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Thursday, May 19, 2011

European chess gets their women's champion - GM Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

Congratulations to GM Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania for a solid performance in Tbilisi, Georgia to win the European Women's Chess Championship. She notched up 9 points in 11 rounds. Congratulations to former Women's World Chess Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria for taking the silver medal with 8.5/11 and to GM Elina Danielian of Armenia for taking the bronze on tie-break. Congratulations to all the women who took part in this tough tournament and giving the world some beautiful chess this month.
 
Victorija Cmilyte - Find more great
photos at www.chesspics.com
The 12th European Individual Women’s Championships took place May 6-18, 2011 in Tbilisi. It was organized by the Georgian Chess Federation, under the auspices of the Tbilisi City Hall and the European Chess Union. The tournament hall was in the Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel of the Georgian capital. The tournament was open all female players representing the federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.10) regardless of their title or rating. The championship was an 11-round Swiss. The rate of play was 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.

Viktorija Cmilyte had an excellent start and won her first five games. By then she was leading by a full point, but in the next round she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova. Eventually this would be her only loss. After an easy win against Russian IM Marina Romanko and a draw with Black against IM Bela Khotenashvili, some crucial games followed. Cmilyte beat two experienced grandmasters in a row: Pia Cramling with White and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan with Black. Two quick draws on the top boards in the final round meant that, the Lithuanian lady kept her sole lead in the final standings. You can access the official website of the tournament here for the complete results and games. Meanwhile, here all the games of Viktorija.








From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

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