Chessdom had the honor to speak to her right after her team victory in the Montenegro Women Chess League

Congratulations Iriana on winning the Montenegro Chess Championship 2025! You have helped the Herceg Novi Outpost Team finally reach a gold medal, after winning silver and bronze in previous editions.

Thank you! It’s been a nice experience. The team captain Lena Govedarica is very professional and has created a good atmosphere. I knew well my teammates and everyone did their best. I am happy to have been part of it.

It is a very successful spring for you. You have played multiple European Women’s Individual Chess Championships in classical chess (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011-2014, 2016-2019, 2021-2025) and finally you bagged a medal – silver in Rhodes! Tell us more about the emotions there and what it is to step on the podium of the most important European competition?

It’s been a good spring indeed. Actually, there were not too many emotions, neither during the event, nor after. I think it might have been one of the reasons why the medal came this time and not before. I was very calm and took it just game by game. It feels good to have won this medal, but nothing has changed. I don’t think of myself differently than before and all I am happy about is the fact that I have rediscovered the joy of playing.

You have added 15 ELO in March playing the Memorial of Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska 2025 and Ober Liga, 16 in April with the 25th European Women’s Chess Championship 2025 and the German Women Bundesliga, now more is on the way. What are your personal targets?

While rating is indeed important for invitations and other such things, I have stopped paying too much attention to it. My main goal is to enjoy the process of training and playing and not to put too much pressure on myself. There is the World Cup coming in July and hopefully the Grand Swiss in the autumn. I wish to approach these tournaments in good mood and enjoy the chess I play there.

What are your next tournaments in your personal calendar?

I will play for my team in the French women’s league in a few days and then I will take a break from playing. There will be other chess related events I will attend in Bucharest and Iasi, as well as training camps. I would like to play some classical event in June, but for now, I have nothing planned until the World Cup in July.

Is it difficult to find tournament for a female player gravitating around top 50 in the world?

Finding tournaments is easy, more challenging is making a living out of them. If you’re not in the Women’s Grand Prix series, where perhaps top 20 women get, striking a balance between strong tournaments one should play in order to improve their level and the lesser events one plays for financial reasons is a challenge.

You are the outstanding leader among Romanian women chess players, having 150+ elo more than the second player. How do you see chess developing in the country?

I think we are moving in the right direction. Juniors are getting better support from the Romanian Federation and it already shows in their results. We have a lot of good, talented kids and with the right support, I am sure great results could be achieved. Explaining the big gap in rating is not so difficult. I am the only woman who is a professional in Romania and unfortunately, this is not a profession which one could call stable or attractive for a young woman. I can see why most of parents would encourage their daughters to follow another paths. I can only hope that this would eventually change.

EIWCC 2025: European Women’s Chess Championship 2025 / EIWCC preview / Live games with computer analysis / List of European Women Chess Champions Reports: Round 1 / Round 2 / Round 3 / Round 4 / Round 5 / Round 6 / Round 7 / Round 8

Today’s round was opened by the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparasvhili who played the first ceremonial move on the top board game between IM Teodora Injac and IM Lilit Mkrtchian.

IM Teodora Injac (SRB, 2454) kept the sole lead in the event after defeating IM Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM, 2388) in today’s 9th round. The position was very balanced out of the opening, but Lilit Mrktchian had a passive approach and allowed her opponent to take the edge and valuable space advantage. Teodora Injac transformed the advantage into a pawn up, activated her pieces, locked Mkrtchian into defensive mode and forced her on resignation.

IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU, 2362) was victorious with whites against WFM Anastasia Kirtadze (GEO, 2180) who suffered her second loss in a row after a fantastic start at the European Women’s Chess Championship 2025. As in most of her games in the event, Bulmaga had some issues in the opening and slightly worse position, but then took the initiative and used her opponent’s mistakes to gain the advantage in the late middlegame. A few moves before the time control were inaccurate by both sides, but Irina Bulmaga played it better for a decisive advantage which was further improved and converted into a win after Kirtadze’s piece blunder.

Scoring 7.5 points, Irina Bulmaga closely follows the leader, and there is a full point gap between her and a group of seven players who tie for the third place with the score of 6.5 points (each).

The 10th penultimate round of the European Women’s Chess Championship 2025 brings interesting pairings, and a direct encounter for the top between IM Irina Bulmaga and IM Teodora Injac.

The 10th round starts tomorrow at 14:00 CET (15:00 local time) and live games with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska can be followed through the ECU TV platform or ECU YouTube channel. Photos by Mark Livshitz, Jim Laga and ECU TV

EIWCC 2025 round 9 results

This is the game Olga Badelka – Irina Bulmaga from round 5 of the European Women Chess Club Cup 2024.

More: European Chess Club Cup 2024 participants list / European Women Chess Club Cup participants / European Chess Club Cup – round 1 and 2 report
Live: Open section / Women section / Video

Olga Badelka – Irina Bulmaga, European Women Chess Club Cup 2024

More events: Schachbundesliga 2024 – 2025 / Serbian Team Chess Championship / Slovenian Team Chess Championship / Romanian Team Chess Championship / Japan Team Chess Championship / 2024 US Chess Championship

Romanian Women Team Chess Championship participants

IM Irina Bulmaga was the best ranked female player with score of 6.5 points. WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova had the same score but lower tiebreak criteria and came second, while WIM Anna Kubicka won the third place with 6 points. Scroll down for final rankings

Read more: 
–Baadur Jobava wins 1st Romanian Grand Prix event /
-Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu wins the 2nd leg of Romanian Grand Prix /
–Seven players shared the top at the 3rd stage of the Romanian Grand Prix 2022 /

Final rankings – 5th leg of the Romanian Grand Prix 2022:

.