Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (russian: Алекса́ндра Константи́новна Костеню́к; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

grandmaster who is the former Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021, and the former

Women's World Chess Champion The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wh ...

from 2008 to 2010. She was European women's champion in 2004 and a two-time Russian Women's Chess Champion (in 2005 and 2016). Kosteniuk won the team gold medal playing for Russia at the

Women's Chess Olympiad The Women's Chess Olympiad is an event held by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) since 1957 (every two years since 1972), where national women's teams compete at chess for gold, silver and bronze medals. Since 1976 the Women's Chess Olympia ...

s of 2010, 2012 and 2014; the Women's

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

of 2017; and the Women's

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

s of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017; and the

Women's Chess World Cup 2021 The Women's Chess World Cup 2021 was a 103-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, from 12 July to 3 August 2021. It was the inaugural edition of a women's-only version of the FIDE World Cup. The tournament wa ...

Chess career

Kosteniuk learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She graduated in 2003 from the Russian State Academy of Physical Education in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

as a certified professional chess trainer.

1994

Alexandra won the girls under 10 division of the

European Youth Chess Championship The European Youth Chess Championship is organized by the European Chess Union (ECU) in groups under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years old. The first tournament was held in 1991, and the under 8 category was introduced in 2007. Until 2002 there was als ...

1996

Alexandra won the girls under 12 title at both the European Youth Championships and

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s. At twelve years old she also became the Russian women's champion in

rapid chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz ...

2001

In 2001, at the age of 17, she reached the final of the World Women's Chess Championship won by

Zhu Chen Zhu Chen (, ar, زو تشن; born March 13, 1976) is a Chinese-born Qatari chess Grandmaster. In 1999, she became China's second women's world chess champion after Xie Jun, and China's 13th Grandmaster. In 2006, she obtained Qatari c ...

2001-2004

Kosteniuk became European women's champion by winning the tournament in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, Germany. As she achieved this with a performance rating above 2600, she was awarded the grandmaster title in November 2004, becoming the tenth woman to receive the highest title of the World Chess Federation (

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

). Before that, she had also obtained the titles of

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 1998 and

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 2000.

2005

Kosteniuk won the Russian Women's Championship.

2006-2008

In August, she became the first

Chess960 Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960 (often read in this context as 'chess nine-sixty' instead of 'chess nine hundred sixty'), is a variation of the game of chess invented by the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer. Fischer annou ...

women's world champion after beating Germany's top female player

Elisabeth Pähtz Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, sometimes spelt Elisabeth Paehtz) is a German chess Grandmaster.Kateryna Lahno Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno (russian: Екатерина Александровна Лагно, ; born 27 December 1989) is a Russian (formerly Ukrainian) chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, she earned the title Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at the ...

However, her greatest success so far has been to win the

Women's World Chess Championship 2008 The Women's World Chess Championship 2008 took place from August 28, 2008 to September 18 in Nalchik, Russia. It was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk, who beat Hou Yifan in the final by 2½ to 1½. For the fifth time, the championship took the form of ...

, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy

Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time.

with a score of Later in the same year, she won the women's individual

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

event of the

2008 World Mind Sports Games The first World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) were held in Beijing, China from October 3 to 18, 2008, about two months after the Olympic Games.

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

2010

In the

Women's World Chess Championship 2010 The Women's World Chess Championship 2010 took place in Antakya, Turkey from December 2 through 24, 2010. The tournament, like the previous ones, was played in a 64-player knock-out format. Each pairing consisted of two games, one with white and o ...

she was eliminated in the third round by the eventual runner-up, Ruan Lufei, and thus lost her title.

2013

In 2013, Kosteniuk became the first woman to win the ''men’s'' (i.e. universal)

Swiss Chess Championship The Swiss Chess Championship is held annually during two weeks of July. It is organised by the Swiss Chess Federation (the SSB), which has been a member of the overall governing body, Swiss Olympic, since 2000. The SSB is itself a relatively new org ...

. She also won the women Swiss champion title.

2014

In 2014, she tied for first place with

Kateryna Lagno Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno (russian: Екатерина Александровна Лагно, ; born 27 December 1989) is a Russian (formerly Ukrainian) chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, she earned the title Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at th ...

in the Women's World Rapid Championship, which was held in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk ( rus, Ха́нты-Манси́йск, Khánty-Mansíysk, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city and the administrative center of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, Russia. It stan ...

, and took the silver medal on tiebreak, as Lagno won the direct encounter.

2015

In 2015 Kosteniuk won the European– ACP Women's Rapid Championship in

Kutaisi Kutaisi (, ka, ქუთაისი ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia, traditionally, second in importance, after the capital city of Tbilisi. Situated west of Tbilis ...

. In July of the same year, she lost the Swiss championship playoff to

Vadim Milov Vadim Milov (born 1 August 1972) is a Swiss chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1993. Early life Born in Ufa, following the collapse of the USSR, he moved to Israel in 1992, before finally settling in Switzerlan ...

, and was declared women's Swiss champion.

2016

Kosteniuk again won the Russian Women's Championship.

2017

In 2017 she won the European ACP Women's Blitz Championship in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

2019

In late May, Alexandra faced Ukrainian-American International Master

Anna Zatonskih Anna Zatonskih ( uk, Ганна Затонських; July 17, 1978) is a Ukrainian American chess player who holds the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a four-time U.S. women's champion, as well as a former Uk ...

in the quarterfinal match of the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship, an online blitz and bullet competition hosted by

Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server, news website and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be pla ...

. Kosteniuk dominated the match and won with an overall score of 20–8. In late November, Kosteniuk won the European Women's rapid and blitz championships in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. In December, she shared first place in the second leg of FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019–20 in Monaco. In December she also achieved 2nd place in the Belt and Road World Chess Woman Summit, behind

Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time.

2020

In August 2020, Alexandra was part of the Russian team which shared the gold medal with India in the Online Chess Olympiad. She was unhappy with this result and has also tweeted regarding this issue, drawing criticism from many chess followers.

2021

In July and August 2021, Kosteniuk participated in the inaugural Women's Chess World Cup, a 103-player knockout tournament in Sochi, Russia, held in parallel with the open Chess World Cup. Seeded 14th in the tournament, she won all of her classical matches without ever needing to play a tiebreak, defeating

Deysi Cori Deysi Estela Cori Tello (born 2 July 1993) is a Peruvian chess player, who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM), and a three-time American Continental women's champion. At junior level, she was twice world champion and six-time Pan Amer ...

Pia Cramling Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling (born 23 April 1963) is a Sweden, Swedish chess player. In 1992, she became the fifth woman to earn the FIDE title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Since the early 1980s, she has been one of the strongest fem ...

Mariya Muzychuk Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk ( uk, Марі́я Оле́гівна Музичу́к; born 21 September 1992) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and Women's World Chess Champion from April 2015 to March 2016. She is also a twice women's champion of Uk ...

Valentina Gunina Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina (russian: Валентина Евгеньевна Гунина; born February 4, 1989, in Murmansk) is a Russian chess grandmaster. She has won thrice the Women's European Individual Chess Championship (2012, 2014, ...

and

Tan Zhongyi Tan Zhongyi (; born 29 May 1991) is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk i ...

, before winning the tournament with a 1.5 - 0.5 score against top seed

Aleksandra Goryachkina Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (russian: Алекса́ндра Ю́рьевна Горя́чкина; born 28 September 1998) is a Russian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the No. 2 ranked woman in the world by FID ...

in the finals. In addition to $50,000 in prize money, she also gained 43 rating points and a place in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2022. Kosteniuk ended the year by winning the women's world rapid championship in Warsaw, with an undefeated and unequalled 9.0 out of 11 score. She also placed second behind IM Bibisara Assaubayeva in the blitz championship.

Other activities

Kosteniuk worked as a model and also acted in the film ''

Bless the Woman ''Bless the Woman'' (russian: Благословите женщину, Blagoslovite zhenshchinu) is a Russian film that was released in 2003. The film is based on the novel ''Hostess'', by Irina Grekova. Plot The film begins in a small seaside vil ...

'' by

Stanislav Govorukhin Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin (russian: Станислав Сергеевич Говорухин; 29 March 1936 – 14 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was named People's Artis ...

. Kosteniuk is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by

Peace and Sport Peace and Sport, also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport" is a neutral and independent organization based in the Principality of Monaco and under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Peace and Sport work in areas acros ...

, a

-based international organization. Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Kosteniuk signed an open letter to Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

protesting against the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Personal life

Born in

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places *Perm, Russia, a city in Russia ** Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 **Perm Governorate, an administra ...

, Kosteniuk moved to

in 1985. She has a younger sister named Oksana, who is a

Woman FIDE Master A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

-level chess player. Kosteniuk has dual Swiss-Russian citizenship. She married

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

-born Diego Garces, who is of Colombian descent, at eighteen years old. On 22 April 2007 she gave birth to a daughter, Francesca Maria. Francesca was born 2½ months premature but made a full recovery after an 8-week stay in the hospital. In 2015, Kosteniuk married Russian Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov.

Notable games

The World vs Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2004, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. English Attack (B90), 0–1Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Alexander Onischuk, Corus, Group B 2005, Spanish Game: Classical Variation (C65), 1–0Anna Ushenina vs Alexandra Kosteniuk, WWCh. 2008, Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical, Noa Variation (E34), 0–1

Bibliography

* * ''Как стать гроссмейстером в 14 лет.'' Moscow, 2001. 202, с., 6л. ил. . * ''Как научить шахматам : дошкольный шахматный учебник'' / Александра Костенюк, Наталия Костенюк. Moscow : Russian Chess House, 2008. 142 с . *

Notes

References

External links

*
''Chessqueen''
Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess blog * * *
Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess tips – ''ChessKillerTips'' Interview with Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk
on LatestChess site {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosteniuk, Alexandra 1984 births Living people Women's world chess champions Chess grandmasters Female chess grandmasters Chess woman grandmasters European Chess Champions World Youth Chess Champions Russian chess writers Sportspeople from Perm, Russia Russian female chess players Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism, Department of Chess alumni Twitch (service) streamers Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine