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 dist ...
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, wher ...
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 was ...
.
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
Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism (SCOLIPE) (russian: Российский государственный университет физической культуры, спорта, молодёжи и тур ...
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 al ...
.
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, bli ...
.
2001
In 2001, at the age of 17, she reached the final of the
World Women's Chess Championship
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 ...
won by
Zhu Chen.
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 ...
, 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 an ...
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 (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...
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 announc ...
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 th ...](_blank)
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 ...
, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy
Hou Yifan with a score of Later in the same year, she won the women's individual
blitz event of the
2008 World Mind Sports Games in
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 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 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 stand ...
, and took the silver medal on tiebreak, as Lagno won the direct encounter.
2015
In 2015 Kosteniuk won the European–
ACP Women's
Rapid
Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.
Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade ...
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, 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 i ...
.
2019
In late May, Alexandra faced Ukrainian-American International Master
Anna Zatonskih in the quarterfinal match of the 2019 Women's Speed Chess Championship, an online
blitz and bullet competition hosted by
Chess.com. 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
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...
. In December, she shared first place in the second leg of
FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019–20
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 ...
in Monaco. In December she also achieved 2nd place in the Belt and Road World Chess Woman Summit, behind
Hou Yifan.
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 The Women's Chess World Cup is a women's major chess competition organized by FIDE.https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1139386/ukraine-chess-handshake
Winners and results
"Qual" refers to the number of players who qualify for the Candidates To ...
, 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,
Pia Cramling,
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 U ...
,
Valentina Gunina and
Tan Zhongyi, before winning the tournament with a 1.5 - 0.5 score against top seed
Aleksandra Goryachkina 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
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 regardle ...
.
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 vi ...
'' 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, a ]Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...
-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 m ...
protesting against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Personal life
Born in Perm, Kosteniuk moved to 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 ...
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 rega ...
-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 Internati ...
-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
Pavel Vladimirovich Tregubov (russian: Па́вел Влади́мирович Трегу́бов; born 21 December 1971) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1994. Tregubov was European champion in 2000.
...
.
Notable games
The World vs Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2004, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. English Attack (B90), 0–1
Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Alexander Onischuk, Corus, Group B 2005, Spanish Game: Classical Variation (C65), 1–0
Anna 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