Tatiana Kosintseva 2774 rating performance

I reported earlier that Tatiana Kosintseva had won the Women's European Chess Championship with a phenomenal 10 out of 11. According to ChessBase this was a 2774 rating performance, and must be close to a record for a woman in an 11 round event.

Incredibly, her rating performance exceeds that of any of the competitors in the men's event (top performance was 2764 from Dusko Pavasovic of Slovakia).

European Chess Championships: final results

Tatiana Kosintseva, the younger of the two sisters scored a phenomenal 10 points of 11 to win the European Women's Chess Championship by 2 clear points. She conceded just two draws (one of those in 10 moves to her sister).

Her elder sister, Nadezhda Kosintseva, finished joint second on 8 points with Antoaneta Stefanova and Hoang Thanh Trang.

Sophie found the going incredibly tough against opponents rated some 400-500 points higher, but had some near misses and hopefully will learn a lot from the experience and come back stronger next time.

The men's event was much closer with 7 players finishing tied first on 8 points. According to the official website, Vladislav Tkachiev who resides in France is the winner on tie-break.

European Chess Championships: Kosintseva sisters

Earlier this week Chess Tales profiled Antoaneta Stefanova, one of the favourites for the women's title at the European Chess Championships, starting next week in Dresden. Some of her strongest opposition will come from the Kosintseva sisters, Nadezhda and Tatiana.

Nadezhda is top seed for the event, whilst her younger sister Tatiana is rated just a handful of Elo points lower. They are famed for their uncompromising chess, although their match up from the recent Russian Women's Championship where they tied second, would seem to suggest otherwise:

Nadezhda Kosintseva - Tatiana Kosintseva, December 2006
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. O-O a6 7. Be3 d6 1/2-1/2.

In this game from the Corus tournament in January, Tatiana gets the better of Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian, who then turned in a 3021 Elo performance at the Ruy Lopez tournament:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. Nd2 c6 8. Ba4 d6 9. c3 Bb6 10. Bb3 O-O 11. Nc4 Bc7 12.Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. Bg3 Ne8 15. d4 Qe7 16. f3 Ng7 17. Bf2 Be6 18. Ne3 Bd7 19. Qd3 Rad8 20. Rfe1 Kh8 21. Rad1 a6 22. Bc2 Bc8 23. b4 Nh5 24. Nf5 Qf6 25. g3 Ng7 26. c4 Rfe8 27. d5 cxd5 28. cxd5 Bd7 29. a4 Rc8 30. Rc1 Bb8 31. b5 axb5 32. axb5 Bc7 33. b6 Bd8 34. Bb1 Ra8 35. g4 h5 36. h3 hxg4 37. hxg4 Nxf5 38. exf5 Kg7 39. Kg2 Ra5 40. Rh1 Rb5 41. Qd2 Bxb6 42. Bxb6 Rxb6 43. Be4 Rh8 44. Rxh8 Kxh8 45. Rh1+ Kg8 46. Rh5 Be8 47. Rxg5+ Kf8 48. Rh5 Qd8 49. Rh8+ Ke7 50. Qg5+ Kd7 51. Qxd8+ Kxd8 52. g5 Rb2+ 53. Kg3 Ra2 54. f6 1-0