6/4/2012 – The reigning European champion in classical chess and blitz, Valentina Gunina, has scored a stunning 8.0/8 points on the first day of the Women’s World Blitz Championship, to take a two-point lead over the rest of the field. Her nearest rivals are IM Mariya Muzychuk and GMs Nana Dzagnidze, Anna Muzychuk and Natalia Zhukova. Results, video plus
part two of our Rapid pictorial.
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
€49.90
Women’s World Rapid Championship Pictorial
By WGM Anastasiya Karlovich (pictures: Anastasiya Karlovich, Roman Danilenkov)
Women’s World Rapid Championship 2012 was held in Batumi, Georgia from
31 of May till 3rd of June 2012. The event was organized and conducted by the
ACP and the Georgian Chess Federation and approved by FIDE. The total prize
fund for the rapid championship is US $59,000. The organizers also provided
the special conditions for the players with the Elo of 2500+ and nominees from
all national federations. As a result 50 players from 18 chess federations took
part in the tournament including five former world champions Nona Gaprindashvili,
Maia Chiburdanidze, Zhu Chen, Antoaneta Stefanova, Alexandra Kosteniuk, current
European champion Valentina Gunina and such strong GMs as Anna Muzychuk, Humpy
Koneru, Zhao Xue, Nana Dzagnidze, Tatiana Kosintseva and others. The Blitz world
championship is a 15-round Swiss played at a rate of 4 min + 2 second.
The leader of the Blitz World Championship: Valentina Gunina
GM
Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt have castled from
the World Championship in Moscow to the Women's Rapid and Blitz in Batumi. They
are producing video reports and interviews after each round for the French chess
magazine Europe Echecs. We are grateful
to receive these reports and that they include interviews with players and personalities.
Impressions from the first day of the blitz, provided by Europe Echecs
By WGM Anastasiya Karlovich (pictures: Anastasiya Karlovich, Roman Danilenkov)
After eleven rounds of tough and uncompromised fight Bulgarian GM and former
women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova became the Women’s World Rapid
Champion-2012. On the last day of the tournament she made two draws against
Anna Muzychuk and Harika Dronavalli and finished the tournament half a point
ahead of the closest pursuers. Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is second and
Indian player Humpy Koneru placed third. See full table below.
ACP President Emil Sutovskiy and Gennady Nesis follow the final round game
between GMs Harika Dronavalli and Antoaneta Stefanova
Deputy arbiter and General Secretary of ECU Sava Stoisavljevic, assistant
arbiter Stephane Escafre
WIM Anastasiya Sorokina came from Australia for the event. Being an arbiter
and also a player of the national team of Australia in the past, she had stopped
her arbiter and chess carrier few years ago, but decided to come back in the
chess world. She started with the women world championship in Batumi and hopes
to be an arbiter in other women events.
David Sturua, Emil Sutovsky (standing), Evgeniy Surov and Mark Dvoretsky,
discussing the games in the press center
Blitz match between David Sturua and Merab Gagunashvili brought a lot of attention
French reporter GM Robert Fontaine prepares his great video reports for
Europe Echecs
WIM Sophie Nikoladze, press attaché of Georgian Chess Federation
Players, journalist and organizers during a night-time excursion around
night Batumi.
The organizers and government of Adjara prepared many interesting excursions
for participants.
Batumi's famous musical fountains...
…and another original fountain in the centre of the city
IM Lilit Mkrtchian, 2449, GMs Kateryna Lahno, 2546, and Elina Danielian,
2484, in front of...
... the Batumi Piazza, which you can explore very nicely in panorama here
(very cool!)
GM Zhao Xue, 2549, Georgian IM Nino Gurieli, 2329, and WGM Huang Qian, 2417
One hour before the start of the tenth round a number of participants attended...
... a spectaculare dolphin show in the Batumi Dolphinarium
Apparently the animals are quite happy and perform their tricks with enthusiasm
Our photographer Anastasya Karlovich (and Anastasia Sorokina) at the dolphin
show
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
€49.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
