Monaco is currently the centre of women's chess. The second Grand Prix tournament for women in the 2019-20 series is getting underway. The European women's elite had a chance to warm up with the European Rapid and Blitz Championship, which attracted about 100 players to the Mediterranean enclave.
Anna and Mariya Muzychuk and Alexandra Kosteniuk topped the starting list, but a prominent participant was right behind them: Former World Champion Maia Chiburdanidze is ranked number four at 2475.
Maia Chiburdanidze in 1984 | Photo: ECU
The new Women's European Rapid Champion, however, is Alexandra Kosteniuk. The Russian grandmaster and former world champion scored 9 points at the 11-round Swiss, and prevailed over Olga Girya, who collected the same amount of points but had a worse tiebreak score. In the penultimate round, Kosteniuk defeated Girya in their direct encounter. In the last round, Kosteniuk drew Elisabeth Paehtz, who had arrived as defending champion and ended up sharing 3rd to 8th places on eight points.
After the first day of action, Latvian Laura Rogule surprisingly led the field. Rogule won all her first six encounters of the tournament, but completely lost the thread on the second day. Anna and Mariya Muzychuk arrived as rating favourites with Kosteinuk, but the Ukrainian sisters could not quite live up to their ratings and finished with 7 and 7½ points respectively.
Former women's world champions and role models to many generations to come Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze participated in the competition. Chiburdanize scored 6½ points (26th place) after a long break from tournament play, while Nona Gaprindashvili scored 6 points and finished 34th. Their direct duel ended in favour of Chiburdanidze.
Gaprindashvili vs Chiburdanidze
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2538 | 9,0 | 1,0 |
| 2 | WGM | Girya Olga | 2365 | 9,0 | 0,0 |
| 3 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2455 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 4 | GM | Batsiashvili Nino | 2401 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 5 | GM | Gunina Valentina | 2434 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 6 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2350 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 7 | GM | Cramling Pia | 2423 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 8 | IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2381 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 9 | GM | Zhukova Natalia | 2316 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 10 | IM | Gaponenko Inna | 2328 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 11 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2518 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 12 | WGM | Rogule Laura | 2292 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 13 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2592 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 14 | IM | Osmak Iulija | 2318 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 15 | WGM | Dornbusch Tatiana | 2211 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 16 | WIM | Bensdorp-De Labaca Marlies | 2228 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 17 | WGM | Berend Elvira | 2308 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 18 | WGM | Michna Marta | 2296 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 19 | IM | Mkrtchian Lilit | 2338 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 20 | WGM | Unuk Laura | 2168 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 21 | IM | Bodnaruk Anastasia | 2410 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 22 | IM | Salimova Nurgyul | 1992 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 23 | GM | Sebag Marie | 2452 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 24 | IM | Bulmaga Irina | 2383 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 25 | IM | Daulyte-Cornette Deimante | 2362 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 26 | GM | Chiburdanidze Maia | 2475 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 27 | WGM | Belenkaya Dina | 2112 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 28 | IM | Guichard Pauline | 2349 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 29 | FM | Antova Gabriela | 2001 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
| 30 | GM | Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan | 2320 | 6,5 | 0,0 |
The European Women's Blitz Championship was a 13-round Swiss tournament played on November 29th, 2019. The time control was 3 minutes for the entire game, plus 2-seconds per move starting from move one.
Here Kosteniuk finished in sole first place with 10/13 points, half point ahead of five of her peers.
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2521 | 10,0 | 0,0 |
| 2 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2452 | 9,5 | 0,0 |
| 3 | GM | Gunina Valentina | 2366 | 9,5 | 0,0 |
| 4 | GM | Sebag Marie | 2467 | 9,5 | 0,0 |
| 5 | GM | Zhukova Natalia | 2239 | 9,5 | 0,0 |
| 6 | IM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2282 | 9,5 | 0,0 |
| 7 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2504 | 9,0 | 0,0 |
| 8 | IM | Bulmaga Irina | 2308 | 9,0 | 0,0 |
| 9 | IM | Mkrtchian Lilit | 2268 | 9,0 | 0,0 |
| 10 | WGM | Michna Marta | 2390 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 11 | IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2380 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 12 | IM | Bodnaruk Anastasia | 2375 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 13 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2432 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 14 | WGM | Rogule Laura | 2237 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 15 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2344 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 16 | WGM | Babiy Olga | 2302 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 17 | WGM | Reizniece-Ozola Dana | 2287 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 18 | IM | Savina Anastasia | 2177 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 19 | FM | Antova Gabriela | 1965 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 20 | WIM | Benmesbah Natacha | 2270 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
