Olga Alexandrovna Girya[1] (Russian: Ольга Александровна Гиря; born 4 June 1991) is a Russian chess player. She holds the title of Grandmaster (GM), which FIDE awarded her in 2021. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team in the 2014 Women's Chess Olympiad and in the 2017 Women's World Team Chess Championship.[2] Girya competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018. She won the Russian Women's Chess Championship in 2019.

Olga Girya
Girya in 2012
Full nameOlga Alexandrovna Girya
CountryRussia
Born (1991-06-04) 4 June 1991 (age 33)
Langepas, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
TitleGrandmaster (2021)
Peak rating2505 (September 2017)

Career

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Born in Langepas,[3] Girya won, at junior level, the gold medal in the girls U18 division of both World Youth Chess Championships and European Youth Chess Championships in 2009, silver in the girls U16 at the World Youth Championships in 2007[4] and in the girls U18 at European Youth Championships in 2008, and bronze in the girls U18 at World Youth Championship in 2008. She won the Russian girls U20 championship in 2010,[3] and finished runner-up at the World Girls U20 Championship in 2010[5] and 2011.[6]

Girya took part in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series 2013–14 as host city nominee of Khanty-Mansiysk. In the fourth stage, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, she placed second, behind Hou Yifan, and achieved a norm for the title Grandmaster.[7]

In February 2014, she won the women's open event ("Russian Women's Premier Cup") of the Moscow Open.[8][9] In April 2014, Girya won the bronze medal at the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship.[10] In June, she won the women's section of the Russian Higher League, the qualifier for the Superfinal of the women's Russian Chess Championship.[11] In the latter event Girya placed fourth.[12] In November of the same year, she won the Women's Russian Cup, a knockout competition, by defeating Anastasia Bodnaruk in the final.[13] In 2016, Girya took part in the last three events of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series as one of the organisers' nominee. She finished tied for first place with Natalija Pogonina in the 2018 Russian Women's Championship Superfinal and took the silver medal after losing the playoff.[14][15] The next year Girya and Pogonina finished again tied for first. This time Girya won the playoff to become Russian women's champion.[16]

Team competitions

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Girya made her debut in the national women's team at the 39th Chess Olympiad playing on the second board for team Russia 2.[17]

She played on the Russian women's team in the Russia vs China match, held with the Scheveningen system, in 2012[18] and 2015.[19]

In 2013, she helped the Russian team to win the bronze medal in the Women's World Team Chess Championship, winning also the individual gold for board 5,[20] and silver in the Women's European Team Chess Championship.[21]

In April 2015, at the Women's World Team Championship, she won the team bronze and the individual gold on board 5.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "Vladimir Putin Congratulates Russian Women's Chess Team". Natalia Pogonina.
  2. ^ McGourty, Colin (2017-06-28). "Flawless China retain World Team Championship". chess24.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  3. ^ a b "FIDE Women's Grand Prix Tashkent 2013: Olga Girya's profile". tashkent2013.fide.com. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
  4. ^ World Youth Championship 2007 (16G). chess-results.com.
  5. ^ "World Junior: Andreikin, Muzychuk win Gold". Chess News. 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  6. ^ "World Junior: Swiercz and Cori take Gold in Chennai". Chess News. ChessBase. 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  7. ^ "Women's FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk is officially closed". FIDE. 2014-04-22.
  8. ^ Mihailov, Anton (2014-02-11). "Moscow Open 2014 Concluded". FIDE. Archived from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  9. ^ Popova, Galina (2014-02-12). "Moscow Open 2014 attracts over 1700 competitors". ChessBase. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  10. ^ "Kateryna Lagno is Women's World Rapid Champion". Chessdom. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  11. ^ Silver, Albert (2014-06-14). "Russian Higher League: Lysyj and Girya win". ChessBase. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  12. ^ Russian Championship Superfinal 2014.The Week in Chess. 2014-12-01.
  13. ^ "Jakovenko Wins Russian Cup Again". Chess-News.ru. 2014-11-25. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  14. ^ Yermolinsky, Alex (2018-09-06). "Russian Superfinal: Andreikin and Pogonina take gold". Chess News. ChessBase. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  15. ^ Colodro, Carlos (2018-09-07). "Andreikin and Pogonina win Russian Superfinals". chess24.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  16. ^ Pereira, Antonio (2019-08-23). "Girya and Tomashevsky are the 2019 Russian champions". Chess News. ChessBase. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  17. ^ 39th Chess Olympiad 2010 Women: Russia 2 team composition Chess-Results
  18. ^ "8th Russia-China match – China wins classical game encounter". ChessBase. 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  19. ^ "China-Russia Match 2015 | The Week in Chess". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  20. ^ Women's World Team Chess Championship 2013 chessblog.com 12.03.2013
  21. ^ 19th European Women's Team Chess Championship 2013 Chess-Results
  22. ^ "Georgia takes gold in Women's World Team Chess Championship". Chessdom. 2015-04-28.
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