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The match between Nadezhda Kosintseva and Anna Ushenina was very up-and-down. In the first game Anna got a comfortable position as Black, but then blundered  in time trouble. Nadezhda failed to capitalize on her opponent's mistake. Furthermore, she went for a move repetition in a position where Black was at risk. What an upset! In the second game the Ukrainian player dominated. Russia is not getting the women's chess crown this time...
 

The other three match-ups were decided on tie-breaks.While watching the broadcast, Natalia Pogonina expressed an opinion that the current system of determining the Women's World Chess Champion is seriously flawed. The quality of the games was absolutely terrible; the only factor that mattered was nerves. The Russian Women's Chess Champion believes that it's better to hold a double round robin featuring the top female players as opposed to organizing knock-out WWCC events.
 

Marie Sebag had excellent chances to qualify for the next round in classical time control chess. However, she missed it and lost the rapid tie-break 0-2.
 

The highest-rated player remaining, Zhao Xue, was defeated by Harika Dronavalli in game 1 of the rapid chess and wasn't able to strike back - a draw.
 

The most tense match was the confrontation between the Chinese players. Ju Wenjun overcame Huang Qian only in 10-minute games. Youth prevailed over experience this time.
 

The semi-finals:

Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) - Ju Wenjun (China)

Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) - Harika Dronavalli (India)

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I love reading old chess magazines, ranging from archaic to the ones that were released 5-10 years ago. They tell us about promising chess stars who have a bright future. Some of them have eventually become top grandmasters, while others are members of the inactive club and haven't reached any great heights. Some of the people who were, let's say, #10 in a certain junior championship, are now rated 2700+, while the champion is no longer playing. What happened? How are they doing now?
 

At some point there were two world champions and the strongest chess player in the world. So many discussions and negotiations have been held over where to play, whom to play, why to play, for how much. Fortunately, now there is only one chess king. Oh, sorry, there is also the #1-rated player...
 

Olympic records. 100 teams. 120 teams. Now we have over 150. Progress! Meanwhile, chess was expected to become part of the Olympics in the beginning of the third millenium. Then in 2008. Are we there yet?
 

People were arguing whether computers will ever be able to play on par with humans. Many respondents were saying no or expecting it to happen much later. One person mentioned an amusing argument: if the vendors were confident in their machines, they would install special chess game machines in casinos. The speaker forgot that casinos attrach people who think they are lucky, while no luck will suffice against the modern merciless chess engines...
 

Birthday anniversaries. Some of the heroes of the past have been neglected or have died, others are still with us.
 

Assumed inflation of chess ratings and lack of understanding of the subject. Resentment over the top-100 threshold approaching 2600, while 2600 used to be an elite mark. Now to be in the top-100 one has to be at least 2650+. However, if you take a look at the number of rated players back then and now, you will come to a different conclusions. How many people were playing chess for a living in, for example, 1970? What was the playing strength of grandmasters in the pre-engine era?
 

Financial problems of the Russian Chess Federation. Desperate searches for sponsors. Luckily, there are many of them now. 
 

Analysis with references to opinions of humans. Nowadays people often mention the engine & depth to prove their opinion. Most elegant moves can be found by anybody, as long as he has a powerful PC and the top software.
 

Articles about playing chess by e-mail, using ICQ and Skype, registering at chess portals. Some of the playing zones have perished (FIDE zone, Kasparov Chess Club), but new leaders have emerged - Chess.com, ChessCube and the like.
 

Striking asexuality.  Paraphrasing a well-known expression about the USSR, we can say that there is no sex in chess. But wouldn't it be nice to take a look at photo sessions of attractive female chess players? For example, when I was the editor-in-chief of the "Debate in the CIS" magazine, we used to have a special section featuring images of "debate sex symbols", both female and male. Some of the significant others of those "sex symbols" had been threatening to  commit physical violence against me, but at least it was fun. Why not try this idea in chess? GM Kevin Spraggett doesn't limit himself to chess players only.
 

P.S. Recently an old friend of mine mentioned that he had given away at leasy 50 issues of chess magazines to his former coach. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that?!" - he wondered. "If it took you so long to realize it, then maybe someone else needs tham more than you?" - I replied.
 

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