Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant

Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (née Arakhamia; born ) is a Georgian-born Scottish Chess Grandmaster.

Chess career In 1985, she won the World Junior Chess Championship for Girls, held in Dobrna (and taking silver in Adelaide three years later ). Very soon thereafter, she fulfilled the criteria for the Woman International Master title, being awarded in 1986. She won the 1993 Jakarta Interzonal and the 1995 Kishinev Interzonal, but her performances in the respective Candidates Tournaments ruled out an opportunity to play for the world title. She won the Women's Soviet Chess Championship in 1990.

Aside from world championship competitions, in 1990 she took first place at both the Biel Women's Open and Geneva (IM), then followed up by winning the Doeberl Cup in Canberra, Australia in 1991, becoming the first woman to do so. Her participation at the Hastings Premier in 1993–94, where she finished ahead of six male grandmasters, was also notable.

In the 1990s, she participated in the Veterans vs Ladies dance-themed tournaments where she defeated Borislav Ivkov, Vlastimil Hort, Vasily Smyslov and Mark Taimanov.

In team chess, Arakhamia debuted at Chess Olympiad at Novi Sad in 1990, representing the USSR Ladies team as first reserve and registering a perfect 12/12 score. In 2006, she was the first woman to be second when she finished behind overall Championship winner Jonathan Rowson. 2006 was also the year that her husband took first place in the Scottish Championship, making them the first ever husband–wife pair to win a full national championship. Also in 2006, in Batumi, she assisted the Australian squad by coaching their Under-10 Girls at the World Youth Chess Championship.

In 2007, she beat former U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura at Gibraltar Masters, in a 100-move first round encounter. Journalist John Saunders describes Arakhamia-Grant as the ideal role model: "her charming and dignified manner belies a tough, determined fighter at the board."

While visiting her sister in Philadelphia, she played the World Open and finished top in the female category. As the tournament was a qualifier for the MonRoi Women's Grand Prix, she earned a place in the Montreal finale, held just a few weeks later. There, she shared the lead after five rounds and finished in joint fourth place.

As part of the festivities for Liverpool being European Capital of Culture in 2008, she played in the United Kingdom vs China match and was top scorer for the UK with 4/6, although China won the match.

At the 2008 EU Individual Open Chess Championship in Liverpool, she shared the highest scoring woman prize with Jovanka Houska and Yelena Dembo. At the Olympiad in Dresden, she played for Scotland in the main event and completed her final grandmaster norm with victory in the final round. Having additionally met the 2500 Elo rating requirement in the January 2009 FIDE list, she was awarded the title in March 2009, making her Scotland's sixth grandmaster. In August 2009 Arakhamia-Grant won the Baltic Queen round-robin tournament in Saint Petersburg.

In July 2011, she won the Scottish Championship outright, finishing with the score of 7/9. In league chess, Arakhamia-Grant has played for OSC Baden-Baden in the Women's Bundesliga and for Georgian team Interplast Tbilisi in the European Club Cup. For the 2008–9 season, she represents Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher 1 in the British 4NCL.

Family In 1996, she married Jonathan Grant, also a chess player, and they settled in Edinburgh, later giving birth to daughter Elena.

Notable games

Lidia Semenova vs. Arakhamia, Jakarta Interzonal, 1993; Torre Attack

Stuart Conquest vs. Arakhamia-Grant, British Ch. Edinburgh, 2003; Grünfeld Defence

Arakhamia-Grant vs. Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2nd Women's European Ch., 2001; Sicilian Defense