IM Irina Krush - 2007 U.S. Women's Champion!

It went down to the wire, but in the end, IM Irina Krush stood alone atop the ten-player field to claim the title of 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Champion. In the nine-round event, she won five games and drew her remaining four, for a total of 7 points. WGM Katerina Rohonyan was the only other undefeated player, finishing a half-point behind Irina, and tied with IM Anna Zatonskih, last year's Women's Champion.

The final standings are as follows:

1 Irina Krush 7
2-3 Anna Zatonskih 6½
2-3 Katerina Rohonyan 6½
4 Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 5½
5 Tsagaan Battsetseg 5
6-7 Alisa Melekhina 4
6-7 Camilla Baginskaite 4
7-8 Tatev Abrahamyan 3½
9 Elizabeth Vicary 2½
10 Chouchanik Airapetian ½

The tournament website contains a wealth of information. Round-by-round photos by Betsy Dynako can be viewed here and the games, in .pgn format, can be downloaded here.

Congratulations to all of the competitors in this hard-fought event. Players Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Tatev Abrahamyan and Alisa Melekhina have appeared in my Scholastic Chess ChessCafe columns as scholastic players, and Elizabeth Vicary is a teacher and chess coach at I.S. 318 who has also appeared in recent columns. You can find her frequently within the pages of Chess Life and online at Chess Life Online.