Photo by Ilya Akhobekov, published by Chess Today
This picture was taken after the final game of the Women’s World Championship in Nalchik.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
The new champ
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I prefer this snapshot here http://www.chessbase.com/news/2008/nalchik/kosteniuk10.jpg
Can you imagine – the chinese “infant” couldn’t win a single game. Russian domination indeed!
What are the reactions of Americans who participated in Nalchik? Any commentary available?
I suppose this is one of the most convincing final match victories ever, considering the winner had not lost even a single game!
Alexandra was plain lucky.
If the tournament was played all over again, another woman would win.
I cannot find a decent picture of Alexandra as World Champion, for my newsletter and magazine. Even her website has a photo of her back turned?!
There is no shortage of pictures on her website at http://www.kosteniuk.com
Luck does play a role sometimes but it’s hard to win the championship with only luck. Kosteniuk deserve the win. I read an interesting report before round 4. Kosteniuk’s husband approached Chinese player Shen Yang and asked her to ‘kill’ Koneru. He literally used the word ‘kill’. Shen Yang failed but YiFan did the job. It felt like Kosteniuk was not afraid of anyone but Koneru.
The 2.5-1.5 score in the final is closer than the match actually was. Alexandra outplayed Hou in all four games, but the advantage was surprisingly just short of enough to win in games 2 and 3. In game 4, she had an easy, totally winning position, but opted for the perpetual because she only needed the draw to win the match. She was never in danger in any of the games and seemed to just cruise to victory. Her play in the other rounds was impressive as well.
The numbering seems to be wrong in several places I have seen:
All Women’s World Champions
1 Vera Menchik 1927–1944 Czechoslovakia / United Kingdom
2 Lyudmila Rudenko 1950–1953 Soviet Union (Ukraine)
3 Elisabeth Bykova 1953–1956 Soviet Union (Russia)
4 Olga Rubtsova 1956–1958 Soviet Union (Russia)
5 Elisabeth Bykova 1958–1962 Soviet Union (Russia)
6 Nona Gaprindashvili 1962–1978 Soviet Union (Georgia)
7 Maya Chiburdanidze 1978–1991 Soviet Union (Georgia)
8 Xie Jun 1991–1996 China
9 Susan Polgar 1996–1999 Hungary / USA
10 Xie Jun 1999–2001 China
11 Zhu Chen 2001–2004 China
12 Antoaneta Stefanova 2004–2006 Bulgaria
13 Xu Yuhua 2006–2008 China
14 Alexandra Kosteniuk 2008 Russia
I make her 12th not 14th if you count in the same way as in the men’s since Elizabeth Bykova and Xie Jun won twice.
My list would be
All Women’s World Champions
1 Vera Menchik 1927–1944 Czechoslovakia / United Kingdom
2 Lyudmila Rudenko 1950–1953 Soviet Union (Ukraine)
3 Elisabeth Bykova 1953–1956, 1958-1962 Soviet Union (Russia)
4 Olga Rubtsova 1956–1958 Soviet Union (Russia)
5 Nona Gaprindashvili 1962–1978 Soviet Union (Georgia)
6 Maya Chiburdanidze 1978–1991 Soviet Union (Georgia)
7 Xie Jun 1991–1996,1999-2001 China
8 Susan Polgar 1996–1999 Hungary / USA
9 Zhu Chen 2001–2004 China
10 Antoaneta Stefanova 2004–2006 Bulgaria
11 Xu Yuhua 2006–2008 China
12 Alexandra Kosteniuk 2008 Russia
Why count them differently to the men’s, Alekhine wasn’t 4th and 6th,
Kasparov wasn’t 16th etc.
“Kosteniuk deserve the win.”
Sure she did. It was a fair display of power and experience over pure machine-lke calculation and little understanding shown from Hou.