KO Fight

     The Women's World Championship is starting really soon (16th March) and I expect nothing less than the usual big fights, unexpected results and a lot of spectacular chess!
     I hope that one day I'll also be there, but until then, I'll settle with just following it and cheering for my friends. The tournament will take place in Sochi, under the patronage of the Russian Chess Federation. Here you can check the official page of the event: http://sochi2015.fide.com/en/main-page
     Here are the pairings for the 1st round, as well as the initial ranking list: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/8594-womens-world-championship-2015-ranking-list-a-pairings.html
     It is very difficult to predict a winner in such kind of events, especially in women's ones. I think that a lot depends on the preparation before the tournament, to concrete opponents and about the psychological approach. I find it very important to feel confident in your chess.
     The first thing that has caught my eye is that the reigning World Champion is missing- Hou Yifan. Despite this, the tournament announces to be very strong, with 10 players with 2500+ Elo:

Rank		Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
1		Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2581	0
2		Ju, Wenjun	g	CHN	2557	9
3		Muzychuk, Anna	g	UKR	2552	10
4		Cmilyte, Viktorija	g	LTU	2530	0
5		Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2529	0
6		Gunina, Valentina	g	RUS	2528	0
7		Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2527	0
8		Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2526	10
9		Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2522	12
10		Khotenashvili, Bela	g	GEO	2513	10

     Keep tuned for updates!


xoxo from Iasi ;)