Valentina Gunina | |
|---|---|
 Gunina in 2023 | |
| Full name | Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina |
| Country | Russia (until 2023) FIDE (since 2023) |
| Born | (1989-02-04)4 February 1989 (age 36) Murmansk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (2013) |
| FIDE rating | 2425 (May 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2548 (June 2015) |
| Peak ranking | No. 6 woman (June 2015) |
Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina[1] (Russian:Валентина Евгеньевна Гунина; born 4 February 1989)[2] is a Russianchess grandmaster. She is the two-time Women's World Blitz Chess Champion (2012 and 2023), has won the Women'sEuropean Individual Chess Championship three times (2012, 2014, 2018), and has won theRussian Women's Championship five times (2011, 2013, 2014, 2021, 2022). She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the Women'sChess Olympiads of 2010, 2012, 2014, at the Women'sEuropean Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019 and at the Women'sWorld Team Chess Championship of 2017.
Gunina won the 2016London Chess Classic Super Rapidplay Open in one of the best performances orvictories for a woman at a top-level chess tournament, defeating several top 100 grandmasters along the way.[3]
Gunina 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 theRussian 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 theWomen's World Blitz Championship inBatumi, Georgia.[8] In the same year, Gunina competed for the first time in theWomen's World Championship: she defeatedGu Xiaobing in the first round, then she was knocked out byAlisa Galliamova in round two. Gunina won the Russian women's rapid chess championship 2014 inSaint Petersburg.[9]
In January 2015, she took part in theTata Steel Challengers tournament inWijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, where she scored 5/13.[10] At theWomen's World Chess Championship 2015 Gunina made it to the third round, where she was eliminated byPia Cramling, after knocking outCamilla Baginskaite andOlga Girya. In September 2015, she won theMoscow Women's Blitz Championship.[11]
In February 2019, she became the first ever winner of The Cairns Cup, in Saint Louis, as she ended the tournament victoriously with 7 out of 9.[12]
In late May 2019, Valentina faced American GMIrina Krush in the quarterfinal match of the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship, an online blitz and bullet competition hosted byChess.com.[13] Valentina dominated the match and won with an overall score of 24–5.[14]
In December 2023, Valentina won the Women'sWorld Blitz Chess Championship 2023 with a score of 14/17 (+12-1=4).
On 25 October 2014, she was awarded theMedal 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 theXXXXI World Chess Olympiad in Tromsø (Norway)".[15]
Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Gunina signed an open letter to Russian presidentVladimir Putin, protesting against the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people.[16]
