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Portrait · WGM
Elif
Mehmed
A Woman Grandmaster since 2024. An attack against Injac and an endgame against Bulmaga show two different routes to a full point.
Years
2004
Title
WGM
FIDE ID
2921103
Rating peak
2344 (February 2026)
Elif Mehmed, born in 2004, spent her early competitive years in Bulgaria before continuing her career under the Serbian flag. An important milestone came at the 2024 March women’s tournament in Belgrade, where she completed her final Woman Grandmaster norm.
The two games below pose different challenges: an attack with Black and a long endgame in which both sides promote pawns.
In the 2022 Serbian Women’s First League, Mehmed beat Teodora Injac with Black. She first places her pieces in the centre, then advances kingside pawns.
After 29...g4 and 31...g3, White’s pawn cover begins to disappear. The queen enters g3, while a rook travels through f7 to h7 to join the attack.
Teodora Injac - Elif Mehmed · Serbian First Women's League (round 4), 2022.10.25
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Injac–Mehmed, league 2022: 36...Rh7 prepares the queen’s entry to h2. White resigns after 39...Rf7+.
At the 55th Belgrade International Women’s Grandmaster Tournament in 2024, Mehmed scored seven points and shared second place. The Serbian Chess Federation’s report also recorded her third Woman Grandmaster norm.
Her game from Rhodes the following year shows how much play can remain after major exchanges.
Against Irina Bulmaga at the 2025 European Club Cup in Rhodes, Mehmed enters a passed-pawn race. White’s first promotion, 48.c8=Q, is immediately answered by 48...Rxc8 49.Kxc8.
A second white c-pawn then advances. Black promotes the g-pawn, White gives up a rook for the new queen, and 58.c8=Q produces another white queen. Only then does the queen-versus-pawns ending begin, with White’s king also playing an important role.
Elif Mehmed - Irina Bulmaga · European Club Cup for women, Rhodes (round 4), 2025.10.22
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Mehmed–Bulmaga, Rhodes 2025: three promotions change the material balance. After 58.c8=Q, White uses queen and king against the remaining pawns; Black resigns after 71.Kd4.
In the first game, the queen and rook join the pawn breakthrough. In the second, the pawn race has to be calculated through promotions and exchanges of the new queens.
These examples offer two useful exercises: identify which pieces can reach the king, and work out which pawn reaches the last rank first.