Chess player Laura Unuk has become the first Slovenian woman to win the International Master title awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE, the second-highest-ranking title in chess.
Unuk won the title by bagging a victory at the chess tournament Mediterranean Flowers in Croatia’s Rijeka on Tuesday. First she won against Ivana Hreščak and then against Olga Zimino from Italy in a live rating over 2,400.
TOP Slovenia Interview: Laura Unuk
Laura Unuk began playing chess at the age of seven, just a few years later she won the Slovenian Girls Chess Championships U10 category (2009), followed by the U12 and U14. She has played for Slovenia five times in both team and individual events, winning gold and silver medals in the European Girls’ U18 Championships […]
“I only needed this rating and I finally made it. I only needed the live rating to be over 2,400, but I will do my best that will also be the case on paper at the end of the tournament,” said the 21-year-old student of chemistry and chemical technology, who has entered the tournament as Woman Grandmaster.
She won the Woman International Master title at the World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa, in 2014.
