Dinara Wagner

Dinara Wagner
File:Dinara Dordzhieva 2015.jpg Wagner (then Dordzhieva) in 2015
Country	Russia (until 2022) FIDE (2022) Germany (since 2022)
Born	(25 May 1999-{{{month}}}-{{{day}}}) 25 May 1999 Elista, Kalmykia, Russia
Title	Woman Grandmaster (2020) Woman International Master (2014)
Peak rating	2420 (November 2022)

Dinara Wagner (née Dordzhieva; born 25 May 1999) is a Kalmyk-born German chess player. Until 2022, she played for the Chess Federation of Russia. Since 2020, she holds the title Woman Grandmaster.

Biography

Wagner is from Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia. During her childhood, she won the Russian Junior Chess Championships for girls five times. Since 2014, she holds the title Woman International Master and in 2016 she came in third at the World Girls Junior Championship. She was the best female player at the 2019 European Rapid Chess Championships, and the following year she achieved the title Woman Grandmaster.

At the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Wagner studied the world economy, graduating in 2020 with a bachelor's degree. She then moved to Heidelberg and started a master's degree in economics at Ruprecht-Karls University. In 2022, she married fellow chess player Dennis Wagner.

German Masters 2022

After the beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Wagner left the Chess Federation of Russia, temporarily played under the FIDE flag, and joined the German Chess Federation in May 2022. In the same year she won the Women’s German Masters tournament. This win earned her Germany’s invitation (as co-organizer) to the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2022–23, part of the Women’s World Championship cycle 2023–2025.

Women’s Grand Prix 2022–23

Wagner started the series as by far the lowest ranked player, almost 100 Elo below her next nearest competitor, and more than 200 behind the highest-rated, Aleksandra Goryachkina.

Astana and first IM norm

The Astana tournament started badly for Wagner with two consecutive losses. Her play generally in Astana was marked by time trouble, but she recovered with a series of draws, and two wins versus Kosteniuk and Kashlinskaya (this last, her favorite game at the tournament). After Kosteniuk utilized the Grand Prix Attack against her Sicilian Defense, Wagner said that before the game, she thought, “‘Ha! It would be funny if someone played the Grand Prix during the Grand Prix’, but unfortunately I didn’t prepare it”. She spent 30 minutes on move eight of that game.

There were late tournament losses to Kateryna Lagno and Tan Zhongyi, but a last round win over Shuvalova secured her a first International Master norm and a share of 6th (of 12).

Setbacks in Munich

In the Munich leg, Wagner finished 12th of 12. Michael Rahal’s report notes that she “only slightly underperformed with respect to her rating (-5 points)”.

Victory in Nicosia and first GM norm

In the final leg in Nicosia, Wagner finished in clear first with 7/11, including victories over Goryachkina and Lagno. She also achieved her second IM norm and her first Grandmaster norm. When asked what she planned to do with her winnings, she said that in Munich, she told herself, “‘If I will play well, I will go to one of the stores and buy a designer bag’… so I think I will buy myself something nice!”

External links

• Dinara Wagner rating card at FIDE
• {{#property:P3314}} chess games at 365Chess.com
• Dinara Wagner player profile and games at Chessgames.com