Fiona Steil-Antoni (born 10 January 1989) is a Luxembourgish

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. She was awarded the title of

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 ...

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in 2010. Steil-Antoni won an individual gold medal at the

Women's Chess Olympiad The Women's Chess Olympiad is an event held by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) since 1957 (every two years since 1972), where national women's teams compete at chess for gold, silver and bronze medals. Since 1976 the Women's Chess Olympia ...

in 2006.

Early life

Born in

Niederkorn Niederkorn () is a town in the Communes of Luxembourg, commune of Differdange, in south-western Luxembourg, on the Chiers river (), from which it takes its name. As of March 31, 2020, the town has a population of 7,272. Niederkorn is home to FC P ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, Steil-Antoni was taught to play chess by her father when she was nine years old. She made it onto the national team after one year and was trained by

Vlastimil Jansa Vlastimil Jansa (born November 27, 1942) is a Czech chess player. He was awarded the titles of International Master, in 1965, and Grandmaster, in 1974, by FIDE. He learned chess while in hospital at the age of eight and at fourteen, became the ...

from then on.

Chess career

Steil-Antoni has played for team Luxembourg in the

39th Chess Olympiad The 39th Chess Olympiad (russian: 39-я Шахматная олимпиада, ''39-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of ch ...

, the

, the 2011

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

, and the European Small Nations Team Chess Championship. She was part of the team that won the bronze medal in the 2009 European Small Nations Team Chess Championship, held in

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella french: Andorre-la-Vieille is the capital (political), capital of the Andorra, Principality of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, parish ...

. In 2006, at the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, she won the individual gold medal on board two thanks to a score of 10/12 points. She was awarded the

Woman FIDE Master A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

(WFM) title for this result. Steil-Antoni tied for 2nd–3rd places with Pauline Guichard in the WGM tournament of the

Condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...

Chess Festival in 2008, finishing second on tiebreak score. She was awarded the title of Woman International Master (WIM) by FIDE in April 2010. The

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

s required for the title were achieved in the 37th Chess Olympiad, the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s 2007, the

Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy (, literally ''Vandœuvre near Nancy'') is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Vandopériens''. Geography With 29,942 inhabitants (2019), Vandœuvre is the ...

Open 2008, and the Condom WGM event 2008. Steil-Antoni has won the Women's Luxembourg Chess Championship several times. She finished second in the

Klaksvík Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The first se ...

Open 2010, the

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

e2e4 Autumn Women's International in 2010, and the WIM tournament of the

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

Chess Festival 2012. She and Tom Weber won the Blitz Pairs tournament in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

2011. This was the first time “The Smashing Pawns”, a club she founded together with some friends, was represented in any tournament. Steil-Antoni currently plays for ''The Smashing Pawns'' (Luxembourg), ''Vandoeuvre'' (France) and ''Cheddleton'' (England) clubs.

Personal life

Steil-Antoni worked for ''Chess Evolution Weekly Newsletter'' and chess24.com. As of January 2022, she is working as a commentator for chess.com.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steil-Antoni, Fiona 1989 births Living people Luxembourgian chess players Chess Woman International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Differdange