In 2016, Zhu Jiner won the World Youth Chess Championship in the G14 age category. In 2017, she was third in the Asian Zone 3.5 after Zhai Mo and Ni Shiqun, and qualified for the Women’s World Chess Championship 2018. That same year, she was awarded the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title. In 2018, Zhu Jiner won the bronze medal at the Women’s China Rapid Chess Championship.

Rated 2545, Grandmaster Lei Tingjie qualified for the Women’s Candidates Tournament by clinching the 2021 FIDE Gran Swiss in Riga with one round to spare.

Winner of the 2015 Moscow Open and silver medallist in the 2016 Women’s World Rapid Championship, she has represented China on several occasions with outstanding performances: among others, a gold medal at the 2016 Asian Nations Cup in Dubai and the 2018 Batumi Olympiad.

Currently ranked fourth and ninth on the Chinese and World rating lists respectively, Lei Tingjie recently secured her spot in the final by convincingly winning the 2022 Monaco Pool A Women’s Candidates tournament, defeating Mariya Muzychuk in the quarter-final and her sister Anna Muzychuk in the semi-final.

Former Women’s World Chess Champion in 2018, Grandmaster Tan Zhongyi was a child prodigy, winning the World Youth U-10 Girls Chess Championship in 2000 and 2001 followed by the World Youth U12 Girls Chess Championship in 2002.

Currently rated 2526, she stands in fifth place in the Chinese rankings and number twelve overall in the world. Winner of the Women’s World University Chess Championship in 2012 and the 2014 Asian Women’s Blitz Championship, she broke through in 2015 becoming the Chinese Women’s Champion amongst several other phenomenal results.

Having qualified for the Candidates thanks to her brilliant third place in the 2021 Sochi Women’s World Cup, she won her place at the final with a compelling result in the 2022 Khiva Pool B Women’s Candidates tournament: she defeated consecutively none other than Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina.

The event gathers more than 140 players from 34 European federations and the top-seeds are: GM Bella Khotenashvili (GEO, 2491), GM Valentina Gunina (FIDE, 2478), IM Gunay Mammadzada (AZE, 2472), IM Marsel Efroimski (ISR, 2451), IM Yuliia Osmak (UKR, 2445), IM Lela Javakhishvili (GEO, 2443), IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU, 2438), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL, 2433), IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2433), and GM Monika Socko (POL, 2432).

“We inspire to support female chess players to actively take part in the solely women’s tournaments in Europe, especially in the closed (norm) ones and this way to support and promote tournaments’ organizers as well. We would like to do so by lunching “European Women’s Chess Trophy”, an initiative that will financially reward women and girls in the categories mentioned below”, writes the announcement.

CRITERIA

• Only female tournaments will be considered: women’s closed tournaments (at least WIM level and with three different federations participating), European Girls Youth Championship (U16-U18), European Women Individual championships, etc. Team championships are excluded, except European Club Cup.
• Criteria for calculation to be based on points and a performance system:
• Minimum played tournaments required per year (for all four categories): 3
• Launching point of calculation: rating as of March 1, 2023 till December 31, 2023
• TOP 3 Best female players in all four categories to be calculated
• Best of 3 tournaments will be considered for these criteria
• Each female player can win only one prize. If two or more players end up with the same number of points, number of games played per year will decide. The next

criteria will be overall (better) performance.

• European Club Cup – minimum of 5 games must be played to be included in the calculation

Points System for all four categories

TOURNAMENT’S CALENDAR (considered for the calculation)

We will regularly publish a preliminary list with an overview of current points and players after tournaments (that are included in our calendar) have been finished. There is no need to register for this initiative, we will automatically include all female players who participate at above mentioned tournaments.

It is in our interest to include as many closed female tournaments as possible. If you would like to be a part of this initiative, as an organizer, and support female players this way, and promote your female event, please drop us a message and we will gladly include you. The tournament’s list will expand throughout the year, as we will also regularly announce an “Open call of interest” for all organizers of women’s tournaments.

The large-scale celebration will be held from March 9-19, 2023. It will start with the “Balkan Chess Star” tournament, the women’s workshop “Chess is a safe space for women”, organized with a contribution from ECU Women Commission, and a simul with female chess influencers, scheduled for March 9-10 in Tirana, Albania. The events will take place at COD – Center of Openness and Dialogue, located within the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Edifice.

The “Balkan Chess Star” blitz tournament is played by 16 girls born in 2007 and younger, representing all Balkan countries, who will first compete in 2 round-robin qualification events on March 9. The Final between the winners of each event is scheduled for March 10.

Workshop and simul by chess influencers will feature Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, FIDE Deputy Chair of Management Board; Antoaneta Stefanova, GM, former Women’s World Champion; Anastasia Sorokina, WIM, Chair of FIDE Commission for Women in Chess, international arbiter; Agnieszka Milewska, Director of the Women’s Chess in England; Carol B Meyer, Executive director of the US Chess Federation and Majlinda Pilinci, General Secretary of Albanian Chess federation, member of FIDE PDC Commission, international organizer. 

Programme of the festival:

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The events will be followed by the Ladies-only arbiters seminar held by IA Panagiotis Nikolopoulos (GRE), IA Mihail Prevenios (GRE), and IA Tshepiso Lopang (BOT) from March 10-12. The Seminar will award norms and titles of FIDE Arbiter and is open for national arbiters nominated by their federations.

The Online FIDE Trainers’ Seminar for female trainers organized by the FIDE TRG Commission in partnership with the FIDE WOM Commission, scheduled for March 17-19, will finalize the celebration of International Women’s Day.

Contact details:
Majlinda Pilinci: pilincimajlinda@gmail.com
Anastasia Sorokina: a.sorokina@fide.com

All events are online and are open to all ECU Federations, who would like to participate with a team. The event consists of a team battle, a rapid tournament, and various seminars. Participants can either join all events or attend individual events they are interested in. Please see the detailed timetable and the sign-up information below.

Schedule

Saturday, 25.02.2023
11.00 CET: Seminar: The Journey of becoming a Chess arbiter with Jirina Prokopova
14.00 CET: Individual Rapid Arena
19.00 CET: Battle of the Federations

Sunday, 26.02.2023
14.00 CET: Seminar: Online Motivation Training with GM Elina Danielian

Detailed event information

Individual Rapid Tournament (Saturday, 25.02.2023. 14.00 CET)
The tournament is open to all female players.
Time control: 10 min + 5 s

This tournament offers the perfect opportunity for younger players or beginners, who want to play games with a slightly longer time controls.
Tournament link: https://lichess.org/tournament/RqGvAZnD
The tournament is password protected. Passwords were provided to all ECU Federations. If you want to participate, please contact your federation to request the password or email womenchess@europechess.org

Battle of the Federations (Saturday, 25.02.2023, 19.00 CET)
This will be a team battle, where each player competes for their country.
Each country can join the tournament with a female team. You can check here if your country has entered a team into the tournament and join the respective team: https://lichess.org/tournament/nJrBFCnb

Seminars
There will be multiple seminars taking place over the weekend:

1. The Journey of becoming a Chess arbiter – and why to give it a try with Jirina Prokopova (Saturday, 25.02.2023, 11.00 CET).
Learn more about what the role of arbiters is in chess, what the benefits are of being a chess arbiter and what the journey of becoming a chess arbiter looks like. Open to everyone. Sign up via email to womenchess@europechess.org

2. Online Motivation Training with GM Elina Danielian (Sunday, 26.02.2023, 14.00 CET) Requirements for participants: Rating >1800, Age <23. Limited places, which will be given away on a “First come, first serve” basis. Sign up via email to womenchess@europechess.org

Please include in your full name, country, age and rating in your sign up email.

Prizes
There are various prizes to win over the course of the weekend, such as coaching sessions with
top female chess players.

IM Corina Isabela Peptan, WGM Elena-Luminita Cosma and WIM Silvia-Raluca Sgircea will be the top-seeded players of the event. Scroll down for starting list of players

Starting list of players – Romanian Women’s Chess Championship 2023:

Girls and ladies from Asia and all around the world participated in various activities, from playing chess to learning about the empowerment chess gives to women and society.

The event started with the “Little Chess Star” Chess Tournament. Eight invited girls played in two qualification tournaments, followed by the final match for the title.

Eisa Bashkardi Ahoud from the UAE and Zakiyabonu Muminova from Tajikistan qualified for the final from their groups. Eisa Bashkardi Ahoud bested her opponent in both games and won the tournament. 

A “Learn to play in one hour” session with a coach started right after the event. WGM and five-time Armenian Champion Mariya Gevorgyan showed many interesting problems and studies and taught girls how to play some basic and more complex rook endings. 

Leadership workshop “Women and Chess – Promoting Tolerance & Women Empowerment” featured Anastasia Sorokina, Chair of FIDE Commission for Women in Chess; Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Women chess grandmaster, politician, FIDE Deputy Chair of Management Board; Anastasia Karlovich, WIM, Ukrainian chess journalist and photographer; Irene Kharisma Sukandar, WGM and two-time Asian Women’s Champion; David Smerdon, GM, PhD in Economics, member of FIDE WOM Commission and Tshepiso Lopang, IA and the President of African Chess Confederation.

“Chess can be used as an excellent tool for promoting tolerance and coexistence, connecting us in common humanity,” said Dana Reizniece-Ozola.

“Considering chess sport as a powerful means to consolidate society, establish an atmosphere of love and tolerance and create friendships between youth without social discrimination, leading numerous social projects for many years already, as a woman, as a person with a vast experience, I want more and more girls to play chess,” stressed Anastasia Sorokina.

A simul by Dana Reizniece-Ozola followed the workshop. Dana won all the games, although some players had good chances of reaching a draw. 

As many as 89 players participated in the Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament, the 7-round Swiss event with the time control of 3min +2 sec. WGM Geldiyeva from Mahri (Turkmenistan) finished with a perfect score and emerged as the winner. Shakhnoza Sabirova, from Uzbekistan and Ahlam Rashed, from the UAE, tied for second place, netting 6 out of 7 points.  

Final standings can be found below

The closing ceremony of the “Little Chess Stars Tournament” and Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament took place on the 7th of February and was attended by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nabyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and His Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Bin Shakhbout Al Nahyan, who welcomed participants and awarded the winners. 

Dana Reizniece-Ozola took part in the Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit and was a speaker in panel number three, Peace: Promoting Principals of Nonviolence.

Photo: Stev Bonhage and Anastasia Karlovich
Text: Anastasia Karlovich

Final standings – Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament:

The second event of the 2022-2023 Women’s Grand Prix Series will kick off in a few days in Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria. Twelve of the world’s top female players will dispute an eleven-round all-play-all with their eyes set on the 15,000 euros first prize plus the valuable WGP points that add up for direct qualification to the 2023-2024 FIDE Women’s Candidates. 

After Berlin and Hamburg, Munich is the third-largest city in Germany, with a population of more than 1.5 million inhabitants. A global centre for science, technology, business and finance, Munich enjoys a high standard and quality of living and is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

Many multinational companies are located in the city, such as BMW, Siemens or Allianz, along with two research universities and world-renowned technology and science museums like the Deutsches Museum and BMW Museum. Its annual Oktoberfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, is the world’s largest “people’s festival “, and attracts considerable tourism in late September.

Photo: Thomas Wolf

Home to one of the Bundesliga’s top teams – FC Bayern München, fielding GM’s Maghsoodloo, Tabatabaei and Huschenbeth – the event will be held in the centrally located five-star luxury Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski hotel, situated directly in the city centre of Munich, very close to the Opera and Marienplatz.  

The tournament’s principal sponsor is the Krulich Immobilien Group, a real estate company based in Munich with branches in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig and Zwickau. Roman Krulich, a former Munich Youth Champion, has been a long-time supporter and sponsor of chess events.  

A strong +2200 club player in his own right, he represented Monaco in the 2008 Dresden Chess Olympiad. As the founder of the Munich Chess Academie and the Munich Chess Foundation, he supports the development of chess in schools, chess for refugees and chess for the elderly.  

According to the rules of the series, each of the four WGP events will attract twelve of the sixteen players. The Munich participants, sorted by rating, are:  

GM Koneru Humpy (2572 – India) 
GM Tan Zhongyi (2530 – China)
GM Maria Muzychuk (2523 – Ukraine)
GM Anna Muzychuk (2522 – Ukraine)
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2519 – FIDE)
GM Nana Dzagnidze (2517 – Georgia)
GM Harika Dronavalli (2507 – India)
GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2496 – Kazakhstan)
IM/WGM Alina Kashlinskaya (2491 – Poland)
WGM Zhu Jiner (2486 – China)
GM Elisabeth Paehtz (2464 – Germany)
WGM Dinara Wagner (2413 – Germany)

The first round, scheduled for Thursday, February 2nd, already features some very cool match-ups. As per the rules, players of the same federation must dispute their games at the beginning of the tournament:

Harika Dronavalli vs Koneru Humpy 
Maria Muzychuk vs Anna Muzychuk 
Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Alina Kashlinskaya 
Tan Zhongyi vs Zhu Jiner
Elisabeth Paehtz vs Dinara Wagner 
Zhansaya Abdumalik vs Nana Dzagnidze

The total prize fund for each leg will be €80,000, with another €80,000 being distributed among the top 8 finishers in the global Women’s Grand Prix Series standings, according to the cumulative points they score across the four events.

Official website: womengrandprix.fide.com/