Her compatriot, Tayana Kosintseva, cruised to silver at the tournament held in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.

The title was decided in the final round, in which Gunina, who played white, defeated table-topper Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia.

Kosintseva also took the upper hand in her match against Georgian chess master Nana Dzagnidze.

As a result, Gunina, Kosintseva and Muzychuk all had 8.5 points after 11 meetings, but the Russian duo prevailed over their Slovenian rival due to additional indicators.

Another Russian, Aleksandra Kostenyuk, came among the top 14 players to qualify for the Chess World Championship.

The Turkish triumph became the first big international achievement in the career of 23-year-old Valentina Gunina.

Back in February, the World Boxing Council (WBC) has also removed the boxer from its rankings, indefinitely suspending him from fighting for the WBC champion’s belt.

Before the disqualification, the Briton has held 18 professional bouts, collecting 15 wins (10 KOs) and suffering three defeats.