Elina Danielian wins the European Women’s Championship

A seized opportunity

Armenian GM Elina Danielian can look back on a long, successful career: almost 30 years ago she became the world champion in the U14 and U16 categories; she would go on to get the GM title, and for a while had a 2500+ rating. So it is no surprise that Danielian became the 2021 European Champion.

Notwithstanding, it was a seized opportunity for the Armenian, as many top European players did not take part in this tournament. Once the tournament is over, that is not so relevant though: what really counts for her is having won the title!

Mai Narva had a terribly hard time in her last-round game against Danielian. The Estonian missed a last, hard-to-find chance to equalize:

The Accelerated Dragon - a sharp weapon against 1.e4

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6! leads to the so-called "Accelerated Dragon Defense". On this DVD the Russian grandmaster and top women player Nadezhda Kosintseva reveals the secrets of her favourite opening.

Estonian WIM Mai Narva could not stop Elina Danielian

Left to right: Iulija Osmak (2nd), Elina Danielian (1st) and Oliwia Kiolbasa (3rd)

The top German scorer — Josefine Heinemann finished in 46th place on 6/11

Final standings (7+ points)

The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

Pavel Eljanov explains in depth what Gyula Breyer already saw in 1911 and what became an opening choice of the likes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand or Carlsen. The Breyer Variation, which is characterised by the knight retreat to b8.

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	15	GM	Danielian Elina				2407	9,0	2404	69,5	74,5	0,0	0	10	31,6
2	10	IM	Osmak Iulija				2418	8,5	2388	73,5	80,0	0,0	0	10	23,0
3	43	WIM	Kiolbasa Oliwia				2288	8,0	2372	68,0	72,0	0,0	0	20	65,4
4	11	IM	Buksa Nataliya				2413	8,0	2334	67,5	73,0	0,0	0	10	11,5
5	23	WGM	Sargsyan Anna M.	U20			2388	7,5	2370	64,5	69,5	0,0	0	10	14,3
6	24	IM	Mammadova Gulnar				2385	7,5	2360	64,5	68,0	0,0	0	10	13,5
7	2	GM	Khotenashvili Bela				2471	7,5	2358	68,5	73,0	0,0	0	10	1,3
8	47	WIM	Narva Mai				2276	7,5	2346	68,5	72,5	0,0	0	20	52,4
9	7	IM	Arabidze Meri				2438	7,5	2329	71,0	76,5	0,0	0	10	2,6
10	25	WGM	Garifullina Leya	U18			2385	7,5	2327	63,0	67,0	0,0	0	10	9,8
11	9	IM	Badelka Olga	U20			2418	7,5	2324	65,0	69,5	0,0	0	10	4,5
12	14	IM	Daulyte-Cornette Deimante				2408	7,5	2321	62,5	67,0	0,0	0	10	5,1
13	18	IM	Milliet Sophie				2403	7,5	2304	63,5	67,5	0,0	0	10	3,8
14	1	GM	Batsiashvili Nino				2487	7,0	2368	71,0	76,0	0,0	0	10	-4,1
15	4	IM	Mammadzada Gunay				2460	7,0	2364	69,5	74,5	0,0	0	10	-0,8
16	30	WGM	Injac Teodora				2370	7,0	2346	67,5	72,0	0,0	0	20	16,6
17	3	IM	Javakhishvili Lela				2470	7,0	2339	65,5	70,5	0,0	0	10	-5,4
18	68	WFM	Zherebtsova Alexandra				2188	7,0	2322	59,5	63,5	0,0	0	20	58,4