European Women's Individual Championship
The European Women's Individual Chess Championships is underway in Gaziantep, Turkey.
Over 100 women from 25 countries are taking part from 1-14 March. Immediately following the competition there will be a rapid championship (15-16 March) and a blitz championship (17-18 March).
The format for the main championship is an 11 round Swiss, with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from the start.
The winner will receive €20,500 and a strong field is chasing the prize. The leading players are:
| Name | Nat | Elo | ||
| 1 | IM | MUZYCHUK Anna | SLO | 2583 |
| 2 | GM | DZAGNIDZE Nana | GEO | 2559 |
| 3 | GM | LAHNO Kateryna | UKR | 2546 |
| 4 | GM | KOSINTSEVA Nadezhda | RUS | 2535 |
| 5 | GM | STEFANOVA Antoaneta | BUL | 2531 |
| 6 | GM | KOSINTSEVA Tatiana | RUS | 2513 |
| 7 | GM | SEBAG Marie | FRA | 2512 |
| 8 | IM | GUNINA Valentina | RUS | 2511 |
| 9 | GM | CMILYTE Viktorija | LTU | 2497 |
| 10 | IM | KHOTENASHVILI Bela | GEO | 2490 |
| 11 | IM | MUZYCHUK Mariya | UKR | 2490 |
| 12 | GM | DANIELIAN Elina | ARM | 2478 |
| 13 | IM | SKRIPCHENKO Almira | FRA | 2468 |
| 14 | IM | PAEHTZ Elisabeth | GER | 2459 |
| 15 | IM | MKRTCHIAN Lilit | ARM | 2458 |
| 16 | IM | USHENINA Anna | UKR | 2458 |
| 17 | WGM | POGONINA Natalija | RUS | 2449 |
| 18 | GM | KOSTENIUK Alexandra | RUS | 2448 |
| 19 | IM | JAVAKHISHVILI Lela | GEO | 2448 |
| 20 | IM | KHURTSIDZE Nino | GEO | 2447 |
| 21 | GM | HOANG Thanh Trang | HUN | 2438 |
| 22 | WGM | BATSIASHVILI Nino | GEO | 2438 |
| 23 | GM | ZHUKOVA Natalia | UKR | 2435 |
| 24 | IM | ROMANKO Marina | RUS | 2417 |
| 25 | IM | GAPONENKO Inna | UKR | 2416 |
The playing hall in round one:
The rounds start at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC), with the last round 4 hours earlier. Live coverage can be found at this page of the official website.
After two rounds only 12 players have perfect 2/2 scores:
| Name | Nat | Elo | Pts | |
| GM | KOSINTSEVA Tatiana | RUS | 2513 | 2 |
| GM | SEBAG Marie | FRA | 2512 | 2 |
| GM | CMILYTE Viktorija | LTU | 2497 | 2 |
| IM | KHURTSIDZE Nino | GEO | 2447 | 2 |
| WIM | MAMMADOVA Gulnar | AZE | 2324 | 2 |
| IM | GUNINA Valentina | RUS | 2511 | 2 |
| GM | STEFANOVA Antoaneta | BUL | 2531 | 2 |
| IM | MELIA Salome | GEO | 2400 | 2 |
| IM | BOJKOVIC Natasa | SRB | 2395 | 2 |
| WGM | GURAMISHVILI Sopiko | GEO | 2395 | 2 |
| WGM | VOJINOVIC Jovana | MNE | 2356 | 2 |
| IM | FOISOR Cristina-Adela | ROU | 2398 | 2 |
A few games, including some upsets from the opening two rounds are below.
Former women's world champion Anoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria
German #1 Elizabeth Paehtz lost her second round game
