Antoineta Stefanova started her participation at the European Women's Individual Chess Championship with a victory, and the rest of the Bulgarian women recorded three more successes and suffered two defeats on the first day in Rhodes, Greece, reports BTA.
Stefanova started the tournament with the black pieces and won against Ayan Alakhverdieva of Azerbaijan. Two more Bulgarian women recorded victories with the blacks - Nadya Toncheva prevailed over the Greek Magdalini Mihailidou, and Beloslava Krasteva prevailed over Piedad Sanchez Ruiz.
Stefanova and Nurgyul Salimova, who is playing in the world title contenders tournament in Toronto, are the only Bulgarians in the top 100 of the women's ranking.
The fourth victory for Bulgaria on the first day of the European Championship was recorded by Viktoria Radeva, who beat the German Dora Peglau with the white pieces. Gergana Peycheva lost to the Georgian Mariami Yaniashvili, and Petya Karaivanova lost against the Serbian Adela Vekic. Peycheva and Karaivanova played with the black pieces.