The second match in the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament will be played between two talented young female players: Sopiko Guramishvili and Anna-Maja Kazarian. This match, with six games, takes place from 18-23 October in the town hall of Hoogeveen. With Anna-Maja Kazarian, besides Jorden van Foreest, a second Dutch top talent will be on the stage in Hoogeveen.
Sopiko Guramishvili (24) is a well-known Georgian chess player. She became a Woman Grandmaster already in 2009, and an International Master in 2012. She was once World U-16 Girls’ Champion. At the latest Women’s European Championship, Guramishvili scored 6½ out of 11, and she has done well in many open tournaments. In the Univé Open in 2012 she achieved 6 points out of 9 games, and last year she obtained 5½ points in Hoogeveen. Sopiko does a lot of presentation work for the chess website Chess24, under the pseudonym ‘Miss Tactics’. On the 18th of July this year she married Dutch chess ace Anish Giri. Her current FIDE rating is 2365.
Anna-Maja Kazarian (15) is also of Georgian descent, but she was born in the nearby city of Heerenveen. At 6, she learned the chess rules from her grandfather during a vacation in Georgia. Since then she has been collecting Dutch youth titles by the dozens. This year she became Dutch U-20 Girls’ champion with a 9 out of 9 score. Anna-Maja has also participated twice in the Dutch Women’s Championship, and this year she came shared third with former champion Tea Lanchava with 4½ punt out of 7 games. In 2012 she shared first in the European Girls U-12 Championship in Prague, which gained her the title of Woman FIDE master. At this moment her FIDE rating is 2248. At the end of last month, she achieved another great success by becoming European Girls under-16 champion with 7½ out of 9 in Porec.
Both chess players are known for their love of tactical play. So this promises to be a very attractive match, with a Georgian as well as a Dutch touch! On the day after this match, Saturday 24 October, Sopiko Guramishvili will give a simultaneous display.
Anna-Maja Kazarian is the second youth talent in the matches of the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament. In the other match, 16-year-old Jorden van Foreest is paired against the famous grandmaster Jan Timman. This match takes place from 18-24 October and is also played over six games, but the men will have a rest day on Wednesday the 21st.
