The 25th edition of the European Women’s Chess Championship commenced today in Rhodes, Greece.
The opening ceremony of the event took place shortly before the start of the first round with the attendance by the ECU Secretary General Mr. Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou and ECU Treasurer Mr. Ion Dobronauteanu. The Chief Arbiter Mr. Marco Biagioli announced the start of the round, and the ECU Secretary General made the first ceremonial move in the top-board game between GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO, 2473) and WIM Jasmin-Denise Schloffer (AUT, 2188) to inaugurate the start of the competition.
The first round was marked with many upsets. The biggest happened in the game on the second board where WFM Anastasia Kirtadze (GEO, 2180) defeated IM Teodora Injac (SRB, 2454). Injac had a winning position and a mate in two tactical motive, but she missed it in a huge time trouble and entered a lost rooks endgame. Kirtadze was precise in the simplified position with a huge edge and scored a victory.
16-year-old WFM Bozhena Piddubna (UKR, 2145) started the tournament with a win against 10th-seeded IM Klaudia Kulon (POL, 2401). After the amazing European Women’s Chess Championship 2024 where she earned 166.4 elo points, Bozhena Piddubna opened the 2025 Championship in the same fashion! Klaudia Kulon had a big edge after the opening, but the Ukrainian youngster found a way for equalization, Kulon missed a mating net around her King in the endgame and fell into a mating trap without a way to escape.
Two-time European Women’s Chess Champion GM Natalia Zhukova (UKR, 2306) lost the first round against WFM Andrea Bochnickova (SVK, 2051). Zhukova had a passive position in the opening, and Bochnickova had safe play with huge space advantage. Trying to activate pieces, Zhukova lost the pawn and Andre Bochnickova converted a complex endgame into a win.
Among a few other surprising losses by the rating favourites, the first round saw 17 draws, including games by the top seeded IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE, 2445), IM Dinara Wagner (GER, 2440), IM Lela Javakhishvili (GEO, 2429), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL, 2426), IM Deimante Daulyte-Cornette (FRA, 2389) and others.
The second round starts tomorrow at 14:00 CET (15:00 local time) and brings interesting encounters. Live games with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska can be followed through the ECU TV platform or ECU YouTube channel.
All results, pairings and rankings can be found here.
