Awesome Chicks You've Never Heard of - Chess Forums - Page 2

superchessmachine

Jan 3, 2019

0

#21

Perhaps a better point of focus is this exceptional player:

Joey9999

Jan 3, 2019

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#22

AlisonHart wrote:

Women's chess is the subject of a lot of unhappy conversations in the chess world. There's a stigma from the male side that one shouldn't be interested in "weak" players merely because of their gender. There's a stigma from the female side that we want to be represented by world-class GMs like Hou Yifan rather than Olympic class IMs like Elisabeth Paetz.

In all of this noise about women in chess and what it means about the truth of gender in the world at large, our community has lost sight of the best and most interesting part: The chess itself and a group of professional players that - for the most part - labor in obscurity.

I want to begin a series on these lesser known players and their lesser known games. They have a lot of beauty to show us and a lot of lessons to teach.

Beginning with:

IM MERI ARABIDZE

Roughly the fourth strongest woman from the nation of Georgia, Meri's style matches her expression - muted but intense. A positional player who loves innovating in various sidelines and proving the power of knights over bishops. You rarely find her at the top of the score-board, but she's always there in the middle, often performing above her ELO.

Here's a nice little win by Meri at the recent World Rapid tournament:

How long is she gonna take on her 1st move????

AussieMatey

Jan 3, 2019

0

#23

I'd like to wish her a Meri Christmas.

AlisonHart

Jan 5, 2019

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#24

IM ZHANSAYA ABDUMALIK

A young prodigy from Kazakhstan, 18 year old Zhansaya Abdumalik has been building a quiet buzz in the junior world for several years, but the larger chess world had barely heard of her.....until 2018 when she went several brackets deep into the hellish women's knockout championship, taking Grandmaster Mariya Muzychuk all the way to the last blitz game before finally succumbing. When all was said in the Women's World Rapid, she was only half a point behind the winner, Ju Wenjun. Quite a showing for this 'mere' International Master.

Zhansaya is an attacking player - not a tactical player, not an aggressive player, an ATTACKER. She learned at a very young age that checkmate ends the game, and her chess doesn't have a subtle bone in its body. But what it lacks in refinement, it makes up in pure chutzpah. Which brings me to the game!

Some years ago, I watched a nature documentary in which a pack of orca fought a mother whale and ate her calf. All they did was bump the whale: Bop, bop, bop - one by one, over and over for hours until she cracked....exhaustion, hurt, and terror caused her to separate from her calf for just a moment....and the orca carried it away in a gush of blood.

This game takes place at the end of day 2 of the World Rapid. The tournament is led by Ju Wenjun, but a dozen or so GMs are still within striking distance along with two IMs: Meri Arabidze and Zhansaya Abdumalik.....they're paired against one another. With such a long day behind them and another day still ahead, we can, perhaps, forgive a little bit of fatigue; Meri seems to want to draw this game and go to the hotel for some much deserved rest. Tomorrow, she'll be fighting GMs. But her opponent is determined to win every game by checkmate - white or black, first round or last. The game itself is quite a dramatic, blunder-filled adventure, but it reminded me of the hungry orca: Bumping mother whale until her spirit broke.

autobunny

Jan 5, 2019

0

#25

Looks like she's playing an accordion 😀

wollyhood

Jan 11, 2019

0

#26

Yes lol was wondering when the obligatory **** comments would start. Thanks for the threads and new names to look up Alison

zhasweghz

Jan 12, 2019

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#27

wtf

zhasweghz

Jan 12, 2019

0

#28

I'm quite impressed

wollyhood

Jan 13, 2019

0

#29

Joey9999 wrote:

AlisonHart wrote:

Women's chess is the subject of a lot of unhappy conversations in the chess world. There's a stigma from the male side that one shouldn't be interested in "weak" players merely because of their gender. There's a stigma from the female side that we want to be represented by world-class GMs like Hou Yifan rather than Olympic class IMs like Elisabeth Paetz.

In all of this noise about women in chess and what it means about the truth of gender in the world at large, our community has lost sight of the best and most interesting part: The chess itself and a group of professional players that - for the most part - labor in obscurity.

I want to begin a series on these lesser known players and their lesser known games. They have a lot of beauty to show us and a lot of lessons to teach.

Beginning with:

IM MERI ARABIDZE

Roughly the fourth strongest woman from the nation of Georgia, Meri's style matches her expression - muted but intense. A positional player who loves innovating in various sidelines and proving the power of knights over bishops. You rarely find her at the top of the score-board, but she's always there in the middle, often performing above her ELO.

Here's a nice little win by Meri at the recent World Rapid tournament:

How long is she gonna take on her 1st move????

And yet she won the game, so what's your point.

AlisonHart

Jan 28, 2019

0

#30

IM Lela Javakhishvili

Information on Lela Javakhisvili is a rare commodity on the World Wide Web; she was born in 1984, began playing tournament chess in 1996, and has been collecting wins at a steady pace every since. Her wikipedia article is bare, there are almost no interviews with her, and - in general - this is a person who either does not want to be known or has not been significantly enough on the radar (in English, at least).

But this thread isn't about exhaustive biographical research, and - although I can't find much about her personal life - her chess games are widely available for all to see