Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Čmilytė-Nielsen in 2023 | |
| Speaker of the Seimas | |
| In office 13 November 2020 – 14 November 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Viktoras Pranckietis |
| Succeeded by | Saulius Skvernelis |
| Leader of the Liberal Movement | |
| Assumed office 21 September 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Eugenijus Gentvilas |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 23 March 2019 – 10 September 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Andrius Kubilius |
| Succeeded by | Julius Sabatauskas |
| Member of the Seimas | |
| Assumed office 13 November 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Mykolas Majauskas |
| Constituency | Senamiestis-Žvėrynas |
| In office 21 April 2015 – 12 November 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Remigijus Šimašius |
| Constituency | Multi-member |
| Deputy Speaker of the Seimas | |
| Assumed office 14 November 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Viktorija Čmilytė (1983-08-06)6 August 1983 (age 42) |
| Party | Liberal Movement |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | University of Latvia (BA) |
| Chess career | |
| Title | Grandmaster (2010) |
| FIDE rating | 2538 (February 2026) |
| Peak rating | 2542 (June 2017) |
Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen (néeČmilytė; born 6 August 1983) is a Lithuanian politician and chessGrandmaster who served as thespeaker of the Seimas between 2020 and 2024. Awarded the titleGrandmaster byFIDE in 2010, she was European women's champion in 2011, and is a two-time Lithuanian champion.
Čmilytė-Nielsen began her career in politics in 2015, when she was selected to replaceRemigijus Šimašius in theSeimas for theLiberal Movement, and later was reelected in the2016 parliamentary election. She began to gradually rise in the ranks of the Liberal Movement, becoming the Seimasopposition leader in 2019, and being elected chairperson of the Liberal Movement later that year. She led the party into the2020 parliamentary election, where they won 13 seats.
Viktorija Čmilytė was born inŠiauliai.[1] She began playingchess at age six, and was coached by her father Viktor Ivanovič Čmil (Viktoras Čmilis), aKGB active reserve officer of Russian ethnicity and the head of theŠiauliai Chess Club.[2][3][4] After graduating, Čmilytė moved toRiga to enroll in the Faculty of Humanities at theUniversity of Latvia. She graduated with a degree inEnglish philology in 2007.[5][6]
Čmilytė spent her early chess career being coached by her father. In 1993, she won theEuropean Youth Chess Championship in the under-12 girls category, and later won the1995 World Youth Chess Championship in the same category.[7]
In 2000, at the age of sixteen, Čmilytė won both the women's and absolutenational championships of Lithuania, held inVilnius. In winning the latter, she edged out GrandmastersDarius Ruželė,Viktor Gavrikov andAloyzas Kveinys, and International MastersVaidas Sakalauskas andVytautas Šlapikas on tiebreak.[8] Čmilytė won the absolute championship again in 2005 in her home city, on tiebreak fromŠarūnas Šulskis.[9]
She finished second toJovanka Houska in the 2000European Junior (Under-20) Girls Championship inAsturias. By 2001, she was ranked number one byFIDE amongst girls. In the same year she won theCorus Reserve Group tournament atWijk aan Zee.[10]
Čmilytė took the silver medal at theEuropean Women's Individual Championship in 2003 (Silivri), 2008 (Plovdiv) and 2010 (Rijeka). She won the European Women'sRapid Chess Championship in 2007.[11] She was awarded the Grandmaster title in 2010, having gained the requirednorms in the 2008Gibraltar Chess Festival, 2009European Team Chess Championship and 2010 European Women's Individual Championship.[12] In 2011, Čmilytė finally took the gold medal in the European Women's Individual Championship.[13][14]
Čmilytė competed in theWomen's World Chess Championship for the first time in2000, when she reached the third round. In2004 she was defeated in the quarterfinals by former Women's World ChampionMaia Chiburdanidze. In2006, Čmilytė reached the semifinals and lost to the eventual runner-up,Alisa Galliamova. In 2008 and 2010 she was eliminated in the second round, while in 2010 and 2015 she went out in round three.
Čmilytė has played for the Lithuanian team in the2010 Chess Olympiad (Open Section) and on other occasions participated in the Women'sChess Olympiads, where she won two individual gold medals on board one, the first atIstanbul in 2000 (9½/12) and the second atCalvià in 2004 (8½/11). She earned a place in the team for the first time when she was thirteen (inYerevan, 1996) and was first board at fifteen (Elista, 1998), contributing a plus score each time.[15]
In theFrauenbundesliga (Women's Bundesliga) in Germany, she is a team member of OSC Baden Baden, but has also played some league chess in Sweden.
Čmilytė-Nielsen entered politics in 2015, as a member of theLiberal Movement. AfterRemigijus Šimašius resigned from theSeimas in order to take office as themayor of Vilnius, Čmilytė-Nielsen took his seat in parliament.[16]
A year afterwards, Čmilytė-Nielsen was selected to stand in the2016 parliamentary election with the Liberal Movement, as a candidate on their nationwide party list. She ultimately was elected to parliament, and subsequently began to serve on theEuropean affairs committee and human rights committee. During this term in parliament, Čmilytė-Nielsen began to amass more influence and prestige within the party, serving as deputy chair of the Liberal Movement parliamentary group in 2017 and 2018, and later serving as the parliamentary group's chair since 2018.[5] In 2019, she was selected to serve as the Seimasopposition leader, becoming the spokesperson and leader of the parliamentary groups opposed to the incumbentSkvernelis government.[17] She later resigned as opposition leader and was replaced byJulius Sabatauskas, but was later elected to serve as chairperson of the Liberal Movement in September 2019.[18][19]
.jpg)
_2.jpg)
As party chair, Čmilytė-Nielsen was tasked with leading the Liberal Movement into the2020 parliamentary election, where the party won 13 seats. Following the certification of election results, it emerged that a coalition would likely be formed between the Liberal Movement,Freedom Party, and election winnersHomeland Union.[20][21] ProposingIngrida Šimonytė as theirprime ministerial candidate, Čmilytė-Nielsen was expected to be one of the three main leaders of the incoming government, in addition to Šimonytė and Freedom Party leaderAušrinė Armonaitė, following in the footsteps of theMarin Cabinet in Finland for having a woman-led government.[22][23] On 9 November, the coalition agreement was signed between the Homeland Union, Liberal Movement, and Freedom Party.[24]
On 12 November, Čmilytė-Nielsen was nominated to serve asspeaker of the Seimas, and was expected to be succeeded as Liberal Movement parliamentary leader byEugenijus Gentvilas.[25] She later was elected as speaker the following day, receiving 106 votes, becoming the third woman to serve in the position.[26]
In addition to her nativeLithuanian, she is also fluent inEnglish,Russian, andSpanish.[5]
Čmilytė married Latvian-Spanish chess playergrandmasterAlexei Shirov in 2001, until divorcing in 2007. In 2013 she married Danish chess player grandmasterPeter Heine Nielsen. She has four children.[5]
Lithuania: Knight's Cross of theOrder of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas[27]Lithuania: Knight's Cross of theOrder for Merits to Lithuania[5]
Taiwan: Medal of Honor for Parliamentary Diplomacy[28]
Ukraine: Member 2nd Class of theOrder of Prince Yaroslav the Wise[29]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Seimas 2020–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Liberal Movement 2019–present | Incumbent |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |