Klaudia Kulon victorious at Menchik Memorial

by Martina Gerdts
8/30/2026 – Klaudia Kulon impressed at the 11th Menchik Memorial in London, scoring 7½ points in the 9-round event. She won six games and drew just three. Her performance rating for the tournament was 2463. She had already secured overall victory before the final round. Cecile Haussernot from France and Andreea-Marioara Cosman finished in second and third place, respectively. | Photo: European Chess Union (archive)
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Klaudia Kulon: Out of reach

Klaudia Kulon secured tournament victory before the final round. After round eight, she had 7 points, while her closest pursuers were only on 5 and 5½ points. Cecile Haussernot (5½/8), Andreea-Marioara Cosman (5/8) and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (5/8) could therefore only fight for the remaining podium places behind Kulon.

In round nine, Cosman and Arakhamia-Grant faced each other in the final round. Cosman prevailed and overtook her opponent in the standings. The final podium at the 11th Menchik Memorial 2026 was therefore decided:

  1. Klaudia Kulon (7½/9)
  2. Cecile Haussernot (6½/9)
  3. Andreea-Marioara Cosman (6/9)

The 2026 participants | Photo: Menchik Memorial organisers

Tournament organiser Agnieszka Milewska posted the photo of the participants in the 2026 Menchik Memorial on her LinkedIn page at the start of the event.

Round 9 results

Bd. Elo White Result Black Elo
1 2187 WIM Cosman, Andreea-Marioara 1 - 0 GM Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan 2270
2 2248 WIM Haussernot, Cecile 1 - 0 WFM Subramanian, Anusha 2016
3 2261 WGM Mirzoeva, Elmira ½ - ½ IM Kulon, Klaudia 2395
4 2131 WFM Hryshchenko, Kamila + - - FM Schulze, Lara 2345
5 2152 WIM Dwilewicz, Katarzyna ½ - ½ WFM Hariharan, Shambavi 2103

Lara Schulze struggles in norm tournaments

German national team player Lara Schulze was among the ten players competing in London. Unfortunately, the tournament did not go her way. She scored 3½ points from the first eight rounds and had a bye in the final round.

This tournament would have been an opportunity for her to earn a WGM norm, but unfortunately she did not manage to do so. During the DeutschlandTV livestream from the Dresden Chess Festival, Lara Schulze mentioned that she regularly takes part in norm tournaments in London and also regularly achieves the required 2400 performance rating for a WGM norm, but not in the tournaments in which it matters for the norm. In other words, she regularly performs at a 2400 level, just not in the events where that performance would earn her the norm. This year's Menchik Memorial was no exception. She recorded a performance rating of 2161 and is expected to lose 38 Elo points. She entered the tournament with the second-highest rating but ultimately finished only sixth.

Schulze could nevertheless use the event as preparation for the Chess Olympiad, where she is part of the German women's squad. As the saying goes, what goes wrong in the dress rehearsal may work out in the main performance – in this case, the Chess Olympiad.

Round 4: Schulze 0 - 1 Kulon

The round-four encounter between Lara Schulze and Klaudia Kulon swung back and forth. Schulze had the first major opportunity.

Black had various ways of responding to 15.Bxe4. After 15...Nxe5, White can reply 16.Bxh7+. After 15...Bxe5, 16.Bxg5 would have been possible. In some lines, White wins material immediately; in others, there is an attack against the king. These variations would have been difficult for Black to defend. Since Schulze did not play 15.Bxe4 and instead chose 15.c4, the game continued without major problems for Black.

The game was effectively decided by White's 39th move. She played 39.d6.

Here, Schulze had underestimated the threats along the open h-file and lost the game as a result. After this fourth round, Klaudia Kulon was already on 3½ points. She would add another 4 points over the remainder of the tournament.

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts. TB1
1 Kulon, Klaudia 7.5 0
2 Haussernot, Cecile 6.5 0
3 Cosman, Andreea-Marioara 6 0
4 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan 5 0
5 Hryshchenko, Kamila 4.5 0
6 Schulze, Lara 3.5 0
7 Hariharan, Shambavi 3.5 0
8 Subramanian, Anusha 3 0
9 Dwilewicz, Katarzyna 3 0
10 Mirzoeva, Elmira 2.5 0

TB1: direct encounter
TB2: number of wins
TB3: games with Black

In memory of Vera Menchik

Vera Menchik – the first winner of a Women's World Chess Championship

Vera Menchik was born 120 years ago. She was the first winner of a Women's World Chess Championship. In 1927, she won a women's tournament held alongside the Chess Olympiad, which was later recognised as the Women's World Championship. To mark the 120th anniversary of Vera Menchik's birth, André Schulz wrote about her life: Born 120 years ago today: Vera Menchik and her quiet revolution.

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Topics: Klaudia Kulon, Lara Schulze, Menchik Memorial
Martina Gerdts studied Portuguese and Spanish linguistics and nowadays teaches language classes and writes about chess and languages. Having started playing chess for a tournament trip to Paris, she is now active not only as a player but in a diverse range of activities connected to chess. This includes among others teaching chess classes, writing about chess and being active as an arbiter.
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