foto · Etery Kublashvili · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Portrait · IM, WGM
Alina
Bivol
World junior girls’ runner-up in 2015 and an International Master. Two wins show passed-pawn endgame play and an attack along the g-file.
Years
1996
Title
IM, WGM
City
Belgrade
FIDE ID
4100123
Rating peak
2403 (September 2018)
Alina Bivol, born in 1996, won silver at the 2015 World Junior Girls’ Championship. She earned the Woman Grandmaster title in 2017 and International Master in 2021. In 2026, she joined Serbia’s national-team setup.
Her international experience began much earlier. The first game here takes us back to a world youth championship; the second comes from the senior World Cup.
At the 2010 World Girls Under-14 Championship in Porto Carras, Bivol beat Lei Tingjie with Black. After the rooks are exchanged, queens remain alongside White’s knight, Black’s bishop and the pawns.
The queens come off on move 59, and Black’s a-pawn reaches a2. Watch how this threat holds White’s knight on a1 and gives Black’s king time to approach.
Lei Tingjie - Alina Bivol · World Under-14 Championship, Porto Carras (round 11), 2010.10.30
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?! inaccuracy? mistake?? blunder
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Lei Tingjie–Bivol, Porto Carras 2010: the a-pawn ties the knight to a1. The final 68...Kb2 attacks the knight and supports promotion.
At the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Baku, Bivol faced Gunay Mammadzada in round two. In the game below, White castles queenside and prepares an attack along the g-file.
The finish deserves close attention: 39...dxc2 captures White’s queen. Bivol continues with 40.Bg7+ and 41.Bf8+, the latter uncovering a check from the rook on g2.
Alina Bivol - Gunay Mammadzada · Women's World Cup 2023, Baku (round 2, game 1), 2023.08.02
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Move · · starting position
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0/81 · ← →
?! inaccuracy? mistake?? blunder
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Bivol–Mammadzada, Baku 2023: White’s queen has already been captured, but 41.Bf8+ uncovers a rook check on the g-file. Black resigns in that position.
These two wins have different rhythms. Against Lei Tingjie, the king and passed pawn work together; against Mammadzada, active pieces around the king sustain the attack after the queen is lost.
Replay both final positions as an exercise: follow the promotion square in one, and the rook’s open file in the other.