Jovanka Houska (born 10 June 1980) is an English
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 dist ...
player with the titles
International Master (IM) and
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). She is a nine-time
British Women's Chess Champion.
Formative years
Born in south London, her family name stems from her grandfather who was part Czech. Her first name is typically
Slavic, but was chosen only to complement the family name. Chess is a popular sport in the Houska family, and she owes much of her progress to the sibling rivalry that developed with elder brother Miroslav, himself an International Master of chess, though currently inactive. She has a
degree in Law.
One of England's most active professionals, she first represented her country at the
World Youth Championship for Girls (under 10) in
Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
1988, finishing fifth after a disastrous start and despite being years younger than most of her opponents. She competed in the same event at
Aguadilla
Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla i ...
in 1989 and then, for a third time at
Fond du Lac in 1990, where she won the bronze medal. There were many more successes over the next few years including another bronze medal at the
European Junior Championship for girls (under 20) at
Erevan in 1998. As a consequence, she was awarded the
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 an ...
(WIM) title the same year, after securing all three norms in just over a month. Her first WGM norm was achieved at the 1999
British Championship when she was still a teenager.
European success
Then, at
Avilés in 2000, her previous efforts were eclipsed by a return visit to the European Junior Championship—capturing the gold winner's medal, ahead of
Viktorija Čmilytė
Viktorija may refer to:
* Viktorija (given name), including a list of people with this name
* Viktorija (singer), Serbian singer
See also
* Viktoriya
* Viktoria (disambiguation)
* Victoria (disambiguation)
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* ...
. It was a milestone victory, as it also provided a final qualification norm for the WGM title. The following year saw her take the Women's
Commonwealth Championship, held in London in conjunction with the
Mind Sports Olympiad
The Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) is an annual international multi-disciplined competition and festival for games of mental skill and mind sports. The inaugural event was held in 1997 in London with £100,000 prize fund''Mind Sports Olympiad Su ...
. She defeated GM
Dibyendu Barua
Dibyendu Barua (born 27 October 1966) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Indian Chess Champion. He was the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, second Bengali after Niaz Murshed, and third South Asian after Niaz and Anand ...
in the process and gained a first IM norm.
Team events
Despite her time-consuming academic studies, the next few years were notable for Houska's unstinting contribution to the England Women's team at various major competitions around the world. She participated at each of the
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...
s between 1998 and 2008 and aside from her first appearance as a reserve, has played consistently on high boards, scoring in excess of 50% on each occasion. From 1999 onwards, she has also been an ever-present at the
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 ...
s. The team's most notable performance in this event, occurred at
Leon
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
in 2001, where a third-place finish produced a team bronze medal.
An active league chess player, she has represented ''SK Hofheim'' in the German
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
, ''Deauville'' in France, and ''Wood Green'' in the
4NCL
{{Unreferenced, date=November 2022
The 4NCL, or Four Nations Chess League, is a chess league in the United Kingdom and named after its four nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. However, the league is truly international, with pl ...
.
Further progress
Following yet more successful norm-seeking, she became the third British woman to be awarded the IM title in 2005. Voted
English Chess Federation
The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904. ...
''Player of the Year'' in 2006, she was the first female to receive the accolade since its inception in 1984. There were 'highest placed Woman' prizes at the
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...
2006–7 and at
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 ...
2007. She also came close to winning the first
MonRoi Women's Grand Prix, finally finishing second equal behind
Pia Cramling. Her task was much more difficult at the fifth
Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament, held at
Simpsons-in-the-Strand
Simpson's-in-the-Strand is one of London's oldest traditional English restaurants. Situated in the Strand, it is part of the Savoy Buildings, which also contain one of the world's most famous hotels, the Savoy. The restaurant has been "temp ...
, where she faced some of the world's top grandmasters and finished in last place.
At
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
in 2008, she became British and English Women's Champion for the first time, finishing a full point ahead of closest rival
Susan Lalic and a half point ahead of grandmasters
Glenn Flear
Glenn Curtis Flear (born 12 February 1959 in Leicester, England) is a British chess grandmaster now living in Montpellier, France. He is the author of several books, some on chess openings and some on the endgame.
He was awarded the Intern ...
and
Stewart Haslinger
Stewart Gavin Haslinger (born 25 November 1981 in Ainsdale, Merseyside) is an English chess Grandmaster and former British Junior champion.
Biography
Now a resident of nearby Formby, Haslinger comes from a strong chess-playing family. Taugh ...
. Her second Liverpool visit resulted in a third share of the women's best performance prize (jointly with
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant and
Yelena Dembo
Yelena Dembo (born December 8, 1983) is a Greek chess player, who holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. She is also a chess teacher and author.
Family background
Dembo was born on December 8, 1983, in Penza, Russia. S ...
) at the
EU Individual Open Chess Championship
The EU Individual Open Championship was first contested in Cork, Ireland in 2005, under the auspices of organising body, the European Chess Union (ECU). The event is open to members of chess federations within the European Union. Exceptionally, at ...
.
Houska successfully defended her British Championship title at the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 events. By July 2010, her sustained good form had elevated her to an
Elo rating of 2433, making her England's second ranked woman player (behind
Harriet Hunt
Harriet Vaughan Hunt (born 4 February 1978 in Oxford) is an English chess player and five-time British Women's Chess Champion (which she most recently won in October 2021, 22 years after her fourth win). Having trained as a plant scientist a ...
) and number fifty-one in the world among active female players. Further British Championship victories were achieved in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
As a chess writer, she has reported on tournaments home and abroad for periodicals such as
CHESS magazine. Houska completed her first
chess opening book in 2007. Written for ''Everyman Chess'', it features a treatise on Houska's opening of choice with the Black pieces—the
Caro–Kann Defence
The Caro–Kann Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
:1. e4 c6
The Caro–Kann is a common defence against the King's Pawn Opening. It is classified as a Semi-Open Game, like the Sicilian Defence and French Defence, althoug ...
. A second book, covering the
Scandinavian Defence, was published in 2009 and there followed a collaboration on 2010s ''Dangerous Weapons: The Caro-Kann'', with fellow English masters
John Emms and
Richard Palliser.
Personal
Houska married Norwegian chess player Arne Hagesaether on 14 March 2009 at the Ice Chapel in
Alta, Norway
( se, Áltá ; fkv, Alattio; fi, Alattio) is the most populated municipality in Finnmark in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta. Some of the main villages in the municipality in ...
.
ECF Website item by IM Lawrence Cooper
/ref>
Notable games
At the Dresden Olympiad of 2008, Houska won twice against high ranking opposition;
J. Houska vs A. Stefanova, Slav Defence, 1-0, Women's Olympiad, Dresden 2008
V. Cmilyte vs J. Houska, Slav Defence, 0-1, Women's Olympiad, Dresden, 2008
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Non-chess books
*
Notes
References
Olimpbase – Olympiads and other Team event information
5th Staunton Memorial website
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houska, Jovanka
1980 births
Living people
Chess International Masters
Chess woman grandmasters
English female chess players
British chess writers
Sportspeople from London
English people of Czech descent