Azerbaijani chess players make history at European Championship

Azerbaijani chess players have achieved historic success at the European Women's Chess Championship, which was held in the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague.

In the last – 11th round of the championship, Gunay Mammadzade, who ranked second in the tournament table, tied with Alexandra Maltsevskaya (Poland), Govhar Beydullayeva - with Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), and Laman Hajiyeva - with Iolanta Zavadskaya (Poland), Report informs.

Ulviyya Fataliyeva defeated her teammate from the Azerbaijani national team Gulnar Mammadova; Khanim Balajayeva defeated Alicia Slivitskaya from Poland; Sabina Ibrahimova was stronger than Mikhalina Rudzinskaya (Poland).

The 44-year-old Monika Socko became the European champion, gaining 8.5 points. Gunay Mammadzade won the silver medal with 8 points, and Ulviya Fataliyeva, who scored the same number of points, won the bronze medal.

Azerbaijani chess players have never won medals at the European Championship in the individual competition before. The conquest of prizes by two athletes at once was a historic success for Azerbaijan.

The European Women's Individual Chess Championship takes place August 20-31, 2022, in Prague, the Czech Republic. The format is an 11-round Swiss tournament. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting on move one.