Following nine-game winning streak, Teodora Injac wins European Women’s Championship

Bulmaga and Narva reach the podium

Teodora Injac of Serbia has won the 25th European Women’s Chess Championship, held from 31 March to 10 April in Rhodes, Greece. Injac, who entered the event as the second seed, finished with a commanding 9½/11, securing the title with a round to spare and ending 1½ points ahead of her closest rivals.

The championship, hosted for a second consecutive year on the Mediterranean island, was played as an 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control. Injac’s triumph was particularly notable for her remarkable recovery after a difficult start. She suffered a loss in the first round to 16-year-old Anastasia Kirtadze of Georgia, having missed a mate-in-two during the game.

Injac found the good-looking 35…Qxa2+, when after 36.Kxa2 she has a mate-in-two on the board: i.e. 36…b1Q+ 37.Qxb1 Ra4#. With only seconds on the clock, however, the eventual tournament winner played 36…Ra4+ instead, and after 37.Kb1 Ra1+ 38.Kc2 b1Q+ 39.Qxb1 Raxb1, in fact it is White who is winning!

The Neo-London System offers many new, creative possibilities to present your opponents with serious problems in the early stages of the game.

After 40.Rxg7+, Kirtadze went on to convert her newfound advantage into a 53-move win. But Injac responded with a winning streak that included nine consecutive victories.

Teodora Injac | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Injac’s run included crucial wins over direct competitors for the title. Between rounds 7 and 10, she defeated Mai Narva (Estonia), Irina Bulmaga (Romania) and Lilit Mkrtchian (Armenia), all of whom finished in the top eleven and qualified for the next Women’s World Cup.

One of the tournament’s standout moments came in round 8, when Injac uncorked the spectacular tactical blow 26…Bxg3 against Georgia’s Bella Khotenashvili.

The move, described by Karsten Müller as coming “out of the clear blue sky”, secured a critical win on the top board (see full analysis below).

Three players tied for second place on 8/11: Irina Bulmaga, Mai Narva and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya. Thanks to superior Buchholz tiebreak scores, Bulmaga claimed the silver medal, with Narva taking bronze. Ten players, including top seed Nino Batsiashvili of Georgia, shared fifth place with scores of 7½/11.

The King‘s Indian Attack is a universal opening: easy to learn, flexible, and rich in both tactical and positional opportunities.

Among the tournament’s standout stories was Anastasia Kirtadze. The young Georgian player, seeded 70th, led the tournament after six rounds, having scored 5½/6 against a tough field. Although she struggled in the latter stages, finishing on 6½/11, her performance earned her a gain of 154 rating points.

Irina Bulmaga v. Teodora Injac about to start in round 10 | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Mai Narva | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Aleksandra Maltsevskaya | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Khotenashvili 0 – 1 Injac

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Final standings

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

1
2


IM
Injac, Teodora


2454
9,5
0
70,5
74,5
5
9
2591
10
18,6

2
23


IM
Bulmaga, Irina


2362
8
0
71,5
76
5
6
2468
10
15,2

3
16


IM
Narva, Mai


2380
8
0
69,5
74,5
6
6
2486
10
15,2

4
18


IM
Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra


2376
8
0
68
72,5
6
7
2484
10
15,6

5
4


IM
Tsolakidou, Stavroula


2445
7,5
0
68,5
72
6
4
2410
10
-0,2

6
6


IM
Javakhishvili, Lela


2429
7,5
0
67,5
72,5
6
5
2413
10
-0,9

7
1


GM
Batsiashvili, Nino


2473
7,5
0
67
72
5
6
2448
10
-2,6

8
7


GM
Ushenina, Anna


2428
7,5
0
66
71
5
4
2444
10
3,1

9
13


IM
Daulyte-Cornette, Deimante


2389
7,5
0
66
71
5
4
2411
10
4,5

10
27


IM
Mammadova, Gulnar


2342
7,5
0
65,5
70,5
5
5
2399
10
9,5

11
14


IM
Mkrtchian, Lilit


2388
7,5
0
65
70
6
5
2434
10
7,6

12
20


IM
Milliet, Sophie


2371
7,5
0
63,5
67,5
5
5
2398
10
4,9

13
24


IM
Kiolbasa, Oliwia


2360
7,5
0
62
66
5
4
2334
10
-2,4

14
10


IM
Kulon, Klaudia


2401
7,5
0
59
64
5
6
2350
10
-5,1

15
50


WIM
Urh, Zala


2244
7
0
69,5
74,5
5
4
2434
20
57

16
9


GM
Khotenashvili, Bella


2418
7
0
69
74,5
5
4
2426
10
1,4

17
3


IM
Arabidze, Meri


2447
7
0
66
71
5
4
2400
10
-6,6

18
12


GM
Danielian, Elina


2398
7
0
66
70,5
6
5
2400
10
0,5

19
46


WGM
Krasteva, Beloslava


2257
7
0
64
68
6
4
2424
20
50

20
29


IM
Savina, Anastasia


2331
7
0
63,5
68,5
5
5
2335
10
1

21
17


IM
Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina


2380
7
0
61,5
66,5
5
5
2348
10
-4,3

22
32


WGM
Zawadzka, Jolanta


2326
7
0
59
63,5
6
4
2291
10
-4,5

23
34


GM
Zhukova, Natalia


2306
7
0
58,5
62,5
5
5
2295
10
-0,6

24
15


IM
Fataliyeva, Ulviyya


2387
7
0
58
62,5
6
6
2288
10
-13,1

25
39


WGM
Yao, Lan


2294
7
0
58
62
5
5
2284
20
-0,6

26
70


WFM
Kirtadze, Anastasia


2180
6,5
0
78
85
6
5
2446
40
153,6

27
22


IM
Roebers, Eline


2367
6,5
0
69
73,5
6
6
2370
10
1,1

28
11


WGM
Beydullayeva, Govhar


2400
6,5
0
68,5
73,5
5
4
2359
10
-5,5

29
31


WGM
Toncheva, Nadya


2329
6,5
0
66,5
71,5
5
5
2315
20
1,2

30
21


GM
Socko, Monika


2369
6,5
0
64,5
69
5
4
2287
10
-11,2

…136 players

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