February Holidays

Only two among the first ten female players in the world have accepted the invitation to take part in the 1st Cairns Cup, the inaugural élite women’s chess super-tournament hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and named after co-founder Jeanne Sinquefield (nee Cairns), to be held from February 5–16, 2019 in Saint Louis, United States. Namely, they are Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (Russia) (No. 7), and Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) (No. 9). Indeed, the weight of absences is far heavier than that of presences: 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) (China) (No. 1), 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) (China) (No. 2), Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno (Russia) (No. 3), Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (Ukraine) (No. 4), Humpy Koneru (India) (No. 5), Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk (Ukraine) (No. 6), Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (Russia) (No. 8), and 谭中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) (No. 10) won’t actually be playing the inaugural Cairns Cup. The reasons of such a “political” short circuit appear far from obvious, and it can’t but be noted that whole countries got wiped from the American board. Notwithstanding it is the first time in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis’ history that such a women’s super-tournament takes place, so it may be worth adding that, besides Kosteniuk and Dzagnidze, eight “high-rated” female players will join the race as well: Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina (Russia), Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia), Marie Rachel Sebag (France), Dronavalli Harika (India), Zhansaya Daniyarovna Abdumalik (Kazakhstan), Elisabeth Pähtz (Germany), Irina Borisivna Krush (United States), and Anna Vitalievna Zatonskih (United States). For further details and information please visit: https://www.uschesschamps.com/. The Chinese Chess Association, on its part, promptly picked up the gauntlet and announced a two-game rapid match (25+10) between 17th Women’s World Chess Champion 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) and Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno that is going to be taking place on February 10–12 in 北京 (Běijīng), China.