Atalik leads in Istanbul

A special tournament is taking place in Istanbul, Turkey: strong women only. Female players >2460 Elo (or over 2400 and having a GM title) were eligible to play. After six rounds, local favorite IM Ekaterina Atalik is leading with 5/6.

The İş Bankası Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament is being held for the first time, 10-21 March 2008. The venue is the top floor of the İş Bankası Towers Complex and the prize fund is 16,000 dollar (plus appearance fee).

The organizers have shown quite some ambition:

As the chess world knows, nowadays there are legendary tournaments like Linares, Corus, Dortmund – for top men in chess. The Turkish Chess Federation, with the sponsorship of İş Bankası, wants to start a legendary tournament for women chess. The tournament will be organised every year, and the top women by invitation will be accepted in the İş Bankası - Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament.

The Chinese talent Hou Yifan had a great start with 3.5 / 4, while former world champion Zhu Chen hadn’t collected any (half) points yet by then. By winning her last two rounds, against Ushenina and Yildiz, Ekaterina Atalik took clear first.

Atatürk International | Round 6 standings

Ekaterina Atalik (2408 TUR)

Zhu Chen (2548, CHN)

Harika Dronavalli (2455, IND)

Hou Yifan (2527, CHN)

Irina Krush (2473, USA)

Anna Ushenina (2484, UKR)

Betul Cemre Yildiz (2207, TUR)

Lela Javakhishvili (2470, GEO)

Zhao Xue (2517, CHN)

Pia Cramling (2524, SWE)

Photos: Özgür Akman

Links:

• Tournament website
• Games in PGN