Laura Unuk leads Mediterranean Flowers Tournament

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Currently, a Women's Grandmaster Tournament is being held in Rijeka, the 21st "Mediterranean Flowers" tournament. The players are on site and play over-the-board.

The organiser of the tournament is the "Draga" Chess Club of Rijeka. Its chairman Ivica Mandekić is also the tournament director. The tournament is played during the week of International Women's Day (8 March) in order to contribute to the equality of women in sport and society.

The participants come from five countries, they are Laura Unuk (Slovenia), Olga Zimina (Italy), Maria Manakova (Serbia), Mirjana Medic (Croatia), Viktoria Radeva (Bulgaria), Ana Berke (Croatia), Ivana Hrešćak (Slovenia), Noemi Špiranec, (Croatia), Petra Kejžar, (Slovenia) and Anamarija Radiković (Croatia).

Mirjana Medić, who is the only player representing the host, has participated in all 20 previous Mediterranean Flowers tournaments.

For the opening of the tournament, there was a public presentation of the players in the city centre of Rijeka , which was also attended by the mayor of the city Vojko Obersnel. The mayor has been in office for 20 years and has promoted and supported the organisation of the tournament since the beginning of his term.

The tournament is played in the "Rijeka Chess House" (Blaža Polića 2 / II) and the SK Draga broadcasts the games live on the internet.

The players during the public presentation

Laura Unuk dominates the tournament: in the first six rounds she won five of her games and conceded only one draw.

26...Qxf2 27.Rxf2 Rd1 0-1

The 21-year-old Laura Unuk was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and in her home country she plays for SK Kommenda. In Croatia, she competes for SK Draga but she also plays in team events in Germany, Austria and Turkey. In 2016, Laura Unuk became U16w World Champion at the World Junior Championships in Durban. In 2017 she became U18w World Champion. Since March 2019, Laura Unuk is a Women's Grandmaster (WGM).