| Monika Soćko | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Monika Soćko |
| Country | Poland |
| Born | 24 March 1978 Warsaw |
| Title | Grandmaster Woman Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2495 (March 2011) |
| Peak rating | 2505 (April 2008) |
Monika Soćko (née Bobrowska, born 24 March 1978 in Warsaw) is a Polish chess player. She won the Polish women's chess championship four times (1995, 2004, 2008 and 2010). She is married to Polish GM Bartosz Soćko. She achieved the title of Grandmaster in 2008.[1]
In 2007, Soćko won an international women's tournament in Baku, ahead of women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova.[2] She won the 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø, in spite of being only ranked as number 16 before the tournament, while her top-ranked husband finished in 13th place.[3][4] In March 2010 she won the bronze medal at the European Chess Championship for Woman after defeating Yelena Dembo and Marie Sebag in the tie-breaks.[5][6]
In the 2008 Women's World Championship she was involved in a game which resulted in a dispute about the interpretation of the FIDE rules of chess. In an Armageddon game she needed a win to advance to the next round. The position got down to each player having only a king and a knight in which a checkmate position is possible but cannot be forced. Her opponent ran out of time under time control. Since checkmate cannot be forced with this material, the arbiter initially ruled that the game was a draw, therefore her opponent advanced to the next round. Soćko appealed, pointed out that the rules state that what matters is not whether or not checkmate can be forced, but rather it is possible. (see rules of chess#Timing.) The arbiter compared the possible checkmate position to a helpmate, in which the defender has to cooperate in order to get to the checkmate. Soćko won the appeal and advanced to the next round.[7]