Olga Alexandrovna Girya (russian: Ольга Александровна Гиря; born 4 June 1991) is a Russian

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 holds the title of Grandmaster (GM), which

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 ...

awarded her in 2021. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team in the 2014 Women's Chess Olympiad and in the 2017 Women's

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

. Girya competed in the

Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wher ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. She won the

Russian Women's Chess Championship The Russian Chess Championship has taken various forms. Winners by year (men) Imperial Russia In 1874, Emanuel Schiffers defeated Andrey Chardin in a match held in St. Petersburg with five wins and four losses. Schiffers was considered the first R ...

in 2019.

Career

Born in

Langepas Langepas (russian: Лангепас; Khanty: Лӑңкипос, ''Lăŋkipos'') is a town in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Population: Geography Langepas lies on the Kayukovskaya riverbank, north of the right bank of the Ob River, close ...

, Girya won, at junior level, the gold medal in the girls U18 division of both

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 and

European Youth Chess Championship The European Youth Chess Championship is organized by the European Chess Union (ECU) in groups under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years old. The first tournament was held in 1991, and the under 8 category was introduced in 2007. Until 2002 there was als ...

s in 2009, silver in the girls U16 at the World Youth Championships in 2007 and in the girls U18 at European Youth Championships in 2008, and bronze in the girls U18 at World Youth Championship in 2008. She won the Russian girls U20 championship in 2010, and finished runner-up at the World Girls U20 Championship in 2010 and 2011. Girya took part in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series 2013–14 as host city nominee of

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk ( rus, Ха́нты-Манси́йск, Khánty-Mansíysk, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty language, Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi language, Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the admini ...

. In the fourth stage, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, she placed second, behind

Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time.

, and achieved a norm for the title Grandmaster. In February 2014, she won the women's open event ("Russian Women's Premier Cup") of the Moscow Open. In April 2014, Girya won the bronze medal at the Women's

World Rapid Chess Championship The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tourn ...

. In June, she won the women's section of the Russian Higher League, the qualifier for the Superfinal of the women's

Russian Chess Championship The Russian Chess Championship has taken various forms. Winners by year (men) Imperial Russia In 1874, Emanuel Schiffers defeated Andrey Chardin in a match held in St. Petersburg with five wins and four losses. Schiffers was considered the first ...

. In the latter event Girya placed fourth. In November of the same year, she won the Women's Russian Cup, a knockout competition, by defeating

Anastasia Bodnaruk Anastasia Mikhailovna Bodnaruk (russian: Анастасия Михайловна Боднарук; born 30 March 1992) is a Russian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Bodnaruk won th ...

in the final. In 2016, Girya took part in the last three events of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series as one of the organisers' nominee. She finished tied for first place with

Natalija Pogonina Natalia Andreevna Pogonina (russian: Ната́лья Андре́евна Пого́нина; born 9 March 1985) is a Russian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is the runner-up of the Women's World Chess C ...

in the 2018 Russian Women's Championship Superfinal and took the silver medal after losing the playoff. The next year Girya and Pogonina finished again tied for first. This time Girya won the playoff to become Russian women's champion.

Team competitions

Girya made her debut in the national women's team at 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 ...

playing on the second board for team Russia 2. She played on the Russian women's team in the Russia vs China match, held with the

Scheveningen system The Scheveningen system is a method of organizing a chess match between two teams. Each player on one team plays each player on the other team . The team with the highest number of games won is the winner. This system is a popular way to creat ...

, in 2012 and 2015. In 2013, she helped the Russian team to win the bronze medal in the Women's

, winning also the individual gold for board 5, and silver in the Women's

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 ...

. In April 2015, at the Women's World Team Championship, she won the team bronze and the individual gold on board 5."Georgia takes gold in Women's World Team Chess Championship"
Chessdom. 2015-04-28.

References

External links

*
Olga Girya
chess games at 365Chess.com
Olga Giria
chess games (1999–2004) at 365chess.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girya, Olga 1991 births Living people People from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Chess grandmasters Female chess grandmasters Chess woman grandmasters World Youth Chess Champions Russian female chess players Chess Olympiad competitors