15-year-old Ukrainian sensationally wins European Women’s Chess Championship as Armenian players miss out on medals

The European Women’s Individual Chess Championship has come to an end in Batumi. The main heroine of the tournament was 15-year-old Ukrainian chess player Anastasia Hnatyshyn, who sensationally claimed the championship title.

The young Ukrainian representative scored 9 points out of 11 and finished in first place. Her victory became one of the biggest surprises of the tournament: before the start of the championship, Hnatyshyn was only ranked 76th among the participants, but she managed to finish ahead of more experienced and titled opponents.

Sabrina Vega Gutierrez of Spain, Olga Badelka of Austria and Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria finished half a point behind the champion. They became the closest pursuers of the winner in the final standings.

Armenia was represented at the tournament by 16 chess players, but the Armenian participants were unable to join the fight for medals. In addition, Armenian chess players failed to qualify for the FIDE Women’s World Cup.

The best results among Armenian representatives were achieved by Mariam Mkrtchyan and Lilit Mkrtchian. Both scored 7 points and finished the tournament in the third ten of the final standings. Mariam Mkrtchyan took 23rd place, while Lilit Mkrtchian finished 27th.

Thus, the European Championship in Batumi became historic for 15-year-old Anastasia Hnatyshyn, but did not bring medals or World Cup spots to the Armenian chess players.