Participants

1. , 2483, GM


2. , 2622, GM


3. , 2557, WGM


4. , 2550, GM


5. , 2544, GM


6. , 2529, GM


7. , 2522, GM


8. , 2511, IM


9. , 2510, GM


10. , 2508, IM


11. , 2504, IM


12. , 2499, WGM


13. , 2489, WGM


14. , 2489, GM


15. , 2487, GM


16. , 2481, IM


17. , 2476, IM


18. , 2473, IM


19. , 2470, IM


20. , 2468, IM


21. , 2461, IM


22. , 2461, IM


23. , 2460, IM


24. , 2459, IM


25. , 2446, IM


26. , 2445, WGM


27. , 2436, IM


28. , 2432, IM


29. , 2423, IM


30. , 2417, IM


31. , 2414, IM


32. , 2413, IM

33. , 2412, IM


34. , 2408, IM


35. , 2406, WGM


36. , 2389


37. , 2387


38. , 2383, IM


39. , 2374, IM


40. , 2358, IM


41. , 2355, IM


42. , 2354, WGM


43. , 2350, WGM


44. , 2345, WGM


45. , 2344, WGM


46. , 2344, IM


47. , 2337, WGM


48. , 2325, WGM


49. , 2324, WGM


50. , 2323, WGM


51. , 2323, WGM


52. , 2321, WGM


53. , 2308, WGM


54. , 2281, WGM


55. , 2271, WGM


56. , 2269, WIM


57. , 2242


58. , 2231, WIM


59. , 2211, WFM


60. , 2202, WGM


61. , 2180, WIM


62. , 2007, WGM


63. , 1959, WIM


64. , 1895, WIM




Absences

The world's no. 1 female player, Judit Polgár
Judit Polgár
Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, the youngest person ever to do so at that time.Polgár was ranked No...

, has never competed for the Women's World Championship and did not play this time. The world's no. 3 female player, Xie Jun
Xie Jun
Xie Jun is a chess grandmaster from China. She had two reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is only the second woman to have two reigns, the other being Elisabeth Bykova....

, had played little chess in recent years (four rated games since 2005) and also did not play.

Some players refused to go to Nalchik. In their letters to FIDE, Canadian Natalia Khoudgarian
Natalia Khoudgarian
Natalia Khoudgarian is an Armenian chess player, who is one of the top female chess players in Canada.She holds the FIDE Woman International Master title. She represented Canada at the Women's World Championship 2006 and twice at the Women's Olympiads .On the November 2011 FIDE list her Elo rating...

 and American Irina Krush
Irina Krush
Irina Krush is an American chess player who won the U.S. Women's Chess Championship in 1998, 2007, and 2010. Born in Odessa, USSR , she is widely known for her series of chess training videos, the "Krushing Attacks" series.Krush learned to play chess at age five, emigrating with her parents to...

 both cited the general safety in the region of North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....

.

More players protested after the start of the 2008 South Ossetia war
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....

. On 12 August 2008, six Georgian players published an open letter asking to move the Championship to a safer place, which was endorsed by several other players (Monika Soćko
Monika Socko
Monika Soćko is a Polish chess player. She won the Polish women's chess championship four times . She is married to Polish GM Bartosz Soćko....

, Irina Krush, Iweta Rajlich
Iweta Rajlich
Iweta Rajlich is a Polish chess International Master and Woman Grandmaster, multiple winner of Women Chess Championships of Poland. As of April 2009, she is the 54th ranked female chess player in the world with an Elo rating of 2424.She married Vasik Rajlich on 19 August 2006. Vasik is the author...

, Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska, Tea Bosboom-Lanchava
Tea Bosboom-Lanchava
Tea Bosboom-Lanchava is a chess player who holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster...

, Claudia Amura, and Marie Sebag
Marie Sebag
Marie Sebag is a French chess player, who won the French Chess Championship for women in 2000 and 2002.-Tournament results:...

). On 15 August, the Chess Federation of Georgia published an open letter stating that the Georgian players will not participate in the Championship unless it is moved to another country. Argentinian Claudia Amura, whose opponent in the first round is Georgian Lela Javakhishvili, also published a letter to FIDE asking for the Championship to be moved.

The FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov is a Kalmyk multi-millionaire businessman and politician. He was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and he has been the President of FIDE , the world's pre-eminent international chess organization, since 1995...

 published two letters in reply, on 13 August and 19 August. In his letters, he confirmed that the Championship would be held in Nalchik, appealed to everyone not to mix politics and sport, and stated that the organizers provided all the necessary security. This was seconded by Boris Kutin, president of the European Chess Union, and Arsen Kanokov
Arsen Kanokov
Arsen Bashirovich Kanokov is the president of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic in Russia.- Biography :...

, president of Kabardino-Balkaria
Kabardino-Balkaria
The Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus. Population: -Geography:The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part....

 and the chairman of the organizing committee. On 21 August, Ilyumzhinov published a letter to Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili asking him to let Georgian players participate.

A total of 11 players did not arrive at the Championship. Besides the six Georgian players (Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze is a Georgian chess grandmaster, and the seventh Women's World Chess Champion. She is the only chess player in history who has won nine Chess Olympiads....

, Lela Javakhishvili, Maia Lomineishvili, Nino Khurtsidze
Nino Khurtsidze
Nino Khurtsidze is a Woman Grandmaster of chess. She resides in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2005 she was the number two rated woman chess player in Georgia with a FIDE rating of 2420. She won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship in 1993 and 1995.In 2004 she came second behind Evgeny Shaposhnikov in...

, Sopiko Khukhashvili, and Sopio Gvetadze), these were Marie Sebag (France), Irina Krush (United States), Ekaterina Korbut (Russia), Tea Bosboom-Lanchava (Netherlands), and Karen Zapata (Peru).


Tournament

The Championship was a single-elimination tournament
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...

 with 64 players and six rounds. In each encounter, players played two games at normal time controls (90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one). If the score after two games was level, the tie-break was played. In the tie-break, two rapid games were played (25 minutes for the game, with addition of 10 seconds after each move). If the score was level after the rapid games, two blitz games were played (5 minutes for the game, with addition of 10 seconds after each move). If the score was level after the blitz, the decisive armageddon game was played. The time control was 6 minutes for White and 5 minutes for Black, with no addition. If the game was drawn, Black is declared the winner. The colours in the armageddon games were chosen by the player who won the drawing of lots.

In the final, four regular games were played instead of two, and the first (rapid) phase of tie-break would also have consisted of four games.


Ruling appeal

The final tiebreak game between Monika Soćko
Monika Socko
Monika Soćko is a Polish chess player. She won the Polish women's chess championship four times . She is married to Polish GM Bartosz Soćko....

 and Sabina-Francesca Foisor ended in controversy. It was an armageddon blitz
Blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...

 game in which Socko (as White) had 6 minutes compared to 5 minutes Foisor (as Black), but White must win the game to advance to the next round whereas Black only needed to draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...

 (or win). With time running out, a position was reached in which each player had only a king
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...

 and a knight
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...

, a material combination which is a draw under normal circumstances. Just after this, Foisor's time ran out and the arbiter Zsuzsanna Veroci ruled it a draw, meaning that Foisor would advance. Socko immediately protested, showing a position where checkmate
Checkmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...

 is possible (but cannot be forced) and reminding the arbiters of the FIDE rules of chess
Rules of chess
The rules of chess are rules governing the play of the game of chess. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The...

 which state that if one player runs out of time and the opponent has the possibility of checkmate, that player loses. Socko filed an appeal, and the Appeals Committee agreed that she was correct on the rules. The game was ruled a win for Socko and she advanced to the next round.


Schedule

• Round 1: 29 August and 30 August, with tiebreaks on 31 August
• Round 2: 1 September and 2 September, with tiebreaks on 3 September
• Round 3: 4 September and 5 September, with tiebreaks on 6 September
• Quarterfinals: 7 September and 8 September, with tiebreaks on 9 September
• Semifinals: 10 September and 11 September, with tiebreaks on 12 September
• Final: 14 September to 17 September, with tiebreaks on 18 September



Final Match

Final Match

	1	2	3	4	Total
	1	½	½	½	2½
	0	½	½	½	1½




Bracket

External links

• Official website
• Preview at Chessbase
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.