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- Pia Cramling, Born Apr 23, 1963 (Age 56) Stockholm, Sweden
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- FIDE Title:
- Grandmaster
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- FIDE ID:
- 1700030
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- Federation:
- Sweden
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- Peak Rating:
- 2550 (October 2008)
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- Rating:
- 2462 (October 2019)
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- Rank:
- 1476 (October 2019)
Pia Cramling first learned how the chess pieces move when she followed her older brother to the local chess club as a 10-year-old. Her progress was rapid, and she reached the women’s Top 10 at 18 and topped the list for the first time at 19. Perhaps her most memorable game back then came at the Lloyd’s Bank tournament in 1982, when she sat down to play the legendary Viktor Korchnoi, rated almost 400 points above her. At the end of an exciting battle she fell for a drawing trick when she had a simple win at her disposal, but she did finally go on to beat Korchnoi two years later.
Cramling was a constant in the Top 5 for the next 15 years, and even when her rating has dropped her fighting qualities have allowed her to regain her place despite the emergence of new talents. Two of her greatest achievements came in her 40s, when she won the 2003 and 2010 European Individual Championships. She also achieved a rating peak of 2550 in October 2008. Pia is married to 5-time Spanish Champion Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez and lived in Spain for over 20 years before moving back to Sweden.
