13.09.2008 Tomorrow Sunday will take place the first game of the final of the Women's World Chess Championship between Grandmasters Alexandra Kosteniuk playing under the Russian flag and Hou Yifan playing for China. They will play 4 games in total for the title of Women World Champion. We have been told there is a site www.chesspolls.com that collects forecasts on this match, so if you have an opinion on the possible winner, you can go there and cast your vote.
11.09.2008 The last 6 months of intense training are paying out for Alexandra, who qualified today for the Final of the World Championship by drawing Pia Cramling in the second game of their mini-match, bringing her score to 1.5-0.5. Alexandra is the only player left in the championship not to have lost a single game up to now. Alexandra's opponent in the Final will be decided in the tie-breaks tomorrow, it will be either China's Hou or India's Koneru. It will be Alexandra's second try at the title, remember that in 2001 Alexandra went all the way to the Final but lost narrowly to China's Zhu Chen after tie-breaks. Now Alexandra has 7 years more experience and many new titles, European Champion 2004, GM (men) 2004, Russian Champion 2005, Chess960 World Champion 2006 & 2008, European Team Champion 2007.
10.09.2008 It was pure domination today, before 30 moves were played Cramling playing Black could hardly find any piece to move. Have a look (copy and paste moves into the pgn player then press "apply"): 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Bd3 Bb4 7. Bd2 Nxd2 8.
Qxd2 f6 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Qxc3 fxe5 11. dxe5 Qe7 12. h4 Bd7 13. b4 a6 14. h5 O-O-O
15. Qd2 Kb8 16. c3 Rdf8 17. Qe3 Na7 18. a4 c5 19. bxc5 Rc8 20. Rb1 Qxc5 21.
Qxc5 Rxc5 22. Bxa6 Rc7 23. Kd2 Bxa4 24. Rb4 Bd7 25. Rhb1 Bc8 26. Nd4 Re8 27. f4
Ree7 28. Rb6 h6 29. g3 Re8 30. Rd6 Ree7 31. Bf1 Bd7 32. Bh3 Nc8 33. Bxe6 Nxd6
34. exd6 Bxe6 35. dxe7 Bd7 36. Nf5 1-0 Tomorrow the second game of this semi-final will be played (watch live at 3 PM local time). In the other semi-final, Hou beat Koneru with the white pieces. The tension is at a maximum since the ticket to the World Chess Championship Final is at stake.
09.09.2008 Both Alexandra Kosteniuk and Pia Cramling have been in superb form and have reached the World Semi-finals. They are only 1 step from the World Finals. Who will win? Cramling is very experienced but Alexandra is very dangerous. They will play 2 games, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. In the other semi, Humpy Koneru will play Hou Yifan. By the way you can watch the games live here both days at 3 PM Nalchik Time (1 PM Paris time, 7AM New York time).
New, Pufichek updated his "Look at me!" gallery of beautiful women chess masters. Update: Kosteniuk won the first game.
08.09.2008 Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Anna Ushenina today in the second game of their quarter finals match. Alexandra qualifies for the semi-finals. She will play Pia Cramling. In the other semi-final Humpy Koneru will play Hou Yifan. Have a look at Alexandra's game: Ushenina - Kosteniuk: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c5 7. dxc5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. e3 Qa5 11. Be5 O-O 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. Bxe4 Nxe5 14. Bh7+ Kg7 15. Bd3 b6 16. cxb6 d4 17. exd4 Nxd3+ 18. Qxd3 Re8+ 19. Kd1 Bf5 20. Qd2 Bxc3 21. Qxc3 Qxb6 22. Ne2 Rac8 23. Qa3 Rc2 24. Re1 Rd8 25. Qe3 Qxb2 26. Rc1 Re8 0-1. You can copy and paste the moves into this pgn player. New: Download the Bulletin with this great game commented by GM Shipov.
06.09.2008 Another free day for Alexandra during the World Chess Championship in Nalchik. She had a chance to visit the famous Blue Lake, whose color is absolutely amazing. It's also one of the deepest lakes in Europe and divers have gone as far down as 180 meters below surface. You can see Pufichek's photos by clicking here.
05.09.2008 Alexandra qualified for the 1/4 finals of the Nalchik Women World Championships by beating Tatiana Kosintseva (ELO 2511) 1.5 - 0.5. She will be opposed to Anna Ushenina (ELO 2476) from the Ukraine next round. Make sure to visit Pufichek's photo album of most of the players from the Women World Chess Championship in Nalchik. We have uploaded for you the two games Alexandra played against Tatiana Kosintseva, commented by GM Belov in a PDF, and to be downloaded in pgn format. By the way if you want to see the games in your browser, we recommend you simply copy and paste the pgn text into this universal pgn player.
04.09.2008 Pufichek from our partner site Chesspics created a photo album of most of the players from the Women World Chess Championship in Nalchik, you don't want to miss it. As usual ou can vote for the players you like best (5 stars = best, 1 star = worst). We have obtained special "Look at me!" gallery for you, enjoy! You can also watch Alexandra's free educational videos (youTube channel, chess killer tips, flash videos, quicktime videos).
03.09.2008 Today Alexandra had a free day and she was invited to explore the very beautiful countryside of Kabardino-Balkaria. About 2 hours away from the capital Nalchik she
visited the Chegemskie waterfalls. The local people were very hospitable and made meat shashliks and other delicious local dishes (like the traditional bread with cheese and potatoes called khychin). You can see a photo album of Alexandra's day out by clicking here.
01.09.2008
Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk won her first two games in Nalchik against Pourkashiyan from Iran. You can read GM Belov's analysis of her first game from the bulletin. Alexandra is qualified for the third round which will start on Thursday. Thanks to all of Alexandra's fans who sent her emails of support for this important competition.