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Alexandra Kosteniuk reached the world women's chess finals for the second time in her career. She awaits the winner of the Humpy - Yifan match. Yifan was very close to making it to the finals but for a huge blunder in an equal position. It was a mate in ten after taking a pawn and leaving her kingside open to attack. The match is now tied at 1-1 and the players battle it over rapid, blitz, and sudden death or Armageddon games. Yifan and Humpy have shown brilliant form in this tournament except for a few slips in the last couple of rounds.

Koneru Humpy, Aleksandra Kosteniuk, Hou Yifan, and Pia Cramling reached the Semi Finals of the World Women's Chess championships being held at Nalchik, Russia. They gifted themselves a rest day since none of them have to play the tie breaks. Humpy was the most convincing of the four as she crushed Yang Shen 2-0. Pia Cramling caused a mini upset. The remaining 4 are all over 2500 and the remaining matches are expected to be strong. Quarter final results: Kosteniuk vs Ushenina 1.5-.5 Humpy vs Shen 2-0 Yifan vs Mkrtchian 1.5-.5 Cramling vs Stefanova 1.5-.5

The World Women's chess championship, which is being played on a knock out basis, has started. All the eligible Georgian players have withdrawn in protest. Some other players have also backed out. Most of the favorities including Humpy advanced although one of the favorities, Marie Sebag faced an embarassing exit at the hands of lowly rated Anna Gasik. Official site: http://nalchik2008.fide.com

This is my favorite list of players to watch at this year's Corus Chess tournament. What's yours, any suggestions ? I'll soon be adding the reasons to the players names. GM Group A Anand vs Kramnik - a preview of the titanic struggle later in the year ! Magnus Carlsen - can he start this year like he ended the last one ? Veselin Topalov - a bit forgotten last year. This is his chance, right ? GM Group B Ivan Cheparinov - How about Topalov winning the A Group and Cheparinov the B ? Nigel Short - His first real chance to start climbing up. Come on, Short. Koneru Humpy - Her chance to make an impression in an elite men's tournament. Hou Yifan - Can she hold her own against such a strong field ? Stellwagen (for locals) - Time to move up and take the place of veterans in Holland. GM Group C Fabiano Caruana - Top favorite to win the C and try for the B next year. Parimarjan Negi - Other prodigies have left you behind. Wake up, you can do it ! John van der Wiel - Show the kids...

The GM Group B is by no means less interesting. There are super Grand Masters, dangerous floaters, and teenagers looking to break through. Bacrot, Cheparinov, Short are very strong and will go all out. Humpy is riding on her successful year 2007. She needs to be watched. In fact Humpy - Yifan is a potential future rivalry. Yifan must have done some serious work the last few months. She's gained heavily in the January ratings list, so lets see if she can put up a fight, even though the opposition is pretty strong for her. Nepomniachtchi and Stellwagen need to be watched carefully. GM Group B GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2695 GM Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2673 GM Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2670 GM Sergey Movsesian SLK 2670 GM Pentala Harikrishna IND 2668 GM Michal Krasenkow POL 2668 GM Nigel Short ENG 2649 GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2639 GM Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2611 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2606 GM Erwin L’Ami NED 2577 GM Jan Smeets NED 2558 WGM Hou Yifan CHI 2502 IM Wouter Spoelman NED 2445

A preview of the January ratings and a few observations I made. I'm not yet sure if the World Cup results will be included. If yes, then a lot of other changes are possible. Kramnik and Anand will probably be tied for the World No.1 position. Big loser on points, no marks here for the correct guess, yes, Ivanchuk losing more than 30 pts (has already started to make up for it, though) Topalov moves to clear third with 2780. Mamedyarov gains smart points and he is likely to be fourth on the list. Big movers up - Karjakin, Cheparinov, Svidler and Carlsen. Sasikiran moves up a bit. Among the ladies, Koneru Humpy is inching up on Judit Polgar, even though she is not yet a match in class. She will be at 2612. Polgar loses a couple of points. Hou Yifan gains impressively.

Koneru Humpy is already a strong Grand Master of chess in the open section (including men). Her rating has soared to 2606. She is set to rise even higher in the January 2008 ratings list to be announced shortly. She expresses her views on her chess and how she would prefer to play in the men's team than the women's teams. Interview on latestchess - http://latestchess.com/showInterview.php?id=7