Elisabeth Pähtz

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Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, in Erfurt) is a German chess Woman Grandmaster.

She was trained from early childhood by her father Thomas Pähtz, a chess grandmaster himself. At the age of 9 years she won her first German championship in the under-11 age group. In 1999 she became Germany's women's chess champion. In 2002 she became the youth world champion of the under-18 age group and in 2004 junior world champion of the age group 20-and-below.

At the European women's championship in Dresden she won 16th place in the same year. She attended the Sport High School Dresden until 2004 and is among the strongest native German chess players. She plays for the Dresdner Sport Club 1898 and other associations.

As one of the greatest German new generation talents she is the subject of a large media interest. Among other things it was reported that she was likely to fail high-school mathematics. Her own explanation for this however is that she is a very intuitive player and therefore doesn't have to be a universal genius. She carries the title of an International Master and is a FIDE Woman Grandmaster, her Elo rating is 2449 (as of October 2006).

Pähtz served as one of four advisors on the World team in the Kasparov versus The World chess match in 1999.