2022: The Year of Women in Chess
Recapping the year of women in chess over the board
UKRAINE. It was a dark and stormy year in the history of women’s chess. With Russia invading and China travel-restricting, the two most successful countries in women’s chess today were left out of most of last year’s festivities. “Who will lead us now?” the fans wondered. With the top players not playing and the Olympiad in doubt, a new power entered the fray: “We will host the Olympiad!" India said. Would they win it too? India were the top seed, two GMs 2500 strong! They led the whole way and it came down to the end. Suddenly there was a big surprise. Reunited in Chennai after they were scattered away from home, the Ukraine team would never be broken. They were the champions! The gold medal! Ukraine deserved it the most. They didn’t lose a single round. “We’ve never won it before!” Mariya and Anna Muzychuk thought. They won it now, in the most agonizing year!
CHINA. The Olympiad was saved, but the Candidates was not. FIDE decided there would be no round-robin. The Ukrainians would play here and the Russians would play there. The pools would take place at the worst possible times. The Chess960 World Championship? Not important. Equal prize money for men and women at Tata Steel India? Not important. “We always win knockouts,” China proclaimed before Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi won the knockouts! The Ukrainians exited and the Russians too. The World Champion title will stay with China! But the challenger to Ju Wenjun? That will have to wait until the next year.
CRAMLING. With no Candidates, there were only two women’s round-robin super-tournaments. Bydgoszcz in June was won by Gunay Mammadzada! Kateryna Lagno took the Grand Prix leg in Astana, and she hit her best-ever rating too! “Would there be any GM norms?” the fans hoped. In open tournaments, there were three: Nurgyul Salimova got her 1st in January. Vaishali got her 2nd in May. And Irene Sukandar got her 2nd in August. Meruert Kamalidenova, Padmini Rout, and Teodora Injac had last-round chances but they just missed out. Eline Roebers might have got a GM norm if she beat Pia Cramling at the Olympiad, but nobody beats Pia Cramling at the Olympiad. She lost the gold medal to Pia too, who won her third at 59. The whole year’s GM norms couldn’t match the four from the Women’s Grand Swiss in 2021.
PÄHTZ. That last norm from the Women’s Grand Swiss. “Elisabeth Pähtz is a GM!” everyone declared. FIDE waited the whole year to decide and finally they decreed that she is a GM, the 40th in history! Five players became IMs, each one was unique. Ulviyya Fataliyeva was the oldest at 25. Eline Roebers was the youngest at 16. Mai Narva was the first from Estonia. Oliwia Kiołbasa was the most perfect with her Olympiad run. And Teodora Injac just made it, she saved it for the year’s very end.
ELINE. Who is the most famous chess player? Is it Magnus? Hikaru? How about Eline? Before becoming an IM, Eline Roebers was famous for her title. Famously untitled when she beat a GM and the top seed. Eline won the tournament! There was a familiar sound. “Hello everyone, and welcome to a very nice game.” Lu Miaoyi was the next player agadmator made famous. She only needed 18 moves to win, and only needed to be 12 to play her first immortal.
NEXT. The Candidates and the Grand Prix lead right into 2023. What to expect? That’s a topic for another post you will soon see.
Note: None of the “quotes” are actual quotes or even based on real quotes at all, except the last one.