You may remember the Chess Miss Universe “competition” which was quite popular last year. It was not organised by me, but I like the idea so much that I decided to organise a virtual voting for the Miss of the US Chess Women’s Championship 2010.

Here are all participants’ photos and it is up to you to chose the most beautiful one among them.

I know it is hard, but I am sure you will be able to chose and vote in the form below ;)

Let us know who should be deserved by the title Miss of the US Chess Women’s Championship 2010!

Irina Krush	Anna Zatonskih
Tatev Abrahamyan	Camilla Baginskaite
Sabina Foisor	Alisa Melekhina
Katerina Rohonyan	Iryna Zenyuk
Abby Marshall	Beatriz Marinello

All pictures are taken from the official site of the championship – http://www.uschesschamps.com/

Today the US women’s championship will start in Saint Louis. Great occasion for all chess fans in the USA, right? I am sure you watch this event closely at least on the same level as I am going to watch it.

You may remember I post polls on the blog sometimes. It is always good to know your opinion and/or to know who is your favorite player in the tournament/match.

I think, the question of today’s poll is clear – it could not be clearer :)

Voting is open until July 13rd only! Hurry and vote now! ;)

April 23rd will be the day when the world chess championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov will begin. The match will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria and consists of 12 classical games with tie-break if needed. I think the question for this month is clear for each chess fan:

Photo: lakelandlocal

Although most of us will probably not become grandmaster, we watch their matches and tournaments as they are (or they are supposed to be) inspiration for us and also a source of new ideas and knowledge. I do not cover them on this blog too much now and I would like to know your opinion. So the question for this month is:

Photo: lakelandlocal

In the previous poll on this blog, you have selected chess ending as something which most of you don’t like to study. But chess endings are also important phase of a game and this month I would like to ask you the following question:

What kind of chess ending is the most difficult for you?

Photo: lakelandlocal

In the first poll, which have been running here on ELO2000.com, I have asked readers this question: “Which part of the chess game do you study mostly?”. The results are not surprising – majority of chess players seem to study the opening phase mainly.

72% of readers have voted for the opening phase. 14% have voted for the middlegame and the same amount has voted for the endings.

There were 7 people participating in the poll. Not big number, but keep in your mind that this blog is quite fresh one.

I was expecting similar result as it seems to be natural for many chess players – to study openings at first and hoping for “catching” opponents in some traps.

But on the other side – I am not sure whether it is effectively spent time as usually we know all the opening principles, the importance of development of pieces and the most known opening tactical patterns. Would not be more useful to study another stages of a chess game?

For example – how many games did you win in the opening and how many other games did you lose in the ending which seemed to be equal?

When we want to become better chess players, we have to study. And when you think about the most significant parts of the game, you easily find three ones: openings, middle game and endings.

I would be interested in this poll in the following question:

Which part of the chess game do you study mostly?

Photo: lakelandlocal