Humpy Koneru wins Women's Grand Prix

March 29, 2009

Position No. 6048: White to play and win. From the game Julia Demina-Yuliya Yakovich, St. Petersburg 2009.

Solution to Position No. 6047: White wins with 1 d7!, threatening mate with 2 Rc8+ or 2 Qe5+. If 1 . . . Rdxd7, then 2 Qh8+ Ka7 3 Ra2+ Kb6 4 Qd4+ Kc7 5 Qe5+ Kc6 6 Rc5+ Kb6 7 Rxb5+ Kc6 8 Qc5 mate. Toughest is 1 . . . Qf1+ 2 Kb2 Qf8, but White wins anyway by 3 Kb3! Qg8 4 Qe5+ Ka8 5 Ra2+ Ra7 6 Rxa7+ Kxa7 7 Qc7+ Ka6 8 Qc6+ Ka7 9 Kc2.

Humpy Koneru of India won the Women's Grand Prix, which concluded March 19 in Istanbul. Koneru scored an impressive 8 1/2 -2 1/2 in the 12-player round robin. The average rating of 2481 made it the strongest women's tournament ever.

Koneru is the second-highest-rated woman in history, behind Judit Polgar of Hungary. In Istanbul, her chief rival was 15-year-old Hou Yifan of China, who had defeated her in the semifinals of the 2008 world championship. Hou won their seventh-round showdown and took the lead with 6 1/2 - 1/2 . Later Koneru admitted, "Once I lost to Hou Yifan, I lost my hope to win the title." But she finished with three wins and a draw, while Hou lost to Zhao Xue of China and drew her last three games.

Hou and Elina Danielian of Armenia shared second place at 8-3. Martha Fierro Baquero, who teaches chess in North Carolina but represents Ecuador, scored a credible 5 1/2 -5 1/2 and tied for sixth place. Former world champions Maia Chiburdanidze (Republic of Georgia) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) managed only a tie for eighth place at 5-6.

Amber tournament

The Amber tournament, featuring many of the world's top stars, finished Thursday in Nice, France. For results, interviews and games, see amberchess2009.com.

Local news

"ACA Beasts!," the winner of last month's U.S. Amateur Team West in Woodland Hills, won an Internet playoff March 21 for the title of 2009 U.S. Amateur Team champions. The team of John Daniel Bryant, Michael Yee, Vincent Huang and Santy Wong tied matches against the North and South winners but defeated both of them in speed chess playoffs.

The Pasadena Chess Club, founded in 1928, has a new site. The club will meet at 6:45 p.m. every Friday in the Boys and Girls Club, 3230 E. Del Mar Blvd. in Pasadena. The club plans a quick tournament Friday and the first round of the six-round Pasadena City Championship on April 10. For more information, call Neil Hultgren at (818) 243-3809.