Dina Vadimovna Belenkaya (Russian: Дина Вадимовна Беленькая; born 22 December 1993) is a Russian-Israeli

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 dist ...

player, commentator,

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

streamer, and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

r who holds the title 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 ...

(WGM). She is a four-time

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

women's champion, and has represented St. Petersburg at the Russian Women's Team Championship and the

European Chess Club Cup The European Chess Club Cup is an annual chess tournament for club teams from Europe. It is organised by the European Chess Union. The competition is held with the Swiss system over seven rounds. It consists of two sections, open and women's, with ...

for Women. She has a peak

FIDE rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved c ...

of 2364. Belenkaya was taught how to play chess at age three by her mother, a local children's chess coach. Despite limited achievements at the junior level, Belenkaya has had more success in adult competitions, beginning with her victory in the Russian Women's Championship First League in 2011 at age 17. She earned the Woman Grandmaster title in 2016 after achieving norms at open tournaments in France in three successive years beginning in 2014. She exceeded the score requirement for all three of her WGM norms, and earned International Master (IM) norms at each of these tournaments as well. Having obtained all three of the IM norms that are required, she only needs to reach the rating threshold of 2400 to be awarded the IM title. Belenkaya's best tournament performance was at the 2014 Open International d'Echecs d'Avoine, where she earned WGM and IM norms with a bronze medal finish and a

performance rating The PR (Performance Rating, P-rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s (Cyrix announced it in February 1996) as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of r ...

of 2557. She was a participant at the 2021 Women's Chess World Cup, having qualified through her result at the 2019 European Individual Women's Chess Championship. Belenkaya switched federations from Russia to Israel in March 2022. Belenkaya and her sister Asya have Twitch and YouTube channels named ''TheBelenkaya'' that were launched in 2020. Belenkaya is also a regular commentator for online and over-the-board chess events.

Early life and background

Dina Vadimovna Belenkaya was born on 22 December 1993 in

. Her mother Asya Kovalyova has been a children's chess coach for over 30 years and notably was the first coach of Anish Giri, who has since become a Grandmaster (GM) and has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world. Belenkaya learned how to play chess from her mother at age three and began competing at age five. When she was 10 years old, she began working with Andrey Praslov, a

FIDE 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 ...

(FM) who was a coach at the same chess club as her mother.

Chess career

2007–14: Russian First League winner, first IM norm

Dina Belenkaya 2011 Russian Women's Championship with trophy

Belenkaya earned her first

in April 2007 at age 13, starting out at 1872 after participating in the Winter on Petrograd Side Open in January. The next month, she played the St. Petersburg Women's Championship for the first time. Belenkaya reached a rating of 2000 in October 2008 at age 14 after a good performance in the

Lyudmila Rudenko Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko (russian: Людми́ла Влади́мировна Руде́нко, uk, Людмила Володимирівна Руденко; 27 July 1904 – 4 March 1986) was a Soviet chess player and the second women' ...

Memorial Women's Open where she scored an even 4/8 against opponents with a much higher average rating of 2242. At the end of the year, she finished in joint first at the under-18 girls' St. Petersburg Championships with a score of 6½/9. Belenkaya first reached a rating of 2100 in 2010 and a rating of 2200 at the end of 2011. She was awarded the

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 ...

(WFM) title in 2010. Her best result of 2011 came in February when she won the Russian Women's Championship First League in Ivanovo at age 17. She scored 8/9 against opponents with an average rating of 2192. She compiled a

of 2543 and had three wins against players rated above 2300, namely

Maria Fominykh Maria Vladimirovna Fominykh (russian: Мария Владимировна Фоминых; born 6 February 1987) is a Russian chess player. Biography Maria Fominykh learned to play chess at the age of seven. She is a two-time winner of Russian Yo ...

Inna Ivakhinova Inna Sayanovna Ivakhinova (russian: Инна Саяновна Ивахинова; born 23 February 1989) is a Russian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM, 2012). Biography Ivakhinova learned to play chess at the age ...

, and

Daria Charochkina Daria Charochkina (born October 7, 1990) is a Russian chess player, and a woman grandmaster. She qualified for the Women's World Chess Championship 2017 The Women's World Chess Championship 2017 was a 64-player knock-out tournament, to dec ...

. This was the last edition of the First League. During 2012, Belenkaya finished in joint fourth with a score of 5½/9 at the Cup of Russia women's second stage, behind

Olga Girya Olga Alexandrovna Girya (russian: Ольга Александровна Гиря; born 4 June 1991) is a Russian chess player. She holds the title of Grandmaster (GM), which FIDE awarded her in 2021. She was a member of the gold medal-winning R ...

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 ...

, and Ekaterina Timofeeva, all of whom were much higher rated. Belenkaya continued to maintain a rating in the low 2200s through mid-2014. Early in 2013, she defeated Igor Shvyrjov, an Estonian Grandmaster rated 2470, in the IM group of the Paul Keres Memorial Festival. After a bronze medal in the Russian girls' under-21 junior championship, she participated in the European Individual Women's Chess Championship for the first time. With the tournament in Belgrade, she scored 5/11, highlighted by an opening round win against

Elisabeth Pähtz Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, sometimes spelt Elisabeth Paehtz) is a German chess Grandmaster.International Master (IM) rated 2454. Belenkaya had her first significant rating increase since 2011 during the August 2014 rating period when she gained over 100 rating points from two tournaments to rise to 2329, above the threshold of 2300 needed for the

(WGM) title. First, she gained 30 rating points at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship with an even score of 5½/11 against opponents with an average rating of 2321. She followed up this result by winning the bronze medal at the Open International d'Echecs d' Avoine in France behind two Grandmasters,

Maxime Lagarde Maxime Lagarde (born 16 March 1994) is a French chess grandmaster. He won the French Chess Championship in 2019. Chess career Born in 1994, Lagarde earned his international master title in 2011 and his grandmaster title in 2013. Lagarde fini ...

and Alon Greenfeld. She scored 7/9 with a performance rating of 2557, highlighted by victories over four International Masters. Her only loss was to the tournament winner Lagarde. Overall, she gained 76 rating points. She also earned her first WGM

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envi ...

by scoring well above the 5½ points that were required, and also earned her first IM norm.

2015–present: Woman Grandmaster title, remaining IM norms

Round 3 GibChess post-game interview with Dina Belenkaya 0-25 screenshot (cropped)

For much of her career as an adult, Belenkaya has kept her rating in-between 2250 and 2350. Amidst a series of poor results in the first half of 2015 that led her rating to drop as low as 2213, she had a good result in March when she won the St. Petersburg Women's Championship for the first time. She scored 7½/9, a ½ point ahead of runner-up Alina Balaian. In the second half of the year, Belenkaya regained all of the rating points she had lost and reached a new peak rating of 2352. Her biggest rating increase was again in August, when she gained 30 points in the Russian Women's Championship Higher League and 62 points at the Festival International de Condom in France. The latter tournament was a ten-player round-robin. Despite being the lowest-rated player, she scored 6/9 to finish runner-up to Serghei Vedmediuc, a Moldovan IM. She earned both her second WGM norm and her second IM norm, the former of which with a ½ point more than what was needed. Belenkaya was awarded the Woman Grandmaster title in 2016. For the second consecutive year, she earned both a WGM norm and an IM norm at the Festival International de Condom, thereby clinching the WGM title. As the second-lowest rated player, she finished in joint first with three other players a score of 6/9, but came in fourth because of the tiebreak criteria. Her score was 1 point higher than the required score for the WGM norm. During 2017, Belenkaya won the bronze medal at the Moscow Open B, the women's division of the tournament, behind Oksana Gritsayeva and

Alina Kashlinskaya Alina Anatolyevna Kashlinskaya (russian: Алина Анатольевна Кашлинская; born 28 October 1993) is a Russian-born Polish chess player. She holds the titles International Master and Woman Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded h ...

. At the end of the year, she won another bronze medal by reaching the semifinals of the Russian Cup for Women. She knocked out Alexandra Makarenko in the first round before losing to Elena Tomilova. Early in 2018, Belenkaya defeated

Luke McShane Luke James McShane (born 7 January 1984) is an English chess player. A chess prodigy, he was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2000, at the age of 16. McShane has become one of England's leading players and a member of the national ...

, an English Grandmaster, at the Bunratty Masters, a six-round unrated Swiss tournament in Ireland. With a rating of 2643 at the time, McShane is the highest-rated player she has defeated. Belenkaya's best tournament performances in 2018 included winning the St. Petersburg Women's Championship for the second time and gaining 42 rating points in the Serbian Women's League. She reached a peak rating of 2364 early the following year in February 2019. One of her best results in 2019 was at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship in

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

, where she scored 7/11 to finish in 22nd place and earn the 14th and final qualification spot for the inaugural Women's World Cup. She defeated three International Masters during the event, namely Nataliya Buksa, Evgenija Ovod, and Sophie Milliet, the last two of which in the final two rounds. Belenkaya won the St. Petersburg Women's Championship for a third and a fourth time in 2020 and 2021 to give her the sixth most tournament wins among women in the city's history. At the inaugural Women's World Cup in 2021, Belenkaya was the 66th seed out of 103 competitors. She was eliminated in the first round by 63rd seed Teodora Injac, losing both classical games. Belenkaya changed her federation to Israel in March 2022. In December 2022, Belenkaya competed against Andrea Botez in the Mogul Chessboxing Championship; hosted by

Ludwig Ahgren Ludwig Anders Ahgren (born July 6, 1995), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Ludwig, is an American Online streamer, live streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, Sports commentator#Esports, esports commentator and Super Smash Bros. in esports, compet ...

. The fight consisted of 7 rounds alternating of chess and boxing, until a player/fighter got a TKO or was checkmated. As Belenkaya could checkmate in one move, Botez was successful in stalling to run down time for a final round of boxing to get a TKO. During the final round of boxing, Belenkaya seemed to escape a TKO and go back to chess. With only 6 seconds remaining, Botez resigned instead of allowing checkmate and Belenkaya was announced the winner. The win became controversial, as viewers noticed that Botez had actually received a TKO that was not noticed by officials, and the referee for the match was criticised for the way the TKO was managed. The organizer's Twitter account "Mogul Moves" announced an updated result after a review of the fight "... otezshould have been awarded a TKO after the referee initiated the fourth standing count of the fight". The update resulted in both Belenkaya and Botez being winners. Botez's sister criticised the ref immediately after the match, while Botez criticised the ref on her Twitch stream and recalled that the ref apologised to her for the TKO mistake. Belenkaya suggested a rematch in Russia to follow the Rocky saga; referencing

Rocky IV ''Rocky IV'' is a 1985 American sports drama film written, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Rocky III'' (1982) and is the fourth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Ca ...

. After criticism due to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, she clarified, ''"I choose Russia to follow the rules of the Rocky saga, not as a political move/view of any sort."''

Team competitions

National events

Dina Belenkaya at 2016 Russian Team Championship with team

Belenkaya has competed in the Russian Women's Team Championship six times since 2015. Representing the St. Petersburg team SDYUSSHOR SHSH (Specialized Children and Youth Olympic Reserve School Chess and Checkers) in 2015, she won a silver medal in the 2015 ten-team tournament together with Anastasia Bodnaruk, Evgenija Ovod, and Alina Balaian. This result also earned them a place in the European Club Cup later that year. Individually, Belenkaya did not fare well, scoring 3/7 and losing 9 rating points. Belenkaya fared better at her following appearances in the event, gaining rating points at her next five Russian Women's Team Championships. The team won the silver medal again in 2016 with a similar set of players, only moving Balaian to the reserve board and replacing her with Anna Styazhkina. Belenkaya scored 5/8 and gained 10 rating points. While the team only won the bronze medal in 2017 and 2018, Belenkaya scored 5/7 and 6/8 those years, gaining 16 and 11 rating points respectively. The team won the silver medal again in 2019. Although they did not win a medal in 2021, Belenkaya had a performance rating of 2434, her best at the event, and gained 37 rating points.

International events

Belenkaya also played on the same SDYUSSHOR SHSH team for the European Club Cup for Women. At the 2015 event, SDYUSSHOR SHSH finished in seventh place out of twelve teams. They finished in seventh place again the following year in 2016, this time out of fourteen teams. Like the national competition, Belenkaya had a better result in her second appearance, scoring 4½/7 and gaining rating points in 2016 compared to a score of 3½/7 in 2015 that lost her rating points. Belenkaya's best team result was in 2018 when the competition was divided into a two-group six-team round-robin stage and a three-group four-team two-round knockout stage in which the groups were determined by the round-robin placings. SDYUSSHOR SHSH qualified for the top knockout group and finished in fourth place. Although Belenkaya lost rating points in both 2018 and 2019, her victories against higher-rated players Stavroula Tsolakidou and

Zhansaya Abdumalik Zhansaya Abdumalik ( kk, Jansaya Daniyarqyzy Äbdimalik; russian: Жансая́ Дания́ровна Абдумали́к; born 12 January 2000) is a Kazakhstani chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the first Kazakhst ...

helped her team earn opening-round draws in both instances.

Leagues

Belenkaya has competed in the Women's Bundesliga in Germany since 2015. She has played for

Bad Königshofen Bad Königshofen im Grabfeld is a small spa town in the German state of Bavaria, located in the Rhön-Grabfeld district in northeast Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. According to the Bavarian State Office for Statistics and Data, Bad Königsh ...

since 2016 after her original team, SF 1891 Friedberg, dissolved after her first year. With Belenkaya playing for the club, Bad Königshofen won the league in back-to-back editions in 2018–19 and 2019–21. Belenkaya had excellent results in both championship seasons. She scored 8½/9 during the 2018–19 season, defeating all of her opponents except Karina Ambartsumova, a Woman Grandmaster rated 2396. Her overall performance rating was 2537. The following season, Bad Königshofen entered the final round needing a draw against second-place SK Schwäbisch Hall to clinch the title. In the final match, Belenkaya defeated Irina Bulmaga, an International Master rated 2396, to help her team draw the match and win the league. Overall, Belenkaya had a score of 6½/8, corresponding to a performance rating of 2453 and also highlighted by a win against Zhansaya Abdumalik, who was rated 2471 at the time. Belenkaya has also competed in leagues in France and Serbia. In late 2019, Belenkaya defeated Momchil Nikolov, a Grandmaster rated 2557, in the French league. Belenkaya played on the top board for the Sahmatni Kruzok team based in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

for the 2019 Serbian Women's League.

Playing style

Belenkaya has a strong preference for playing 1.e4 (the King's Pawn Game) with the white pieces over any other first moves. With the black pieces, she commonly defends against 1.e4 with the

Caro–Kann Defence The Caro–Kann Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 c6 The Caro–Kann is a common defence against the King's Pawn Opening. It is classified as a Semi-Open Game, like the Sicilian Defence and French Defence, althoug ...

(1.e4 c6) and commonly defends against 1.d4 (the Queen's Pawn Game) with the

Queen's Gambit Accepted The Queen's Gambit Accepted (or QGA) is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 dxc4 The Queen's Gambit Accepted is the third most popular option on Black's second move, after 2...e6 (the Queen's Gambit Declined) and 2.. ...

(1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4).

Broadcasting career

Belenkaya began streaming chess on

in April 2020 towards the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

after being invited by Alexandra Botez to compete in the Isolated Queens women's online chess tournament that she was organizing. Belenkaya used the fact that only competitors who streamed their participation were eligible for prizes as motivation to figure out how to stream and launch a channel. She signed to stream for Chess.com early that April and collaborates with other streamers who are part of their platform. Her sister Asya, an artist and a beginner-level chess player, later joined the channel around July 2020, adding more variety. Around the same that Belenkaya started streaming on Twitch, she also launched a

channel with similar types of content. Both the Twitch and YouTube channels are eponymously named ''TheBelenkaya'' in reference to the two sisters. Belenkaya has served as a commentator both for over-the-board and online events. She was an official commentator for the 2021 World Cup with

Aleksandr Shimanov Aleksandr Shimanov (born 8 May 1992) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE in 2009. Chess career He won the Saint Petersburg City Chess Championship in 2012 and played in the Chess World Cup 2013, wher ...

, a Russian Grandmaster. She conducted the official post-game interviews at the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix. For Chess.com, she has commentated for a variety of their online events including the weekly Titled Tuesdays and the Speed Chess Championship.

Personal life

Belenkaya graduated from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University in 2018 with a degree in applied linguistics. She is trilingual with fluency in English, Russian, and French, having learned the latter in part through spending two semesters in France. Belenkaya is a

Master of Sports of Russia Master of Sports of Russia (MS) (russian: Мастер спорта России (МС)) is a sports honorary title in the Russian Federation and a direct successor to the similar Soviet classification system. To assign the title of MS prerequis ...

Notable games

* Dina Belenkaya (2286) – Luke McShane (2643), 2018 Bunratty Masters: Round 2; Four Knights Game: Scotch variation, . Raymond Keene, an English GM and journalist, annotated the game. Selected annotations from Keene are included below. ::1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 O-O (''"Black can safely offer a gambit here and White does well to decline it, preferring to castle"'') 9. O-O cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qf3 Rb8 12. Ne2 (''"12 Bxf6 would give White the better pawn structure but after 12 ... Qxf6 13 Qxf6 gxf6 the black bishops provide ample compensation. In practice, Black has scored very well from this position."'') 12...Be7 13. b3 (''"White could also play more directly with the immediate 13 Nd4. A possible line is then 13 ... Bd7 14 Rae1 and if now 14 ... Rxb2 then 15 Nf5 Bxf5 16 Qxf5 g6 17 Qf3 Ne4 leads to complex play. "'') 13... Bg4 14. Qe3 Re8 15. Qxa7 Ra8 16. Qd4 c5 17. Qf4 Bxe2 18. Bxe2 h6 19. Bh4 Bd6 (''"19 ... g5 is far too weakening. White can continue 20 Bxg5 hxg5 21 Qxg5+ Kh8 22 Qh6+ Kg8 23 Bb5 Rf8 24 Rad1 followed by Rd3 with a winning attack."'') 20. Qf3 Be5 21. Rad1 g5 22. Bg3 Rxa2 (''"Black would do better to play 22 ... g4 23 Qd3 Rxa2 when White no longer has the possibility of Bb5 and the position is equal."'') 23. Bb5 Re6 24. Qf5 Bd4 25. Bd3 Qe7 26. Kh1 (''"White misses 26 c4 which is very strong. After 26 ... dxc4 27 Bxc4 White wins material as the rook on e6 cannot move due to the reply Qg6+. Black could have avoided this problem with 25 ... Qd7 26 c4 Re7."'') 26... Ne4 27. f3 Nxg3+ 28. hxg3 Ra7 (''"This loses material. Black had to play the unintuitive 28 ... Rd6 29 Rde1 Re6! which, surprisingly, holds the balance as 30 Rxe6 Qxe6 is fine for Black."'') 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Bf5 (''"Now Black’s problem is that if the rook moves White can continue 31 Rxd4 and 32 Qh8 mate."'') 30... Qf6 31. Bxe6 Qxe6 32. f4 g4 33. f5 (''"With the extra material and the initiative, White is winning easily."'') 33... Qf6 34. Rf4 Re7 35. Rxg4 Re2 36. c3 Be5 37. Rxd5 Ke7 38. Qg8 Bd6 39. Ra4 Bc7 40. Rxc5 Qd6 41. f6+ Ke6 42. Qe8+ Kxf6 43. Rf4+ Qxf4 44. Qh8+ Ke7 45. gxf4 Bxf4 46. g3 1–0

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belenkaya, Dina 1993 births Living people Russian female chess players Chess woman grandmasters Twitch (service) streamers Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni