished in 4^th place among a field of 136 strong female players, with 7.0/9. As noted in this month’s column, she also competed in the 2008 Aeroflot Open (see above) but evidently did not complete the event, as she did not compete in the final 4 rounds. I wouldn’t be surprised if she dropped out due to illness – or sheer exhaustion!

At 16, Harika has a lot of chess ahead of her. In early 2008, she’s maintaining the pace she set for playing in events during 2007. She’ll be competing later in March at the Ataturk Women Masters Chess Tournament. She wants to follow in the steps of the great Judit Polgar, a worthy (and awe-inspiring) goal. I expect to see Harika’s name in the top ranks of female players for many years to come.

For further information on Dronavalli:

Older interview at Chessbase (2005) with some photographs of a young Dronavalli and her family.

Some of her chess games (175 at Chessgames.com).

Recent news stories about Dronavalli:

Asian Indoor Games: Sasikiran, Harika lead India to chess gold, newkerela.com, October 27, 2007

India wins three rapid chess golds at Asian Indoor Games, twocircles.net, October 28, 2007

As always, you can find more news about women chess players at Chess Femme News at Goddesschess and the Goddesschess blog.

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January 2008
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"Xena" (a/k/a Jan Newton) is one of the principals at Goddesschess, a popular "niche" website since its debut in 1999. Goddesschess publishes articles from authors around the world as well as producing and publishing the principals' own work. In addition to promoting views about the goddess side of chess, Goddesschess publishes news and articles of general interest about board games, research concerning the development and history of board games and archaeological discoveries related to board games. Jan also regularly publishes women's chess news at Chess Femme News. Enjoy!