Frank K. Berry 2007 US Women’s Chess Championship
Over the week of July 16-20, 2007, ten of the top American women chess players will compete in a round-robin tournament in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to determine the Frank K. Berry 2007 US Women’s Chess Champion along with a $7,000 first place prize.
Also up for grabs will be three American Zonal qualification places and various players have the possibility of obtaining Woman Grandmaster and Woman International Master norms!
This site, http://www.uswcc2007.com will be the place to follow all of the action from Stillwater. Live coverage of all the games will be provided using the MonRoi system.
Here are the ten players that will battle it out for the Frank K. Berry 2007 US Women’s Chess Championship. You can find out more about each of the individuals by visiting our special Players Page. Here they are, listed in order of player’s projected July USCF rating.
Player USCF Rating FIDE Rating
Krush, Irina (WGM, IM) 2497 2479
Zatonskih, Anna (WGM, IM) 2491 2462
Baginskaite, Camilla (WGM) 2361 2328
Rohonyan, Katerine (WGM) 2304 2316
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg (WIM) 2275 2236
Abrahamyan, Tatev (WFM) 2258 2237
Battsetseg, Tsagaan (WIM) 2234 2241
Melekhina, Alisa (WFM) 2168 2099
Airapetian, Chouchanik (WFM) 2157 2162
Vicary, Elizabeth (WFM) 2155 2148
Average Ratings: 2290 2271
Source: Official Website
This is a stupid tournament. Why should women have their own tournament? If they’re not good enough, quit. I voted for Sam Sloan, Joe Lux, Don Schultz and Stephen Jones.
Chris Bird is the webmaster for the site and I think he’s done a fantastic job of putting the site together. It’s easy to navigate and provides all the pertinent information. If you haven’t checked lately, he now has posted all of the pairings for the rounds, so fans will know in advance who will be facing who and the players themselves will be able to prepare better for their upcoming games.
It’s going to be a grueling schedule, 2 games a day for four days and one game on the last day – which may be the decisive game to determine the champion. WIM and WGM norms are on the line for several players.
I’m really looking forward to the championship of some of the top female players in the USA. There is a great mix of players this year. The youngest player is 15, and there is a nice spread of age/experience and playing styles. I think it’s going to be a fabulous event.
Thanks to Frank Berry for funding this year’s Women’s Championship and thanks to Susan Polgar for giving the event the exposure and publicity it deserves through this popular blog.
Janet Newton
To anon 7:26 grow up and shut up.
I’m very pleased to see Alisa Melekhina in this tournament. She’s been a rising star for several years and had a fantastic performance at the recent World Youth Games. I’m looking forward to seeing how she scores in this event.
The entire tournament field was born outside the U.S. Four players, including the top two are
from Ukraine, two are originally
from Armenia, two from Mongolia,
and one player each from Lithuania
and England.