Elisabeth Pähtz

Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, sometimes spelt Elisabeth Paehtz) is a chess player, who in 2022 became the first German woman, and the 40th woman in history, to be awarded the title of grandmaster.

She has been among the strongest German female chess players since her youth. In 2002, Pähtz became the World Youth Champion of the girls' under-18 age group, and in 2005, the World Junior Girls Champion. After a lengthy process, FIDE made an individual decision on her case in December 2022.

Pähtz attended the Sport High School Dresden until 2004 where she was awarded her Abitur diploma in 2005. She plays - among others - for the Dresdner Sport Club 1898 in the German women's league and for the SC Kreuzberg in the German chess men's league. They separated in 2018.

International career

In 2002 Pähtz became the World Youth Champion of the girls' under-18 age group, and in 2005 the World Junior Girls Champion.

Pähtz won the 2018 European Women's Championship in rapid chess and was the runner-up in the respective blitz chess tournament. Her performance in classic chess was also very strong and she entered the top 10 in the women's FIDE world rankings in September 2018.

In 2019 she won the bronze medal in the women's European Individual Chess Championship.

In November 2021 she finished second in the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament, scoring a grandmaster norm. Three norms are needed to become a grandmaster, and Pähtz has a previous norm from 2011, and another possible norm from 2016. Her 2016 result was initially considered to be a GM norm by the tournament's referee and the then-leader of the FIDE Title Commission, Werner Stubenvoll. However, after Pähtz' 2021 norm and the official application for a GM title in early 2022, Stubenvoll reversed his position, and the Title Commission recommended not to accept her 2016 result as a norm, as she only had two GM opponents instead of the three required for a norm. It was reported in May 2022 that the FIDE Council deferred the decision whether Pähtz will receive the grandmaster title or not. After a decision in December 2022, Pähtz was awarded the title.