Was so excited to see this...I wish the final table had been live streaming...maybe it was, but I could not find it...Does anyone know if there are plans to televise this final table?

Almira Skripchenko (finished 2nd) and Dinara Khaziyeva (finished 6th).....Almira is one of the top female chess players in the world (plays for France) and Dinara is also internationally ranked (plays for Canada). I have met/run into Almira a few times at WSOP in Vegas and at EPT Barcelona...and I really respect her approach to the game. She has very methodical and diligent way, that obviously carries over from chess...
I also know her husband, also a chess player for France (obvious chess background myself) and he plays poker as well, but I'm pretty sure Almira takes it more seriously than he does

Just really, really happy for these girls and really think we will be seeing much, much more of Almira in the future...she is definitely one to watch...

I completely missed this and hope it gets televised at some point even though it probably won't be.

There seems to be an increasing amount of crossover between poker and chess, which really isn't all that surprising, but fwiw I think it's mostly a one-way street. We see more and more chess players taking up poker but we don't necessarily see more poker players taking up chess.

Congrats Almira and Dinara!

HiFi, you should have read about the epic durr chess matches!

These aren't exactly the women I would consider celebrities, were the invitations intentionally sent out that way?

LOL. Yea, IMO the first major "crossover" of chess players to poker started around 2002-2004...I know of a lot (myself included) that made this exodus from the chess world into poker (Ylon Scwartz excluded...he's been in chess & poker for like 20 years lol).

I saw Jen Shahade's interview from PCA on PokerStars TV, and she brings up a really good point; that chess players have been practicing this type of strategic, analytical, logical thought process in which we analyze/constantly refute certain lines of play, from a very young age. So I def think it gives the chess players a leg-up when it comes to poker.

Wondering the same thing...I know that it was for charity...and that only 6 spots paid, but was it open to everyone? I will try to find out.

Usually true but not always. I know some amazing chess players who are absolutely awful at poker and some decent card players who are horrid at chess. My dad pretty much started playing chess at birth and from was pretty highly ranked for a while back in his day (which was a while ago, oldmanisold.jpg) but he really didn't take to poker well when he tried it. On the other hand, I'm an ok poker player but chess tilts me like none other.

/derail

I also know some extremely high level chess players who are horrible at poker and are huge degen gamblers. lol.
Chess def does not make you insta-good at poker...but I think a lot of the fundamental necessities needed for poker are present within chess, like ability to calculate intricate lines, patience and especially when it comes to tournament poker - the ability to focus for long hours. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that all chess players enjoy poker either! My bf, in particular is one of the top chess players in the world, and he HATES tournaments - although he gets forced to play them from time to time because he is so good (obv sick brag. lol.)