Moscow Open

WGM/IM Salome Melia (GEO 2431), whom Goddesschess sponsored playing in the 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship, is participating in the Moscow Open "C" Tournament, which is restricted to women.  140 players registered for the C event!  Here are the chess femmes rated 2300 and above:

1 WGM Ju Wenjun 2512 CHN

2 GM Zhao Xue 2504 CHN
3 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2484 GER
4 WFM Gunina Valentina 2448 RUS
5 IM Romanko Marina 2433 RUS
6 IM Melia Salome 2431 GEO
7 WGM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2427 MGL
8 IM Matveeva Svetlana 2391 RUS
9 WGM Kovanova Baira 2384 RUS
10 WGM Galojan Lilit 2374 ARM
11 WGM Bodnaruk Anastasia 2372 RUS
12 WGM Iljushina Olga 2367 RUS
13 WGM Girya Olga 2365 RUS
14 WIM Severiukhina Zoja 2357 RUS
15 WGM Manakova Maria 2346 SRB
16 WGM Grabuzova Tatiana 2345 RUS
17 WGM Demina Julia 2344 RUS
18 WGM Burtasova Anna 2332 RUS
19 Pustovoitova Daria 2319 RUS
20 WGM Kashlinskaya Alina 2315 RUS
21 WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2306 IRI
22 WIM Shumilina Alexandra 2300 RUS

I do not like that the official website has NO current standings listed.  Trying to figure out standings based solely on the Results page is baloney - do the organizers not have a computer program to do this?  Geez, guys! 

From what I can tell (which isn't much), from the results page, after Round 5 Melia, playing on Board 2 with white against WGM Tatiana Grabuzova, drew the game, and she now has 4.5 points.  But so do a hell of a lot of other players, if I am reading this "results" table correctly (not at all sure about that!) 

It seems that perhaps GM Xue Zhao is now in first place with 5.0/6, and IM Marina Romanko and WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan also have a share of first with 5.0/6 -- hmmm, maybe I'll just wait for the final cross-table to come out, LOL!

GM Hou Yifan (CHN 2590) is playing in the "A" Tournament (starting rank 34). As far as I could tell during one swift perusal of the starting players' list, she is one of only 3 women in the 187 player field.  The other two intrepid chess femmes in this event are 119 WGM Savina Anastasia 2407 RUS and 159 WIM Vasilkova Svetlana 2332 RUS.

Hmmm, Hou Yifan is not having a good event thus far - 2.0 after 6 rounds, having lost behind the white pieces to an untitled, player who came into the Tournament ranked 108th to her 34th.  Oh my.
42 34 GM Hou Yifan 2Ѕ 0 - 1 2Ѕ Belous Vladimir 108