Women's World Chess Championship 2008

Knockout System

The championship was held by knockout system . In each round, except for the final, the participants played two games (four in the final). In the event of a tie, two rapid chess games were played (four for the final); if according to their results there was a tie an additional game was appointed with less time for black. The right to choose the color of the figures was played by lot. If a draw was also fixed in this game, Black went to the next round.

Time Control

• Standard games : 90 minutes for the first forty moves, then 30 minutes until the end of the game with 30 seconds added for each move.
• Quick games : 25 minutes with 10 seconds added per turn
• Blitz : 5 minutes plus 10 seconds after each move
• Seventh game : white - 6 minutes, black - 5 minutes (without extra time).

Initially, the participation of 64 chess players was planned:

List

Letter from Georgian Chess

The tournament was complicated due to the outbreak of armed conflict in South Ossetia on the night of August 8, 2008 . An open letter was sent by the Georgian chess players (Maya Chiburdanidze, Leyla Javakhishvili, Sopio Gvetadze, Nino Khurtsidze, Maya Lomineishvili, Sofiko Khukhashvili) to the organizers of the World Cup, expressing concern about the proximity of the venue to the conflict zone and demanding the tournament be rescheduled “to safer place. " This letter was also supported by Irina Krush (USA), Ivetta Reilich, Anna Gasik, Monika Sotsko (all from Poland), Claudia Amur (Argentina), Ketino Gershinska-Kahiani, Elizabeth Petz (both from Germany), Thea Lanchava (Netherlands) ^{[1 ]} .

Despite the security guarantees given by FIDE President K.N. Ilyumzhinov , and his open letter to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili , Georgian representatives still refused to participate in the World Cup. They were supported by some chess players from other countries ^[2] . Thus, the championship lost 11 participants. Athletes who refused to participate in the championship were counted defeats ^[3] .

Round 1 (1/32 Finals)

• Timeline : August 29 - 31
• Number of Participants : 53
• Parties played : 64

The main surprise of the first round (judging by the rating) was the defeat of Natalia Zhukova from Ekaterina Rogonyan . Having lost the first game by White ^[4] , in response the representative of Ukraine was able to recoup, but Rogonyan was stronger at the tie-break.

There was a controversial situation in the first round. In the seventh, decisive game between Monica Sotsko and Sabina Foyshor, the Romanian chess player playing black has expired . However, the chief referee of the championship, based on the position on the board, decided that the game ended in a draw. Sotsko, who with this decision dropped out of the rally, filed an appeal, and the appeal committee took her side, reversing the decision of the chief arbiter. The Polish chess player advanced to the next round ^[5] .

Round 2 (1/16 finals)

• Timeline : September 1 - 3
• Number of participants : 30
• Parties played : 38

In the second round, the current world champion Xu Yuhua lost to Svetlana Matveeva and dropped out of the tournament. Interestingly, according to Matveyeva herself, in the second installment of this confrontation there was a moment when the representative of Russia wanted to surrender ^[6] . Still continuing the game, the Russian chess player was able to finish her draw and go to the next round.

Round 3 (1/8 finals)

• Timeline : September 4 - 6
• Number of participants : 16
• Parties played : 22

At the end of the third round, it became clear that one of the participants in the World Cup finals will represent Europe , and the other - Asia .

Round 4 (Quarter Final)

• Timeline : September 7 - 8
• Number of participants : 8
• Parties played : 8

In this round, parties with classical time control were enough for all the participants to identify the strongest.

Round 5 (Semifinal)

• Timeline : September 10 - 12
• Number of participants : 4
• Parties played : 8

At this stage, the rating favorite of the tournament Hampi Koneru from India dropped out of the fight for the champion title.

Round 6 (Final)

• Timeline : September 14-17
• Number of participants : 2
• Parties played : 4

The Russian chess player won black the first game of the final round, the 3 remaining meetings with classical time control ended in a draw. Thus, Alexandra Kosteniuk became the 12th world chess champion.

• Official site