Sopiko Guramishvili (; born 1 January 1991) is a Georgian and Dutch chess player, author, and commentator who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Having represented Georgia for the bulk of her playing career, she has been an under-16 girls' World Youth Champion and an under-18 girls' Georgian national champion. She has a peak FIDE rating of 2441 and has been ranked as high as No. 42 in the world among women.
Guramishvili began playing chess at age five. She regularly qualified for and participated in the World Youth Chess Championships from age ten onwards. She won a silver medal in the under-12 girls' division in 2003 and a gold medal in the under-16 girls' division in 2006. Guramishvili first qualified for the Georgian Women's Chess Championship at age 17. Her best finish was in 2009, when she came in joint second place and earned a WGM norm. Guramishvili was awarded the WGM title in 2009 at age 18 and the IM title in 2012 at age 21. She earned her last IM norm at the 2011 Nakhchivan Open, during which she defeated Sergey Fedorchuk, a Ukrainian Grandmaster (GM) rated 2662. Guramishvili has routinely performed well at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, earning a double IM norm in 2010 and twice qualifying for the Women's World Chess Championship 64-player knockout tournament because of her 2013 and 2015 results. At the 2017 Women's World Championship, she eliminated higher-seeded Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and reached the round of 16. Guramishvili had her two best tournament performance ratings in 2016, with a career-best of 2509 at the Tata Steel Tienkamp.
Beyond competing at chess, Guramishvili has developed online courses and other instructional videos, in particular for chess24. With fellow IM Anna Rudolf, she has co-hosted an instructional series on chess24 where Rudolf and Guramishvili are known respectively as Miss Strategy and Miss Tactics. She was also one of the official commentators for the 2014 World Chess Championship match. Guramishvili is married to Anish Giri, a Dutch Grandmaster who has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world.
Early life and background Sopiko Guramishvili was born on 1 January 1991 in Tbilisi, the capital of the Georgian SSR and the modern-day capital of Georgia. She was first introduced to chess inadvertently at age five while her grandmother was teaching her how to play draughts. After she was more intrigued by the chess pieces that weren't being used, her mother taught her the game. Guramishvili first qualified for the World Youth Chess Championships in 2001 in Oropesa del Mar at age ten. She finished in equal ninth out of 70 competitors in the under-10 girls' division with a score of 7 points in 11 games (7/11), three points behind the winner Tan Zhongyi.
Chess career 2002–06: Under-16 World Champion Guramishvili first earned a FIDE rating through the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in October 2002, starting at 2142 at age eleven. By the middle of 2003, she had earned the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title. That year, she finished on the podium in the under-12 girls' division at both the European Youth and World Youth Chess Championships. At the former in Budva, Montenegro, she earned a bronze medal with a score of 7/9, tied with Elena Tairova and behind only Anastasia Bodnaruk, having lost to both of them. She fared better at the latter tournament in Kallithea in Greece, earning a silver medal. With a score of 8½/11, she finished ahead of Tan only on the tiebreak criteria and was runner-up to Ding Yixin, having won her games against Tan, Tairova, and Bodnaruk, but losing to Ding. Guramishvili moved up to the under-14 girls' division the following year, but had less success. Over the next two years, her best result in this division came at the 2004 World Championships, where she finished in equal fourth place.
After more than three years with a steady rating just below 2150, Guramishvili reached a new peak rating of 2180 in April 2006 with a strong performance at the qualification tournament for the Georgian Women's Chess Championship. She scored 5½/9, a point behind joint first-place finishers Sopiko Khukhashvili and Tamar Tsereteli. Although she narrowly did not qualify because of the tiebreak criteria, she gained 31 rating points. Guramishvili finished the year with a redeeming performance at the World Youth Chess Championships, which were hosted by her home country in Batumi. Despite an opening round loss to a much lower-rated player, she recovered to dominate the rest of the under-16 girls' event with wins in nine of her last ten games. She finished with 9½/11, winning the division easily by 1½ points. She also reached a rating of 2200 for the first time. This win was part of a stretch where Georgia won the gold medal in the under-16 girls' division seven out of ten times from 1999 through 2008.
2007–09: Woman Grandmaster title
Guramishvili consolidated her 2006 World Championship gold medal with another strong year in 2007, gaining about another 100 rating points and earning her first norm for the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. Early in the year, she fared well at both the Georgian under-18 boys' championship and the qualification tournament for the open Georgian Chess Championship, helping her climb to a rating of 2267. A few months later, she also performed well at the Georgian under-20 boys' championship. Guramishvili's first WGM norm came in early September at the Open Internacional D'Escacs de Sants in Barcelona. She scored 6½/10 for a performance rating of 2400. This result also helped her reach a rating of 2300, the threshold for the WGM title, for the first time. At the end of year in Antalya in Turkey, Guramishvili attempted to defend her under-16 girls' world championship, but finished a ½ point behind the four leaders. The tournament was won by her compatriot Keti Tsatsalashvili.
One of Guramishvili's biggest achievements in 2008 was qualifying for the Georgian Women's Chess Championship for the first time, finishing in equal second with a score of 6½/9 in the qualification tournament. In the main championship, a 14-player round robin, she finished in the middle of the field with 5½/12, a result consistent with her rating. She qualified for the Women's Championship again in 2009. With only 12 players in the field, she had a much better result, finishing in equal second with four other players who scored 6½/11, a ½ point behind the winner Maia Lomineishvili. Moreover, she earned her second WGM norm. Guramishvili earned her third and final WGM norm at her next tournament, the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, and was awarded the title in June at 18 years old. That May, she won the Georgian under-18 girls' championship and also finished in equal first in the Georgian under-20 girls' championship, narrowly coming in second place to Miranda Mikadze on the tiebreak criteria. At another tournament, she had a win against Gevorg Harutjunyan, an Armenian Grandmaster (GM) rated 2504, at a tournament in Tbilisi. At the end of the year, Guramishvili was in contention to win the under-18 girls' division at the World Youth Chess Championships, but lost to the eventual winner Olga Girya in the penultimate round and ultimately finished in sixth place.
2010–13: International Master title Although Guramishvili maintained a rating in the low 2300s through the middle of 2011, she continued to progress by attaining all three of her norms for the International Master (IM) title over this span. She earned her first two IM norms as a double norm at the 2010 European Individual Women's Chess Championship. She improved on her 2009 result of 6/11 with a score of 6½/11, corresponding to a performance rating of 2467. In August, Guramishvili participated in the under-20 World Junior Chess Championships in Chotowa in Poland, finishing in eighth place, 2½ points behind the winner Anna Muzychuk. A month later, she also participated in the women's event at the 2010 World University Chess Championship in Zurich and had a much better result, winning the bronze medal, having finished in joint second with Ljilja Drljević and a ½ point behind the winner Batkhuyagiin Möngöntuul. Guramishvili's best results from late 2010 through the first half of 2011 were at the 2010 Torneo Internacional Femenino Gran Hotel Bali in Spain and the 2011 Nakhchivan Open in Azerbaijan. She won the former tournament, a ten-player women's round robin, ahead of higher-rated players Alina l'Ami and her compatriot Ana Matnadze. At the latter tournament, she earned her third and final IM norm. Although she only scored 4/9, she still had a performance rating of 2451 as she had faced opponents with a much higher average rating of 2492. During the tournament, she defeated Sergey Fedorchuk, a Ukrainian GM rated 2662. With all three IM norms, she only needed to reach a rating of 2400 to qualify for the title.
Over the next twelve months, Guramishvili gained about another 100 rating points, a stretch that began in May 2011 after the Nakhchivan Open. In particular, she finished a ½ point behind the winner at the Paleochora International Chess Tournament in Greece, gaining 31 rating points. She then won two tournaments, namely the qualification tournament for the Georgian Women's Chess Championship in December, followed by the women's round robin event at the Reggio Emilia tournament in January. The open event at the latter tournament was won by her future husband Anish Giri. With another score of 6½/11 at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship in March, Guramishvili passed the 2400 rating threshold to earn the IM title at age 21. She ended 2012 by winning the Torneo Internacional Femenino Gran Hotel Bali for a second time.
Guramishvili continued to steadily increase her rating through most of 2013, reaching her career-best rating of 2441 that November. She also reached a career-best women's ranking of No. 42 in the world a month earlier. One of the few tournaments where she had a sub-par performance and did not gain rating points was at the Georgian Women's Chess Championship, where her score of 6½/11 only put her in joint fourth place. Her better performances during the year included a career-best score of 7/11 at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship and a joint first-place finish at the Torneo Cerrado Internacional Femenino Ciudad De Linares, where she was runner-up on the tiebreak criteria. At the end of the year, Guramishvili dropped below a rating of 2400 after a poor performance at the Chennai Open in India, where she had a negative score against opponents with a lower average rating.
2014–present: World Championship competitor