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New super women's tournament – in Turkey!
06.12.2007 – Women's chess has always been sadly neglected. Now a bank in Turkey, together with the Turkish Chess Federation, has taken the initiative and announced a super women's event in Istanbul in March 2008. Eligible are all female players over 2460 Elo, or over 2400 and having a GM title. The prize fund is US $16,000 (plus appearance fees). Great conditions: ladies, apply quickly. |
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Women's Super-tournament in Istanbul
10.03.2008 – The Turkish Chess Federation, together with the country's largest bank, is staging a spectacular international women's event in the center of Istanbul. Round one is on Tuesday. The reason for this tournament: to promote women's chess in Turkey and prepare talented girls for a serious medal bid in future Chess Olympiads. An unrealistic goal? Well watch out, here come the Young Turks of tomorrow. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: No draws in Women's Super-tournament
12.03.2008 – This is what people want to see. After hours of media attention, technical discussions and the opening ceremony, the participants of the İş Bankası Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament sat down to play aggressive, fighting chess. All games in round one were decided, not a single one drawn. We bring you a first big pictorial report from Istanbul. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: just one draw so far
13.03.2008 – After five decided games in round one, the second round saw Irina Krush pressure Ekaterina Atalik for 57 moves before conceding a draw. The other games were all decided, with three white and one black win. That's a total of one draw in ten games. Exciting aggressive chess again in the women's super-tournament in Istanbul. Illustrated report. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: 13-year-old Hou leads women's super-tournament
14.03.2008 – Actually the shocking part is that the former women's world champion Zhu Chen is running a negative score of 0.0/4. In round four she lost against the new prodigy Hou Yifan, who is now in the lead with 3.5/4 points. Half a point behind are local player Ekaterina Atalik and Swedish veteran Pia Cramling. With four drawn games today the drawing average rose to 35%. Round four report. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: three players in the lead
14.03.2008 – Pia Cramling, the first women to to qualify for the "men's" world championship cycle, was lucky to survive the black piece attack of Hou Yifan, a player who was born two years after Pia had earned her GM title. Turkey's Ekatrina Atalik and India's Dronavalli Harika won their second games in a row. Drawing average still a very low 20%. Round three report. |
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Melody Amber: Anand, Ivanchuk, Aronian lead
16.03.2008 – After three rounds of this annual tournament in Nice, France Ivanchuk, Karjakin and Morozevich lead in the blindfold scores (1.5/3), Anand and Aronian in the rapid section (2.0/3), and Anand, Ivanchuk and Aronian in the combined scoring (3.0/6). We bring you results, games and video reports from the tournament site. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: Ekaterina Atalik leads
16.03.2008 – The local derby between IM Ekaterina Atalik, rated 2408, and 18-year-old WIM Betül Cemre Yildiz, two hundred points her inferior. The younger girl missed a great chance to draw and went down to her more experienced opponent. Former world champion Zhu Chen outplayed her compatriot Zhao Xue to score her first win in this event. Atalik now leads the field by half a point. Illustrated report. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: double victory for Turkish ladies
16.03.2008 – Betül Cemre Yildiz, 18-year-old Turkish talent, had a single draw in the first four rounds of the women's super-tournament in Turkey. In round five she scored an attacking win against IM Irina Krush of the US. Meanwhile IM Ekaterina Atalik, Turkey's strongest female player, defeated Ukrainian IM Anna Ushenina. Celebrations all around in Istanbul. Round five report. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: Cramling and Hou Yifan in the lead
18.03.2008 – With two rounds to go in this super women's tournament the most senior and most junior players are in the lead: Pia Cramling and Hou Yifan have 5.5/7 points each. The Swedish veteran beat the previous round's leader Ekaterina Atalik, while the 14-year-old Chinese girl took a point from US IM Irina Krush. Turkish junior Betül Yildiz also won her game. Illustrated report. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: Hou Yifan wins with a round to spare
19.03.2008 – Victory against a potential rival, Ekaterina Atalik, gave Chinese wonder Hou Yifan, who turned 14 three weeks ago, an unsurpassable lead of a full point ahead of her nearest rival. This became possible because Swedish GM Pia Cramling lost her game against Lela Javakhishvili of Georgia. Wednesday is a free day, the final round is on Thursday. Illustrated report. |
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Atatürk Istanbul: Hou Yifan wins Atatürk Masters
21.03.2008 – A quick final-round draw clinched it. The youngest participant, 14-year-old WGM Hou Yifan, won the Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament in Istanbul with a full point lead, and a rating performance of 2674. Does anyone doubt that we are talking about a future world champion? Second was Swedish GM Pia Cramling. Illustrated round nine report. |
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Women's World Championship in Istanbul?
25.03.2008 – The Atatürk International Women Masters was a great
success, enjoyed by all involved. At the closing ceremony, where the players
were given a tour of the sponsoring bank, there was an important meeting
between the Turkish Sports Minister and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Result:
the faltering Women's World Championship will most likely be held in Istanbul.
Big illustrated report. |
