Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina[1] (Russian: Валентина Евгеньевна Гунина; born 4 February 1989)[2] is a Russian chess grandmaster. She is the two-time Women's World Blitz Chess Champion (2012 and 2023), has won the Women's European Individual Chess Championship three times (2012, 2014, 2018), and has won the Russian Women's Championship five times (2011, 2013, 2014, 2021, 2022). She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010, 2012, 2014, at the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019 and at the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017.
| Valentina Gunina | |
|---|---|
 Gunina in 2023 | |
| Full name | Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina |
| Country | Russia (until 2023) FIDE (since 2023) |
| Born | 4 February 1989 Murmansk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (2013) |
| FIDE rating | 2425 (December 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2548 (June 2015) |
| Peak ranking | No. 6 woman (June 2015) |
Gunina won the 2016 London Chess Classic Super Rapidplay Open in one of the best performances or victories for a woman at a top-level chess tournament, defeating several top 100 grandmasters along the way.[3]
Career
editGunina won the gold medal in the 2000 European under-12 girls championship, 2003 world U14 girls championship, 2004 European U16 girls championship and in the 2007 world U18 girls championship. She was the bronze medalist in the 2006 European U18 girls championship.[4]
In 2006, she won the Women's Russian Championship Higher League scoring 7/9 and qualified for the Russian Women's Championship Superfinal.[5] She placed eleventh with 2.5/11.[6] In 2008, she won the Women's Russian Championship Higher League for the second time with a score of 7.5/9. In the Superfinal she scored 4/9. In 2009, she won the Russian junior (under 20) girls championship.[7]
In 2012, she won the Women's World Blitz Championship in Batumi, Georgia.[8] In the same year, Gunina competed for the first time in the Women's World Championship: she defeated Gu Xiaobing in the first round, then she was knocked out by Alisa Galliamova in round two. Gunina won the Russian women's rapid chess championship 2014 in Saint Petersburg.[9]
In January 2015, she took part in the Tata Steel Challengers tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, where she scored 5/13.[10] At the Women's World Chess Championship 2015 Gunina made it to the third round, where she was eliminated by Pia Cramling, after knocking out Camilla Baginskaite and Olga Girya. In September 2015, she won the Moscow Women's Blitz Championship.[11]
In February 2019, she became the first ever winner of The Cairns Cup, in Saint Louis, as she ended victoriously the tournament with 7 out of 9.[12]
In late May 2019, Valentina faced American GM Irina Krush in the quarterfinal match of the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship, an online blitz and bullet competition hosted by Chess.com.[13] Valentina dominated the match and won with an overall score of 24–5.[14]
In December 2023, Valentina won the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship 2023 with a score of 14/17 (+12-1=4).
Awards
editOn 25 October 2014, she was awarded the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class "for great contribution to the development of physical culture and sport, the high sporting achievements at the XXXXI World Chess Olympiad in Tromsø (Norway)".[15]
Personal life
editTogether with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Gunina signed an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, protesting against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people.[16]
References
edit- ^ "Vladimir Putin Congratulates Russian Women's Chess Team". Natalia Pogonina's website. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
- ^ GM title application FIDE
- ^ Pein, Malcolm (24 December 2016). "London Chess Classic: Valentina Gunina wins Super Rapid". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ^ European Youth Chess Championship 2006 - Girls U18. Chess-Results.com.
- ^ "The Week in Chess 609". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
- ^ "The Week in Chess 632". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
- ^ http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic757.html#24 TWIC 757
- ^ "Valentina Gunina is Women World Blitz Championship". Chessdom. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ "Maletin and Gunina are new Russian Rapid Champions". Chessdom. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ "Carlsen wins Wijk masters, Wei Yi wins B". ChessBase. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ "Ian Nepomniachtchi and Valentina Gunina win the Moscow Blitz Chess Championships". FIDE. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ "Standings | www.uschesschamps.com". uschesschamps.com. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
- ^ "Nakamura Defeats So to Repeat as Speed Chess Champion". 8 April 2020.
- ^ Doggers, Peter (28 May 2019). "Women's Speed Chess: Gunina Crushes Krush". Chess.com.
- ^ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 25 октября 2014 года № 680 "О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации"" [Russian Federation Presidential Decree of 25 October 2014 No. 680 "On conferring state awards of the Russian Federation"] (PDF). kremlin.ru (in Russian). p. 22. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Stop the war.' 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin". Chess.com. 3 March 2022.
External links
edit- Valentina Gunina chess games at 365Chess.com
- Valentina Gunina player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Valentina Gunina rating card at FIDE
