Gold For Muzychuk, Kosteniuk At European Rapid, Blitz

After winning the world title in both disciplines last year, GM Anna Muzychuk added the rapid gold medal to her collection at the European Rapid Championship in Monaco. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the blitz tournament.

The European Women's Individual Rapid Chess Championship took place Oct. 21-22; the Blitz Championship was held right after, on Oct. 23. The location wasn't bad at all: the Hotel Novotel in Monaco. The event was organized by the Chess Federation of Monaco under the auspices of the European Chess Union.

Many of the world's strongest female players gathered for this event. The participants list included former women's world champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia; 2612 rapid, 2477 blitz), last year's world champion in both competitions GM Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine; 2594 rapid, 2663 blitz), former women's European champions GM Valentina Gunina (Russia; 2577 rapid, 2550 blitz) and GM Kateryna Lagno (Russia; 2577 rapid, 2611 blitz) and current European champion GM Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia; 2528 rapid, 2445 B=blitz).

Former women's world champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria; 2536 rapid, 2540 blitz) also played, but under the flag of the European Chess Union (ECU) due to FIDE's temporary exclusion of the Bulgarian Chess Federation.

The rapid tournament, held over two days, was an 11-round Swiss with the time control of 15 minutes per game, and 10 seconds increment per move. The total prize fund was €13,400 ($15,780).

GM Muzychuk, a true specialist in faster chess it seems, won the event with an undefeated 9/11. She finished half a point ahead of GM Lagno. 

An important win for Muzychuk was her round nine game against Gunina—not a bad rapid player herself! Black's pawn sacrifice in the opening is more than half a century old; you can find several games in the database with Swedish GM Gideon Stahlberg being materialistic enough to grab c7.

Gunina vs Muzychuk. | Photo: Association Internationale des Echecs Francophones.

Before this, Gunina actually had a great start. She took an early lead, moved to 5/5 and was still in clear first place with 6.5/7. Her victims included compatriots WGM Olga Girya, WGM Natalija Pogonina, WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Lagno.

Surprisingly, Gunina blundered in round eight and suffered her first loss against a rather unknown player: WGM Pauline Guichard from Colombes, France. The 28-year-old player was a rising star in France about a decade ago but her medicine studies started to take most of her time. In fact, in just a few days she will graduate and become a gynecologist.

She moved to 6.5/8 with this win:

European Women's Individual Rapid Chess Championship | Final Standings (Top 20)

Comments by some of the players on the rapid event.

The blitz tournament, a one-day event, was 13-round Swiss with the time control of three minutes per game, and two seconds increment per move. The total prize fund was €5,800 ($6,830).

This tournament was won by Kosteniuk, and again Lagno came second. They met in round eight when Lagno was in clear first place with 6/7. Kosteniuk was half a point down, and got a lost position, but managed to win to reach a shared first place with Gunina and Dzagnidze.

Kosteniuk was even luckier in the next round, whereas Gunina had to suffer another, most painful defeat. After trying to win a 3-vs-2 queen endgame, and finally winning a black pawn on move 94, it turned out the white king was in a mating net. How cruel.

Kosteniuk (left) in a photo from the rapid tournament. | Photo: ECU.

However, it wasn't just luck. Kosteniuk is known to be a strong blitz player and in the last four rounds, besides two draws, she defeated Muzychuk and in the last round Dzagnidze:

A special mention should go to WFM Cecile Haussernot, whose fourth place in this field is more than excellent, and WGM Ana Srebrnic, who is more active as an international arbiter these days but ended on a half-point more than the reigning world blitz champion.

European Women's Individual Blitz Chess Championship | Final Standings (Top 20)