- Viktorija Čmilytė
Infobox chess player
playername = Viktorija Čmilytė
caption =
birthname = Viktorija Čmilytė
country = LTU
datebirth = birth date and age|1983|08|06
placebirth =Šiauliai ,Lithuanian SSR ,USSR
datedeath =
placedeath =
title =International Master ,Woman Grandmaster
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating = 2512 (October 2008)
peakrating = 2512 (October 2008)Viktorija Čmilytė (born on
August 6 1983 inŠiauliai ) is aLithuania n chess player with the titles ofInternational Master (IM) andWoman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a former two-time national champion.Early talent
She started playing chess at the age of six, having been taught the moves by her father. He remained her coach during the formative years [Kontrastai. [http://www.kontrastai.lt/?p=174 Šachmatai – gyvenimo būdas, bet ne visas gyvenimas] . Retrieved on 2008-05-30] and the early achievements were sensational, as she collected many important junior titles, including European Youth Champion for Girls (under 10) (
Szombathely 1993) and World Youth Champion for Girls (under 12) (São Lourenço 1995).National champion and world championship contender
On reaching age sixteen, she moved outside of the sphere of junior chess, entering and winning the full national championship of Lithuania, held in
Vilnius . In order to do so, she had to overcome 3 male grandmasters and an IM in a tie-break contest. It was a feat that she repeated five years later in 2005, this time outgunning GM Šarūnas Šulskis in the play-off. The victory had a special meaning this time, as the competition was held in her home city, Lithuania's fourth largest.In 2000, she entered the European Junior Championship for Girls (under 20) in
Asturia , finishing vice-champion behindJovanka Houska . By 2001, she was ranked number one byFIDE amongst girls. This was also the year that she won the Corus (Reserve Group) tournament atWijk aan Zee .Čmilytė has also enjoyed considerable success at the Women's
European Individual Chess Championship , where she captured silver medals in 2003 (Istanbul ) and 2008 (Plovdiv ). She became World Women's Rapidplay Champion in 2007 and has also registered a full grandmaster (GM) norm, a part qualification towards obtaining the title and a rare commodity in women's chess.At the
Women's World Chess Championship , she has been a serious contender on two occasions. On the first occasion, in 2004, she was defeated in the latter stages by former world championMaia Chiburdanidze . In 2006, Čmilytė went a step further, eliminating first her Russian rivalAlexandra Kosteniuk , then beating Chiburdanidze in the quarter-final. However, she lost in the semi-final toAlisa Galliamova .Olympiad success
In team chess, she has represented Lithuania at most of the major events and is an Olympiad double gold medal winner. Each were for outstanding performances on board one; the first at
Istanbul in 2000 (9½/12) and the second atCalvia 2004 (8½/11). She earned a place on the team for the first time when she was thirteen (inYerevan , 1996) and was first board at fifteen (Elista , 1998), contributing a plus score each time.In the Women's Bundesliga in Germany, she is a team member of OSC Baden Baden, but has also played some league chess in Sweden.
Personal life
By way of hobbies, she enjoys sports that suit her tall frame, such as
basketball andvolleyball . She also has a penchant for languages, speaking Russian and English, in addition to her native Lithuanian.Viktorija Čmilytė has been married to GM
Alexei Shirov since August 2001 and the couple reside in Latvia Fact|date=June 2008 with their two children.Notes
References
* [http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2008/publicity_eng/competitors.html Short bio by John Saunders]
* [http://www.coruschess.com/participants.php?year=2003&group=2&bio=12 Short bio at Corus]
* [http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/fide2000/sujatha1.html Interview at New Delhi 2000]
* [http://www.olimpbase.org Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information]External links
*fide|id=12801259|name=Viktorija Cmilyte
*chessgames player|id=51512|name=Victoria Cmilyte
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