Hoang Thanh Trang - the 14th European Champion
GM Hoang Thanh Trang (2467) is the new European Champion for 2013! She drew with Viktorija Cmilyte in the last 11th round and won the Championship with 9 points out of maximum 11. The curiosity is that Hoang Trang is the first woman to win both Asian and European Individual Women's Championships.
Although Cmilyte had an advantage almost during the whole game, she still didn't manage to win, and with the unfortunate turn of events, she even stayed without the medal, and came 4th.
Six players with 8 points tied for the second place, but according to tie-break (Average Rating cut-1) silver medal went to IM Salome Melia (2428) from Georgia, and bronze went to IM Lilit Mkrtchian (2454) from Armenia.
Last round brought many exciting games. Monica Socko and Salome Melia played until the last atom of strength was squeezed. Socko was trying to materialize the advantage she had and win the game and the silver medal, but Melia defended well during the whole game and there was nothing more that Socko could do but to finally draw in 150 moves. With this draw Socko finished 7th with the worst tie-break among the 6 players.
Lilit Mkrtchian defeated Valentina Gunina in a game full of turnovers. The advantage was first in Valentina's hands, but she made many mistakes which Lilit used to turn the game and eventually win the game, which brought her the bronze medal.
Wins for the tied second place achieved Alexandra Kosteniuk, who came 5th and Bela Khotenashvili who came 6th.
Congratulations to the winners, and to all the participants for the fair play and a great tournament!
