|
Thursday, 08 December 2011 |
What about our women players?
Recently, women's chess has been totally unpredictable. However, World champion Hou Yifan from China has been showing some great form. She totally demolished her opponents during Grand-Prix tourneys and she easily defended her title in the November match against Humpy Koneru. 
She will play at home – it’s another cause to believe in her success but maybe the fatigue of playing so many games throughout the year may shown on her form in these events.
Also, there are 2 former world champions – Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria and Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia who will definitely try to show their best in this competition. “Eti” and “Sasha”, as they are affectionately known, by the way, were the winners of the 1-st Mind Games in 2008 – in the blitz and rapid events respectively.
Let’s not forget about Anna Muzychuk – she had a great performance in Halkidiki, Greece where she scored again a GM norm and demolished her opposition.
Nana Dzagnidze, Katerina Lahno, Ju Wenjun and Viktoria Cmilyte are also extremely strong players and have been showing constant improvement to become leaders in the world ranking.
Women’s chess in general tends to be very combative and we will definitely see a large number of fighting games with very interesting play.
Really, we will see a show – but it will be a fantastic and even dramatic show with huge stakes, which are not limited to money.
|
