Valentina Gunina: Difference between revisions

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1989|2|4|df=y}}

'''Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pogonina.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2500|title=Vladimir Putin Congratulates Russian Women's Chess Team|publisher=[[Natalia Pogonina]]'s website|date=2014-08-20 August 2014|access-date=2015-08-22 August 2015}}</ref> ({{lang-ru|Валентина Евгеньевна Гунина}}; born 4 February 4, 1989, in [[Murmansk]])<ref>[http://ratings.fide.com/crt/main221014.pdf GM title application] FIDE</ref> is a Russian [[chess]] [[Grandmaster (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 Chess Championship|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 Olympiad]]s of 2010, 2012, 2014, at the Women's [[European Team Chess Championship]]s of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019 and at the Women's [[World Team Chess Championship]] of 2017.

Gunina won the 2016 [[London Chess Classic]] Super Rapidplay Open in one of the best performances or [[List of female winners of open chess tournaments|victories for a femalewoman at a top -level chess tournament]], defeating several maletop [[Grandmaster100 (chess)|Grandmasters]]grandmasters along the way.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pein|first= Malcolm |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/24/london-chess-classic-valentina-gunina-wins-super-rapid/|title=London Chess Classic: Valentina Gunina wins Super Rapid|date=24 December 24, 2016|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=11 February 11, 2017}}</ref>

In 2006, she won the Women's Russian Championship Higher League scoring 7/9 and qualified for the [[Russian Chess Championship#Women|Russian Women's Championship Superfinal]].<ref>[http{{Cite web|url=https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic609.html#13|title=The TWICWeek in Chess 609]|website=theweekinchess.com|accessdate=1 September 2024}}</ref> She placed eleventh with 2.5/11.<ref>[http{{Cite web|url=https://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic632.html#4|title=The TWICWeek in Chess 632]|website=theweekinchess.com|accessdate=1 September 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic757.html#24 TWIC 757</ref>

In 2012, she won the [[Fast chess|Women's World Blitz Championship]] in [[Batumi]], Georgia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessdom.com/valentina-gunina-is-women-world-blitz-championship/|title=Valentina Gunina is Women World Blitz Championship|publisher=Chessdom|date=5 June 2012-06-05|access-date=2015-09-16 September 2015}}</ref> In the same year, Gunina competed for the first time in the [[Women's World Chess Championship 2012|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 [[Fast chess|rapid chess]] championship 2014 in [[Saint Petersburg]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Maletin and Gunina are new Russian Rapid Champions|url=http://www.chessdom.com/maletin-and-gunina-are-new-russian-rapid-champions/|publisher=Chessdom|access-date=13 March 2016|date=2014-05-22 May 2014}}</ref>

In January 2015, she took part in the [[Tata Steel Chess Tournament|Tata Steel]] Challengers tournament in [[Wijk aan Zee]], the Netherlands, where she scored 5/13.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/carlsen-wins-wijk-masters-wei-yi-wins-b|title=Carlsen wins Wijk masters, Wei Yi wins B|publisher=ChessBase|date=2012-01-25 January 2012|access-date=2015-09-16 September 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/9049-ian-nepomniachtchi-and-valentina-gunina-win-the-moscow-blitz-chess-championships-.html|title=Ian Nepomniachtchi and Valentina Gunina win the Moscow Blitz Chess Championships|publisher=FIDE|date=2015-09-11 September 2015|access-date=2015-09-16 September 2015|archive-date=2015-11-21 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121001830/https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/9049-ian-nepomniachtchi-and-valentina-gunina-win-the-moscow-blitz-chess-championships-.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uschesschamps.com:443/2019-cairns-cup/standings|title=Standings &#124; www.uschesschamps.com|website=uschesschamps.com|accessdate=1 September 2024}}</ref>

In late May 2019, Valentina faced American GM [[Irina Krush]] in the quarterfinal match of the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship, an online [[Fast chess|blitz and bullet]] competition hosted by [[Chess.com]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chess.com/article/view/2019-speed-chess-championship#wscc2019|title = Nakamura Defeats So to Repeat as Speed Chess Champion| date=8 April 2020 }}</ref> Valentina dominated the match and won with an overall score of 24–5.<ref>{{cite web|url =https://www.chess.com/news/view/2019-women-speed-chess-championship-gunina-krush|title =Women's Speed Chess: Gunina Crushes Krush|first =Peter|last =Doggers|website =Chess.com|date =28 May 2019}}</ref>

Together 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 [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] people.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chess.com/news/view/stop-the-war-44-top-russian-players-publish-open-letter-to-putin|title=Stop the war.' 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin|work=Chess.com|date=3 March 2022}}</ref>