Pia Cramling

Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling[1] (born 23 April 1963) is a Swedish chess player. In 1992, she became the fifth woman to earn the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). Since the early 1980s, she has been one of the strongest female players in the world as well as having been the highest rated woman in the FIDE World Rankings on three occasions. She was the clear number one rated woman in the January 1984 rating lists, and joint number one rated woman in the July 1984 and January 1996 lists.[2][3][4]

Pia Cramling
13th ECC, Kallithea, 2008
Full namePia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling
CountrySweden
Born (1963-04-23) 23 April 1963
Stockholm, Sweden
TitleGrandmaster (1992)
FIDE rating2459 (February 2021)
Peak rating2550 (October 2008)
Peak rankingNo. 1 ranked woman (Jan 1984)
No. 178 overall (Jul 1992)

Career

Cramling is, aside from Judit Polgar (who chose not to play in women's events), the only woman to have earned the grandmaster title before 2000 who has never won the Women's World Champion crown. According to Cramling, one explanation for this is that the World Championship is a team effort and more prominent chess nations are able to give their players better support in important events.[5] Nevertheless, Cramling has been in reasonably close contention for the crown on four occasions (all in different decades). In the 1986 and 1996 Candidates cycle she came in fourth and third respectively. Since the Women's World Championship has been held with the knock-out format, she reached the semifinals in 2008 and 2015. These latter results qualified her to play in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series in 2009–11 and 2015–16 respectively. She has had greater success in Europe where she won the Women's European Individual Chess Championship in 2003 and 2010.[6] In 2006, she won the Accentus Ladies Tournament in Biel.[7]

In team competitions, Cramling represented Sweden in the Chess Olympiad in both the open and women's events, European Team Chess Championship in both open and women's sections, Telechess Olympiad and Nordic Cup. In the Women's Chess Olympiad, she has won the individual gold medal as the best player on board 1 (according to the rating performance) in 1984 and 1988. In the European Club Cup for Women, Cramling has won the team gold medal in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2016 playing for team Cercle d'Echecs Monte Carlo.

Personal life

Cramling is married to the Spanish grandmaster Juan Manuel Bellón López.[8] She lived in Spain for a number of years, but recently moved back to Sweden. They have a daughter, Anna Cramling Bellon, who played for the Swedish women's chess team at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku in 2016 on board 4.[9]

References
  1. "Athletes / CRAMLING Pia Ann Rosa-Della". worldmindgames2012.sportresult.com. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  2. "FIDE Rating List January 1984". OlimpBase. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. "FIDE Rating List July 1984". OlimpBase. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  4. "FIDE Rating List January 1986". OlimpBase. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  5. "Nära toppen i Naltjik" (PDF) (in Swedish). Tidskrift för Schack. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  6. "Rijeka: Nepomniachtchi, Cramling European champions". ChessBase. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  7. "The remarkable Alexander Morozevich wins Biel". ChessBase. 4 August 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  8. ChessBase.com – Chess News – Kateryna and Robert – pour la vie à jamais unis...
  9. The Family Team of Sweden, ChessHive.com, 6 September 2016
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