( 21May - 8Jun, 2004 ) Elista, Russia
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| ( 21May - 8Jun, 2004 ) Elista, Russia |
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The first woman to beat me at chess, back in the 70s, was Tracey Browne - a protégé of C.J.S. Purdy. I managed to avoid women for more than ten years after that until Zsuzsa (now Susan) Polgar came to Sydney and thrashed me in a simul at the Hakoah Club. This year I lost to WIM Nancy Lane in the WSGM Lightning and 12 year-old Angela Song in the Sydney Grade matches. Even my own daughter, Carrie, conspired to humiliate me in the Rooty Hill Rapid in May. So don’t tell me women can’t play chess.
(I’ve remained happily married for the past 45 years only because Lynne doesn’t play.)
 Alexandra Kosteniuk Russia's top woman player and one of the early favourites to win this event, Alexandra is seen here with Vassily & Mrs. Smyslov at the opening of the Russian Men's Superfinal. She was awarded the Men's GM title after the Calvia Olympiad. |
The qualifiers for the Women's World Championship at Elista this year were 64 of the strongest women in the world. (Missing from the field were the Polgar sisters, Hungary, and Women's World Champion Zhu Chen, China.) The field included 4 GMs , 22 WGMs and 22 IMs. Three women (Humpy Koneru, Alisa Galliamova & Maia Chiburdanidze) were rated over 2500 with another 22 above 2400.
Commencing on May 22 the Championship was run as a knock-out competition with five rounds and a final.
By round 4 only 8 women were left. Humpy Koneru d. Yuhua Xu, Antoaneta Stefanova d. Nana Dzagnidze, Maya Chiburdanidze d. Viktorija Cmilyte & Ekaterina Kovalevskaya d. Ketino Kachiani-G.
Round 5 saw top seed Humpy Koneru beaten in a play off by Ekaterina Kovalevskaya while Antoaneta Stefanova eliminated Maia Chiburdanidze.
Stefanova won convincingly in the final, beating Kovalevskaya 2.5-.5.
-- Report: David Evans
 Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria)
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