Five of the players are in the photo, do you know who they all are? (answer below)
So here is the cross-table (after the first meeting between the players) at the half-way stage:
| Standing | Title | Name | Country | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Total |
| 1 | GM | Kateryna Lahno | UKR | 2539 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11.5 |
| 2 | GM | Antoaneta Stefanova | BUL | 2551 | 0 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | = | 1 | = | 1 | = | 0 | 0 | 10.5 |
| 3 | GM | Tatiana Kosintseva | RUS | 2573 | 0 | 0 | X | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9.5 |
| 4 | WGM | Valentina Gunina | RUS | 2465 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 5 | GM | Humpy Koneru | IND | 2593 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | = | 1 | 9 |
| 6 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk | RUS | 2524 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | = | = | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 7 | IM | Irina Gaponenko | UKR | 2469 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | = | 1 | 0 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 8 | IM | Anna Muzychuk | SLO | 2535 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | = | X | = | 0 | = | 0 | = | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 | GM | Marie Sebag | FRA | 2499 | = | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | = | X | 1 | 0 | = | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.5 |
| 10 | IM | Irina Krush | USA | 2490 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | = | 7 |
| 11 | IM | Almira Skripchenko | FRA | 2464 | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | 0 | = | = | 1 | 1 | X | 0 | = | 1 | 1 | = | 6.5 |
| 12 | GM | Nadezhda Kosintseva | RUS | 2565 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | 1 | = | 0 | 1 | X | 1 | 0 | = | 1 | 6 |
| 13 | IM | Mariya Muzychuk | UKR | 2464 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | = | 1 | 0 | = | 0 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5 |
| 14 | WGM | Nazi Paikidze | GEO | 2376 | 0 | = | 0 | 1 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 15 | GM | Natalia Zhukova | UKR | 2499 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | X | 1 | 5 |
| 16 | WGM | Vera Nebolsina | RUS | 2360 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | = | = | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 4 |
The prize fund of 50,000€ for the final will be divided as follows:
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | 10 000 € |
| 2nd | 8 000 € |
| 3rd | 6 000 € |
| 4th | 5 000 € |
| 5th | 4 500 € |
| 6th | 4 000 € |
| 7th | 3 500 € |
| 8th | 2 500 € |
| 9th | 1 500 € |
| 10th-12th | 1 000 € |
| 13th-16th places | 500 € |
The second (and final) series of fifteen games will take place tomorrow at 15.00 (Moscow time). Note the starting times in other major cities:
Paris 1pm
London 12 noon
New York 7am
Los Angeles 4am
In the video (courtesy of Europe Echecs) Irina Krush describes her feelings after winning the semi-final (some of the commentary is in french).
For more information go to the Official site
You can also follow the games live: Official site
The five women in the photo are Gaponenko, Skripchenko, Kosteniuk, Zhukova and Stefanova.
