chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
player representing
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Until 2022, she played for the
Chess Federation of Russia
The Chess Federation of Russia (), known until 2018 as the Russian Chess Federation, () is the governing body for chess in Russia, and the officially recognized arm of the FIDE in Russia. It was founded on 15 February 1992, following the dissoluti ...
. In 2023 she won the final leg of the Women's Grand Prix as the lowest rated player in the field. Since 2020, she holds the title
Woman Grandmaster
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(WGM), since 2023 she holds the title of
International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
Elista
Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...
, the capital of the
Republic of Kalmykia
Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia,; , ''Khalmg Tanghch'' is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavr ...
. During her childhood, she won the Russian Junior Chess Championships for girls five times. Since 2014, she holds the title
Woman International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
Dinara Saduakassova
Dinara Saduakassova (born 31 October 1996)WIM title application FIDE. is a Kazakhstani and WIM P. V. Nandhidhaa won the first and second positions respectively. She was the best female player at the 2019 European Rapid Chess Championships, and the following year she achieved the title
Woman Grandmaster
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
.
At the
Higher School of Economics
HSE University (), officially the National Research University Higher School of Economics () is a public research university founded in 1992 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Along with its main campus located in the capital, the university ...
in Moscow, Wagner studied the
world economy
The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans in the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities conducted both within and between nations, including production (economics), producti ...
, graduating in 2020 with a bachelor's degree. She then moved to
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
and started a master's degree in economics at
Ruprecht-Karls University
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...
. In 2022, she married fellow chess player Dennis Wagner.
2022
German Masters
After the beginning of
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
in 2022, Wagner left the
Chess Federation of Russia
The Chess Federation of Russia (), known until 2018 as the Russian Chess Federation, () is the governing body for chess in Russia, and the officially recognized arm of the FIDE in Russia. It was founded on 15 February 1992, following the dissoluti ...
and temporarily played under the
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
flag, before joining the
German Chess Federation
The German Chess Federation (, DSB) is the umbrella organization for German chess players. It is a member of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund and of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. It has over 90,000 members in over 2500 clubs, making it one ...
in May 2022. In the same year she won the tournament. This win earned her Germany's invitation (as co-organizer) to the
FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2022–23
The 2022–2023 edition of the FIDE Grand Prix was a series of four chess tournaments exclusively for women which determined two players to play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2023–2024. The winner of the Candidates Tournament would play ...
, part of the Women's World Championship cycle 2023–2025.
Women's Grand Prix 2022–23
Wagner started the series as by far the lowest ranked player, almost 100
Elo
Elo or ELO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group
** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album
* ''Elo'', a member magazine for the Tuglas Society
Biology
* Very-long-c ...
below her next nearest competitor, and more than 200 behind the highest-rated,
Aleksandra Goryachkina
Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (; born 28 September 1998) is a Russian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). She is the No. 4 ranked woman in the world by FIDE rating and is also the fourth-highest rated wo ...
.
Astana and first IM norm
The
Astana
Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...
tournament started badly for Wagner with two consecutive losses. Her play generally in Astana was marked by
time trouble
In chess played with a time control, time trouble, time pressure, or its German translation ''Zeitnot'', is the situation where a player has little time to complete the required moves. When forced to play quickly, the probability of making blunder ...
, but she recovered with a series of draws, and two wins versus Kosteniuk and Kashlinskaya (this last, her favorite game at the tournament). After Kosteniuk utilized the Grand Prix Attack against her
Sicilian Defense
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves:
:1. e4 c5
The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for Whi ...
, Wagner said that before the game, she thought, "'Ha! It would be funny if someone played the Grand Prix during the Grand Prix', but unfortunately I didn't prepare it". She spent 30 minutes on move eight of that game.
There were late tournament losses to
Kateryna Lagno
Kateryna Oleksandrivna Lagno (born 27 December 1989) is a Russian (formerly Ukrainian) chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, she earned the title Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at the age of 12 years, four months and two days. In 2007, she was awarde ...
and
Tan Zhongyi
Tan Zhongyi (; born 29 May 1991) is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk i ...
In the Munich leg, Wagner finished 12th of 12. Michael Rahal's report notes that she "only slightly underperformed with respect to her rating (-5 points)".
Victory in Nicosia and first GM norm
In the final leg of the Women's Grand Prix in
Nicosia
Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities.
Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...
, Wagner finished in clear first with 7/11, including victories over Goryachkina and Lagno. She also achieved her second IM norm and her first Grandmaster norm. When asked what she planned to do with her winnings, she said that in Munich, she told herself, "'If I will play well, I will go to one of the stores and buy a designer bag'… so I think I will buy myself something nice!"
Sportland NRW Cup
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund in June, the event continued as a festival of chess called the 50th International Dortmund Chess Days, with a number of concurrent events such as the No Castling Masters, won by
Caruana
Caruana is a surname and given name, commonly found in Italy, Sicily and Malta. Notable people called Caruana include:
As a surname
*Alfonso Caruana (born 1946), member of the Sicilian Mafia
*Angelik Caruana, Maltese resident who reports visions ...
, a large open event, won by Donchencko, and the Sportland NRW Cup, in which Wagner participated.
With a new peak rating due to her exploits in Nicosia, Wagner started ranked fourth by rating, behind grandmasters from India, Uzbekistan and Israel. She began with two consecutive wins against grandmaster opponents, and finished in clear first with 7/9, the only player to go unbeaten throughout the tournament. In the last round, "In a better position, I offered a draw and secured the tournament win"."Caruana, Donchenko and Wagner triumph in Dortmund" Chessbase. A performance rating of 2643 against this strong international opposition meant that Wagner also secured her second GM norm and final IM norm.
German titles and European team competition
Dinara Wagner became German Women Blitz champion in July with no draws, one loss and 25 wins. In August, Wagner's team Superchess won the women's
European Chess Club Cup The European Chess Club Cup is an annual chess tournament for club teams from Europe. It is organised by the European Chess Union. The competition is held with the Swiss system over seven rounds. It consists of two sections, open and women's, with ...
. Wagner was one of the "heroes of the day" with a final round victory as Superchess clinched the cup. She ended the year successfully defending her Women's German Masters crown in December."German Women's Masters" chess-results.com