The Jack Rabbit Chess Report (March 22): Warning -- high estrogen content this week

[Jack Rabbit]

Koneru wins Women's Grand Prix



Grandmaster Koneru Humpy of India, 22, the second ranked woman chess player in the world behind Judit Polgar, won the Women's Grand Prix in Istanbul Thursday when she defeated French grandmaster Marie Sebag in the eleventh and final round.

The victory allowed Ms. Koneru step ahead of Chinese grandmasters Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue, with whom she was tied for first at the start of the final round, and withstand a bid from Armenian IM ELina Danielian, whose charge in the last round brought her to tied for second with Ms. Hou.

Ms. Danielian won her final game against Ms. Zhao, while the fifteen-year-old Ms. Hou drew her last game with compatriot Yang Shen. Ms. Danielian's last-round victory was her third in four games. She also earned her second grandmaster norm with her performance.



Tomashevsky wins European Championship



Russian grandmaster Evgeny Tomashevsky outlasted the field in a 11-man playoff Wednesday to claim first prize in the general competition of the 10th European Individual Championship in Budva, Montenegro, on Wednesday.

Tomashevsky defeated compatriot Vladimir Malakhov in the fianl round of rapid and blitz games and took home the gold medal. Malakhov was awarded the silver while Georgian GM Baadur Jobava won the broze when he outscored Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia in a pair of rapid games.

In addition to the gold medal, Tomashevsky took home €15,000.




Tanya Kosintseva wins European Women's Championship



Russian IM Tatiana Kosintseva, younger sister of reigning Russian women's champion Nadezhda Kosintseva, won her second European women's title by defeating Armenia's Lilit Mkrtchian (Mah KUHT chee an) in a playoff round Friday in St. Petersburg.

Ms. Kosintseva and Ms. Mkrtchian were tied for first place at the end of the 11-round event Thursday with 8½ points apiece.

Ms. Kosintseva also won the 2007 European women's championship in Dresden.

The bronze medal also needed to be determined in a playoff among the seven ladies tied for third place with 8 points each.

When the smoke cleared, the bronze went to Natalija Pogonina of Russia, who also won the women's competition at the Moscow Open last month.



Melody Amber Tournament underway in Nice


The annual Melody Amber Rapid/Blindfold Tournament began last weekend in the French Mediterranean town Nice.

Twelve players play two games of chess a day for 11 rounds. In the moning, the players play a blindfold game and then in the afternoon each plays a rapid game against the same opponent as the morning, but with the colors reversed.

After seven rounds, reigning world champion Vishy Anand of India and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia are leading the overall standings with 9 points each, although neither man is leading in either of the two evnets. In the blindford competition, Magnus Carlsen of Norway leads with 5½ points, a half point ahead of Kramnik and a full point ahead of Anand. However, Carlsen has only 3 points out of seven in the rapid event. In the rapid games, American GM Gata Kamsky, who has only 2 points in the blindfold play, leads with 5 points, with Anand and Armenian GM Levon Aronian a half point back and Kramnik just another half point behind them.

Carlsen and Aronian are tied for third place in the overall standings with 8½ points each out of 14.

The tournament is scheduled to conclude Friday.



Calendar


Reykjavik Open 23 March.-2 April.

Dubai Open 3-13 April.

Gausdal Chess Classic (Norway) 7-15 April.

Foxwoods Open, Mashantucket, Connecticut 8-12 April.

Russian Club Cup (Team Championships), Sochi 30 April-12 May.

US Chess Championship, St. Louis May. Exact dates TBA.

MTel Masters, Sofia 9-19 May.

Asian Championships, Subic Freeprot (The Philippines) 12-23 May.

Chicago Open 22-25 May.

Aerosvit International Tournament, Foros (Ukraine) 9-20 June.

World Open, Philadelphia 29 June-5 July.

Canadian Open, Edmonton 11-19 July.

Czech Open, Pardubice 16 July-2 August.

Biel Chess Festival 18-31 July.

FIDE Grand Prix, Yerevan. 8-24 August.