Gunina, Valentina

Born 4 February 1989 | Federation: Russia | Rating: 2497

Valentina Gunina is the three-time European Champion, three-time Russian Champion and Women's World Blitz champion in 2012.

Valentina won the European Girl's U12 Championship in 2000 and continued her winning streak at the 2003 World Girl's U14, 2004 European Girls' U16, and 2007 World Girls' U18 Championships.

She was also successful inat national and European championships and won the Women's European Individual Championships three times, including the most recent one in 2018. She is also a three-time Russian Women's Champion (2011, 2013, 2014).

Valentina is one of the strongest women playing at faster time controls. In 2012 she won the Women's World Blitz and Russian Women's Rapid Championship in 2014. However, her biggest success happened at 2016 London Chess Classic Super-Rapidplay. She outscored 44 GMs, got 9/10 points, collecting victories over top GMs: Smirin, Iturrizaga, Howell, and McShane. Her results were among the best for a female at a top-level chess tournament.

Gunina has been an important member of the Russian Women's team for many years. They earned gold at the Olympiad in 2010, 2012, and 2014. The team also got their gold at the European Team Championships four times in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015. In 2014 Tromso Chess Olympiad and 2016 Baku Chess Olympiad she won gold medals for her best performance on the second board.

In February 2019, she became the first ever winner of the Cairns Cup, in Saint Louis, as she ended victoriously the tournament with 7 out of 9, half a point ahead of Alexandra Kosteniuk. She contributed to the silver medal for the Russian Team at the last World Team Championship ((Nur-Sultan, March 2019).