Almira Skripchenko
| Almira Skripchenko | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Full name | Almira Skripchenko |
| Country | France |
| Born |
17 February 1976 Kishinev, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Title |
International Master Woman Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2425 (March 2017) |
| Peak rating | 2498 (January 2002) |
Almira Skripchenko (born 17 February 1976) is a French chess player who has achieved the FIDE titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. She won the second European Women's Individual Chess Championship in 2001.
Born in Kishinev to a Ukrainian father and an Armenian mother, both pedagogues and chess coaches, Skripchenko started playing chess when she was 6 years old.
In 1991, Moldova became independent from the Soviet Union. This meant that Skripchenko could take part for the first time in the World Youth Chess Championships. She was crowned World Under-16 girls champion in 1992 at Duisburg, Germany and in 1993, she took the bronze medal at the World Under-18 girls championship.
She married French Grandmaster Joël Lautier in 1997 and consequently moved to live in France. Despite separating from Lautier in 2002, she became a French citizen in 2001 and continued to make France her home. Skripchenko then married French Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet and in January 2007, gave birth to a daughter.
In 2001, at 25 years old, she celebrated her biggest success ever, winning the Women's European Individual Chess Championship. She was at this time chosen "best sportsperson in 2001 in Moldova" and decorated with the Order of National Merit in her native country.
In 2004 she won the North Urals Cup, the second international super-tournament for female chess players. Held in Krasnoturinsk, the nine-round single round-robin tournament featured ten of the strongest female players in the world. Skripchenko finished a half point ahead of Maia Chiburdanidze, the former Women's World Champion, and also defeated her in their individual encounter. In 2005 she won the Accentus Ladies Tournament in Biel. Skripchenko reached the quarter-finals at the Women's World Chess Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2010.
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