View source for Pia Cramling

{{short description|Swedish chess grandmaster (born 1963)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pia Cramling
| image = PiaCramling23c.jpg
| birthname = Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling
| caption = Pia Cramling in 2023
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|4|23|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Stockholm]], Sweden
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Juan Manuel Bellón López]]|1988}}
| children = [[Anna Cramling|Anna Cramling Bellón]]
| module = {{Infobox chess player
 |child = yes
 |title = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (1992)
 |rating =
 |country = [[Sweden]]
 |peakrating = 2550 (October 2008)
 |peakranking = No. 1 woman (January 1984)<br />No. 178 (July 1992)
 |FideID = 1700030
 }}
}}

'''Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Athletes / CRAMLING Pia Ann Rosa-Della |url=http://worldmindgames2012.sportresult.com/NH/en/-120/Participant/ParticipantInfo/7fc8b400-4dfd-46de-8f45-e51da694f1d8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219130203/http://worldmindgames2012.sportresult.com/NH/en/-120/Participant/ParticipantInfo/7fc8b400-4dfd-46de-8f45-e51da694f1d8 |archive-date=19 February 2019 |access-date=8 July 2017 |website=worldmindgames2012.sportresult.com}}</ref> (born 23 April 1963) is a Swedish [[Grandmaster (chess)|chess grandmaster]].
Since the early 1980s, she has been one of the strongest female players in the world as well as the highest-rated woman in the [[FIDE World Rankings]] on three occasions. She was the number-one-rated woman in the January 1984 rating list and the joint number-one-rated woman in the January 1983 and July 1984 lists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FIDE Rating List January 1984 |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo198401e.html |access-date=28 March 2015 |website=OlimpBase}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FIDE Rating List July 1984 |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo198407e.html |access-date=28 March 2015 |website=OlimpBase}}</ref>
In 1992, she became the fifth woman to earn the [[FIDE]] title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (GM).

== Career ==
Cramling and [[Judit Polgar]] (who chose not to play in women's events) are the only women to have earned the grandmaster title before 2000 who have never won the [[Women's World Chess Championship|Women's World Champion]] crown. Cramling said that the World Championship is a team effort and more prominent chess nations are able to give their players better support in important events.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 July 2008 |title=Nära toppen i Naltjik |url=http://www.schack.se/tfsarkiv/history/2008/tfs_2008_07.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081924/http://www.schack.se/tfsarkiv/history/2008/tfs_2008_07.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=28 March 2015 |publisher=Tidskrift för Schack |language=sv}}</ref> Nevertheless, Cramling has been in reasonably close contention for the crown on four occasions (all in different decades). In the [[Women's World Chess Championship 1986|1986]] and [[Women's World Chess Championship 1996|1996]] Candidates cycle she came in fourth and third, respectively. Since the Women's World Championship has been held with the knockout format, she reached the semifinals in [[Women's World Chess Championship 2008|2008]] and [[Women's World Chess Championship 2015|2015]]. These latter results qualified her to play in the [[FIDE Women's Grand Prix]] series in [[FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–11|2009–11]] and [[FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16|2015–16]], respectively. She has had greater success in Europe, where she won the Women's [[European Individual Chess Championship]] in 2003 and 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 March 2010 |title=Rijeka: Nepomniachtchi, Cramling European champions |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6195 |access-date=18 March 2010 |publisher=ChessBase}}</ref> In 2006, she won the Accentus Ladies Tournament in [[Biel]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 August 2006 |title=The remarkable Alexander Morozevich wins Biel |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-remarkable-alexander-morozevich-wins-biel |access-date=6 November 2015 |publisher=ChessBase}}</ref>

In team competitions, Cramling represented Sweden in the [[Chess Olympiad]] in both the open and women's events, [[European Team Chess Championship]] in both open and women's sections, Telechess Olympiad and Nordic Cup. In the [[Women's Chess Olympiad]], she has won the individual gold medal as the best player on board 1 (according to the rating performance) in 1984, 1988 and 2022. In the [[European Chess Club Cup|European Club Cup for Women]], Cramling has won the team gold medal in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2016 playing for team Cercle d'Echecs [[Monte Carlo]].

Cramling earned the [[International Master]] (IM) title in 1983 and the [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (GM) title in 1992. She defeated [[Raymond Keene]] in the tournament where she earned her first IM [[norm (chess)|norm]]. She earned her three GM norms in [[Italy]] in 1989, in [[Las Palmas]] in 1990, and [[Bern]] in 1992.<ref name="norms">{{Cite web |last=Träff |first=Pär |title=Pia Cramling |url=http://www.limhamnssk.se/klubbtidningen/0103-piacramling.shtml |access-date=20 August 2022 |website=Limhamns SK |language=sv}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Cramling is [[List of chess families|married]] to the [[Spain|Spanish]] grandmaster [[Juan Manuel Bellón López]]. The two met in [[Zürich]], in 1984, and married four years later; since Cramling's promotion to grandmaster in 1992, they became the first chess couple who both hold the highest title in chess.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frey |first=Eduard |date=23 April 2023 |title=Ten Highlights in the Life and Career of Chess Grandmaster Pia Cramling |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/ten-highlights-in-the-life-and-career-of-chess-grandmaster-pia-cramling |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=chessbase.com}}</ref> Bellón and Cramling lived in Spain for a number of years, but later moved back to Sweden.

Their daughter, [[Anna Cramling|Anna Cramling Bellón]], is a [[Woman FIDE Master]] and a chess [[YouTuber]] and [[Twitch (service)|Twitch]] [[Online streamer|streamer]]. At the [[42nd Chess Olympiad|42nd]] and [[44th Chess Olympiad|44th]] Chess Olympiad, mother and daughter both played for Sweden, Pia being team captain on board 1 and Anna playing on board 5<!-- Board 4 in individual games, but overall Board 5 --><ref>{{Cite web |date=6 September 2016 |title=The Family Team of Sweden |url=http://chesshive.com/2016/09/the-family-team-of-sweden/ |website=ChessHive.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Women |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr232876.aspx?lan=1&art=8&flag=30&wi=821 |website=chess-results.com}}</ref> and 3, respectively.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Pia Cramling}}
* {{FIDE}}
* {{365Chess.com player}}
* {{Chessgames.com player}}
* {{OlimpBase player}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramling, Pia}}
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Chess Grandmasters]]
[[Category:Chess Olympiad competitors]]
[[Category:European Chess Champions]]
[[Category:Female chess grandmasters]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Chess players from Stockholm]]
[[Category:Swedish chess players]]
[[Category:Swedish expatriates in Spain]]
[[Category:Swedish female chess players]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish sportswomen]]