Congratualtions, Irina!

Let this game be a lesson ... watch for your king's safety:

[Event "ch-USA w"]
[Site "St Louis USA"]
[Date "2010.07.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Marinello,B"]
[Black "Foisor,S"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2160"]
[BlackElo "2317"]
[EventDate "2010.07.10"]
[ECO "D04"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 c6 4. Be2 Bf5 5. O-O e6 6. c4 Bd6 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nc3 Nbd7 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd2 Qb8 11. Rac1 O-O 12. h3 Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14.
Nh4 Be6 15. Bc4 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 Nb6 17. Qe2 f5 18. g3 Qe8 19. f4 exf3 20.
Qxf3 g6 21. g4 Qe7 22. Ng2 Rae8 23. h4 Nd5 24. g5 Qe4 25. a3 f4 26. Rce1
Qd3 27. e4 Qxd2 28. exd5 Qxd4+ 29. Kh1 Qxd5 30. Rd1 Qxf3 31. Rxf3 Re6 32.
Kg1 Bc5+ 33. Kf1 Rd6 34. Re1 Rd2 35. b4 Bd6 36. Re4 Rd5 37. Ke2 Re5 38. Kd3
Rff5 39. Rc4 Kf7 40. Rfxf4 Rd5+ 41. Rfd4 Ke6 42. Ne3 Rxd4+ 43. Rxd4 Rf4 44.
Re4+ Rxe4 45. Kxe4 Bg3 46. Ng2 b5 47. Kd4 Kd6 48. Ke4 Bf2
0-1

Betsy Dynako has added a new entry to her photo blog giving her best wishes to the competitors for the 2010 US Women's Championship.

Her wishes are summed up at the end of the article as follows:
To my girlfriends: I wish you each do your best, play the fighting chess I know you are capable of, and find time to enjoy each other’s company.

Betsy includes one of my favorite photos that I'd seen before of an arm wrestling match between Irian Krush and Iryna Zenyuk (see below):


Also, in the same article Betsy kindly provides the names of the already announced participants for this year's event: Anna Zatonskih, Irina Krush, Tatev Abrahamyam, Iryna Zenyuk, Katerina Rohonyan, Sabine Foisor, Camilla Baginskaite, Alisa Melekhina, and in her US Women's Chess Championship debut Abby Marshall.

I wish them all the best of luck and while I can't really choose a favorite for the event (for a number of reasons) I can tip my hat to them all and mimic Betsy ... play the fighting chess I know you're capable of ...