Alexandra Kosteniuk is the World Women's Champ

Kosteniuk won the title from 14 year old Hou Yifan, who was under tremendous pressure of expectations of the billion plus Chinese citizens.

Kosteniuk completely dominated the finals and was in winning positions in all the four games. It is redemption in a way since Kosteniuk tasted defeat in one of her earlier attempts at winning the title. Yifan will almost definitely get several shots at the title provided she is interested. For all you know, she'll probably be seen in more Open events than women only events.

World women's championship results:

Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Hou Yifan 2.5-1.5

Li Shilong leads at Groningen

The Chess Festival at Groningen, The Netherlands has started. Li Shilong is creating waves with a 100 % score after the first three rounds in the Harmonie A section.

World Junior champion Ahmed Adly of Egypt is also participating. He is currently lying at the 10 th position.

Standings after 3 rounds

1 GM Li, Shilong 3.0 CHN
2 GM Banikas, Hristos 2.5 GRE
3 GM Halkias, Stelios 2.5 GRE
4 GM Nijboer, Friso 2.5 NED
5 GM Ernst, Sipke 2.5 NED
6 IM Brandenburg, Daan 2.5 NED
7 IM Hoffmann, Michael 2.5 GER
8 GM Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios 2.0 GRE
9 GM Reinderman, Dimitri 2.0 NED
10 GM Adly, Ahmed 2.0 EGY

CIUDAD DE PAMPLONA - Round 1 and Round 2 Pairings

The first round of the CIUDAD DE PAMPLONA tournament started with a well-deserved win for veteran Alexander Beliavsky against Gabriel Sargissian. Beliavsky capitalized on an early advantage to prevail against Sargissian. The other winner was local favorite Francisco Vallejo Pons against the last seed, Ibragim Khamrakulov. Top seed Wang Yue of China was held to a draw by promising Maxim Rodshtein of Israel.

CIUDAD DE PAMPLONA - MAGISTRAL Round 1 on 2007/12/22

SNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg

1 GM WANG, Yue 2703 ½ - ½ GM RODSHTEIN, Maxim 2615
2 GM KHAMRAKULOV, Ibragim S 2604 0 - 1 GM VALLEJO PONS, Francisco 2660
3 GM JOBAVA, Baadur 2644 ½ - ½ GM MOVSESIAN, Sergei 2670
4 GM BELIAVSKY, Alexander G 2646 1 - 0 GM SARGISSIAN, Gabriel 2673

Round 2 Pairings 2007/12/23

GM RODSHTEIN, Maxim 2615 - GM SARGISSIAN, Gabriel 2673
GM MOVSESIAN, Sergei 2670 - GM BELIAVSKY, Alexander G 2646
GM VALLEJO PONS, Francisco 2660 - GM JOBAVA, Baadur
GM WANG, Yue 2703 - GM KHAMRAKULOV, Ibragim S 2604