European Women's Championship: Cmilyte is champion!

by ChessBase
5/21/2011 – It was a tough competition but Lithuanian GM Viktorija Cmilyte made it almost seem easy. After a five in five start she stumbled against Stefanova, but responded as if nothing had happened and still finished on an incredible 9.0/11 and a 2692 performance, including eight wins in eleven games. Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova stayed close and came clear second with 8.5/11. Report and videos.

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The European Women Chess Championship is underway and runs from May 7-18 at Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The event is open to any female player registered with a federation that is part of the European Chess Union. It is a swiss system with eleven rounds played at 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 KO, with a 30-second increment as of the first move.

The top fourteen players will also qualify for the World Cup. As in the overall European Championship held earlier this year, there will be no tiebreak matches. In case of a tie, the tiebreaks used in order are: performance, Median-Buchholz, Buchholz, and the number of wins.


Satellite view of Tbilisi with the surrounding mountain range – View Larger Map


After eight round rounds, little has changed at the top, though Lithuanian grandmaster Viktorija Cmilyte's perfect score is no more. In the sixth round Bulgarian GM Antoaneta Stefanova knocked heads with her and came ou the victor, joining her in the lead. They were joined by five others, and suddenly the top spot's destiny was murky again. In the seventh round, not to be deterred, Cmilyte beat IM Romanko, while Stefanova had little time to enjoy her victory as she lost to Georgian IM Khotenashvili. This left them both in the lead with 6.0/7, followed by Lahno, Javakhishvili, and Cramling with 5.5/7. In round eight, the leaders met and drew, but no one was capable of reaching them and they maintined their very slim lead with 6.5/8, now trailed by seven on 6.0/8.

Final standings after eleven rounds

Rk.
Tit.
Name
Fed
Rtg
Pts.
 Perf 
1
GM
Cmilyte Viktorija
2504
9.0
2692
2
GM
Stefanova Antoaneta
2506
8.5
2637
3
GM
Danielian Elina
2506
8.0
2629
4
IM
Matveeva Svetlana
2380
8.0
2413
5
IM
Khotenashvili Bela
2470
7.5
2580
6
GM
Lahno Kateryna
2530
7.5
2565
7
IM
Javakhishvili Lela
2454
7.5
2553
8
GM
Kosintseva Tatiana
2559
7.5
2539
9
GM
Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan
2462
7.5
2535
10
IM
Muzychuk Anna
2537
7.5
2533
11
IM
Foisor Cristina-Adela
2414
7.5
2490
12
IM
Bodnaruk Anastasia
2419
7.5
2489
13
WGM
Pogonina Natalija
2448
7.5
2383
14
IM
Kosintseva Nadezhda
2567
7.0
2513
15
IM
Ovod Evgenija
2404
7.0
2509
16
GM
Cramling Pia
2468
7.0
2506
17
IM
Romanko Marina
2387
7.0
2487
18
IM
Khurtsidze Nino
2436
7.0
2456
19
GM
Hoang Thanh Trang
2456
7.0
2452
20
IM
Muzychuk Mariya
2473
7.0
2439

Cmilyte is champion!


Danailov together with Viktorija Cmilyte, the European Women Champion at the prize giving

After going strong with five in five and then stumbling over Bulgarian Stefanova, Cmilyte's run for the gold seemed in doubt. In fact she had already been a silver medalist three times and was understandably anxious about her chances. In her interview (see the video below) she explains that while happy with her start, she knew that nothing was real until the very last rounds. Her wisdom and experience also weighed in on her strength of character as she plowed through the field and came up with an impressive 9.0/11, for a 2692 performance in spite of her round six loss. In sole second was Stefanova, who was unable to keep up the pace with he Lithuanian, but still scored a superb 8.5/11.


Antoaneta Stefanova, proud silver medalist of the European Women Championship

Robert Fontaine from Europe Echecs has been covering the event with daily video reports which he kindly shared. They are short and fun. Enjoy.

Round nine report

 
With an interview of Anna Muzychuk

Round ten report

 
In music

Round eleven report


with an exclusive interview of Viktorija Cmilyte, and some bites of the closing ceremony


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games.

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