Tatev Abrahamyan Tops Star-Studded Isolated Queens II and Wins Best Game Prize

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan topped the second edition of Isolated Queens, an all female blitz tournament on chess.com, hosted in partnership with US Chess Women and BotezLive. The event drew over 50 titled players and 100 participants from five continents. The broadcast topped over 10,000 simultaneous viewers between the official channel hosted by Jennifer Shahade and Alexandra Botez while 40 streamers called the action live on their own channels, including US Chess's top female players: GM Irina Krush: twitch.tv/ikrush83 IM Anna Zatonskih: twitch.tv/azchess WGM Sabina Foisor: twitch.tv/sabinafoisor  IM Carissa Yip: twitch.tv/carissayip  WGM Jennifer Yu: twitch.tv/jenniferRYu WIM Thalia Cervantes: twitch.tv/thalithali26 

Tatev  earned gold on tiebreak while tying for first with three others, including Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, the champion of our first edition of Isolated Queens. Grandmaster Irina Krush and WGM Maria Gergovyan also scored 8/10 to earn a share of the first place prize money. IM Elisabeth Paehtz also joined the top prize winners circle after a last round server error caused her to lose on time despite no connection issues on her side. We decided to boost the prize fund to give Paehtz an equivalent share.

Juga of jugamusica.com, a recent guest on Ladies Knight, added her star power to the event by streaming on her new twitch channel, as we played her thematic song, "Isolated Pawn" in event breaks. Another Ladies Knight guest, Charlotte Clymer, also played and over-performed her rating to score 5/10 and top her rating class. Many players from our weekly BotezLive matches got in the mix, including Chelsie Monica from Indoensia and Sveta Demchenko from Canada.

Tatev also received a bonus prize for her crucial victory over Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, deemed the best game of the event by Grandmaster Robert Hess, who donated $250 in best game prizes.

[pgn] [Event "Live Chess"] [Date "2020.05.02"] [Round "?"] [White "axvesik"] [Black "ChessQueen"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "2508"] [BlackElo "2700"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 Re8+ 9. Ne2 h5 10. Be3 Nd7 11. O-O-O Nf8 12. c4 Be6 13. Nc3 Rc8 14. Kb1 Ng6 15. Rhe1 b5 16. cxb5 cxb5 17. Bxb5 Re7 18. Qa4 Rec7 19. Ne4 f5 20. d5 fxe4 21. dxe6 Qe7 22. Bd7 Rb8 23. Qxe4 Be5 24. Bd4 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 Kh7 26. Qf5 Rc5 27. Qxf7 Qg5 28. e7 Re5 29. Rxe5 Qxe5 30. Qd5 Qe1+ 31. Rd1 Qe2 32. b3 Nxe7 33. Qd3+ Qxd3+ 34. Rxd3 Kh6 35. f3 Ng6 36. Rd6 Kg5 37. Rd5+ Kh6 38. Bf5 Nf4 39. Rd6+ Kg5 40. Be4 Ne2 41. g3 h4 42. Rg6+ Kh5 43. g4# 1-0 [/pgn]

You can watch the full replay of the event by  Tatev on her twitch channel at Tatev_A. Popular streamer and twitter personality GolddustTori  earned 2nd place best game prize for a win over a WCM. Hess said, "I thought the win was quite clean and she has shown tremendous strides since she started playing chess. She demonstrated a strong understanding and never had a worse position."

[pgn] [Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2020.05.02"] [Round "?"] [White "PolinaKarelina"] [Black "golddusttori"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "1702"] [BlackElo "1496"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. c3 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. O-O O-O 8. b4 Be7 9. b5 Na5 10. Nxe5 Nxc4 11. Nxc4 Bf6 12. Qc2 Bf5 13. Rd1 Re8 14. h3 a6 15. bxa6 Rxa6 16. Ne3 Nxe3 17. Bxe3 Rd6 18. Na3 Rxd3 19. Rxd3 Qxd3 20. Qxd3 Bxd3 21. Rc1 Rd8 22. Bf4 c6 23. f3 Rd5 24. Nb1 Bxb1 25. Rxb1 Bxc3 26. Rxb7 Rd1+ 27. Kh2 h6 28. Rb8+ Kh7 29. Ra8 c5 30. a4 Bd4 31. a5 Ra1 32. a6 c4 33. a7 g5 34. Bd2 c3 35. Bxc3 Bxc3 36. Kg3 Bd4 0-1 [/pgn]

The final best game prize went to Andreea Navrotescu for this upset victory over IM Carissa Yip.

[pgn] [Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2020.05.02"] [Round "?"] [White "andy_rekt"] [Black "Magician4MA"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "2213"] [BlackElo "2465"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Nge2 d6 6. Ng3 e5 7. d5 c6 8. Be2 cxd5 9. cxd5 a6 10. h4 h5 11. Bg5 b5 12. Bxh5 gxh5 13. Nxh5 Bh8 14. Qf3 Nbd7 15. Rh3 Bg7 16. Rg3 Nxh5 17. Bxd8 Nxg3 18. Be7 Re8 19. Bxd6 b4 20. Bxb4 Rb8 21. Ba3 Nh1 22. O-O-O Nb6 23. b3 Bg4 24. Qxg4 Nxf2 25. Qg3 Nxd1 26. Kxd1 Kh7 27. Bc1 Nd7 28. Qg5 Nf8 29. Qf5+ Kg8 30. h5 Rb6 31. Qh3 Kh7 32. g4 Rc8 33. g5 Rc7 34. h6 Bh8 35. Qf5+ Ng6 36. Ne2 Rb8 37. Ba3 Rd8 38. Bb4 Kg8 39. Ba5 Ne7 40. Qf3 Rcd7 41. Bxd8 Rxd8 42. Qc3 Rc8 43. Qb4 Ng6 44. Qd6 1-0[/pgn]

Major thanks to our donors, Ian "Maprail" Silverstone, Richard and Barbara Schiffrin, Open Field Media and GM Robert Hess. Additional thanks to everyone who donated on twitch or using our online form. This event was played on chess.com and hosted at twitch.tv/botezlive and also raised money for our US Chess Women Programs, as well as Online Education. If you'd like to join a future Thursday night girls club class with guests such as Alexandra Botez, Carissa Yip and Tatev Abrahamyan, email Click here to show email address and include your child's Member ID and name.  Isolated Queens was also featured on Deadspin,  FIDE's most recent newsletter and in an article by WIM Dr. Alexey Root.