Sopiko Guramishvili

Sopiko Guramishvili (სოფიკო გურამიშვილი; born 1 January 1991) is a Georgian and Dutch chess player, author, and commentator who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM).

Having represented Georgia for the bulk of her playing career, she has been an under-16 girls' World Youth Champion and an under-18 girls' Georgian national champion.

She has a peak FIDE rating of 2441 and has been ranked as high as No. 42 in the world among women.

Guramishvili began playing chess at age five.

She regularly qualified for and participated in the World Youth Chess Championships from age ten onwards.

Sopiko Guramishvili was born on 1 January 1991 in Tbilisi, the capital of the Georgian SSR and the modern-day capital of Georgia.

She was first introduced to chess inadvertently at age five while her grandmother was teaching her how to play draughts.

After she was more intrigued by the chess pieces that weren't being used, her mother taught her the game.

This win was part of a stretch where Georgia won the gold medal in the under-16 girls' division seven out of ten times from 1999 through 2008.

Guramishvili first qualified for the World Youth Chess Championships in 2001 in Oropesa del Mar at age ten.

She finished in equal ninth out of 70 competitors in the under-10 girls' division with a score of a score of 7 points in 11 games (7/11), three points behind the winner Tan Zhongyi.

Guramishvili first earned a FIDE rating through the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in October 2002, starting at 2142 at age eleven.

She won a silver medal in the under-12 girls' division in 2003 and a gold medal in the under-16 girls' division in 2006.

Guramishvili first qualified for the Georgian Women's Chess Championship at age 17.

By the middle of 2003, she had earned the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title.

That year, she finished on the podium in the under-12 girls' division at both the European Youth and World Youth Chess Championships.

At the former in Budva, Montenegro, she earned a bronze medal with a score of 7/9, tied with Elena Tairova and behind only Anastasia Bodnaruk, having lost to both of them.

She fared better at the latter tournament in Kallithea in Greece, earning a silver medal.

With a score of 8½/11, she finished ahead of Tan only on the tiebreak criteria and was runner-up to Ding Yixin, having won her games against Tan, Tairova, and Bodnaruk, but losing to Ding.

Guramishvili moved up to the under-14 girls' division the following year, but had less success.

Over the next two years, her best result in this division came at the 2004 World Championships, where she finished in equal fourth place.

After more than three years with a steady rating just below 2150, Guramishvili reached a new peak rating of 2180 in April 2006 with a strong performance at the qualification tournament for the Georgian Women's Chess Championship.

She scored 5½/9, a point behind joint first place finishers Sopiko Khukhashvili and Tamar Tsereteli.

Although she narrowly did not qualify because of the tiebreak criteria, she gained 31 rating points.

Guramishvili finished the year with a redeeming performance at the World Youth Chess Championships, which were hosted by her home country in Batumi.

Despite an opening round loss to a much lower-rated player, she recovered to dominate the rest of the under-16 girls' event with wins in nine of her last ten games.

She finished with 9½/11, winning the division easily by 1½ points.

She also reached a rating of 2200 for the first time.

Guramishvili consolidated her 2006 World Championship gold medal with another strong year in 2007, gaining about another 100 rating points and earning her first norm for the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title.

Early in the year, she fared well at both the Georgian under-18 boys' championship and the qualification tournament for the open Georgian Chess Championship, helping her climb to a rating of 2267.

Her best finish was in 2009, when she came in joint second place and earned a WGM norm.

Guramishvili was awarded the WGM title in 2009 at age 18 and the IM title in 2012 at age 21.

Guramishvili has routinely performed well at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, earning a double IM norm in 2010 and twice qualifying for the Women's World Chess Championship 64-player knockout tournament because of her 2013 and 2015 results.

She earned her last IM norm at the 2011 Nakhchivan Open, during which she defeated Sergey Fedorchuk, a Ukrainian Grandmaster (GM) rated 2662.

She was also one of the official commentators for the 2014 World Chess Championship match.

Guramishvili is married to Anish Giri, a Dutch Grandmaster who has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world.

Guramishvili had her two best tournament performance ratings in 2016, with a career-best of 2509 at the Tata Steel Tienkamp.

Beyond competing at chess, Guramishvili has developed online courses and other instructional videos, in particular for chess24.

With fellow IM Anna Rudolf, she has co-hosted an instructional series on chess24 where Rudolf and Guramishvili are known respectively as Miss Strategy and Miss Tactics.

At the 2017 Women's World Championship, she eliminated higher-seeded Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and reached the round of 16.