Monika Soćko

Monika Soćko
Full name Monika Soćko (2013)
Country Poland
Born 24 March 1978
Warsaw
Title Grandmaster
Woman Grandmaster
FIDE rating 2467 (May 2015)
(No. 42 ranked woman in the November 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating 2505 (April 2008)

Monika Soćko (born Bobrowska on 24 March 1978 in Warsaw) is a Polish chess grandmaster (GM). She won the Polish women's chess championship six times (in 1995, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014). She is married to Polish GM Bartosz Soćko.

She achieved the title of grandmaster in 2008, to date the first Polish woman player to do so.[1]

In 2007, Soćko won an international women's tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan 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 2011 she was part of the Polish women team at the European Team Chess Championship; they won the silver medal.

Rules appeal in 2008

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]

References

  1. ↑ "Titles approved at the 79th FIDE Congress". World Chess Federation. 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  2. ↑ Ahmadov, Zahir (September 18, 2007). "Monika Socko wins International Women's Tournament in Baku". ChessBase. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  3. ↑ Ingul, Tormod (August 9, 2009). "Polsk seier i Tromsø" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  4. ↑ "Result list for the 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge". Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  5. ↑ "News". Eurorijeka2010.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  6. ↑ "Polski Związek Szachowy - oficjalna strona". Pzszach.org.pl. 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  7. ↑ Loeb, Dylan (2008-09-03). "NY Times". Gambit.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

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