Alexandra Kosteniuk
Encyclopedia
Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk ' onMouseout='HidePop("1192")' href="/topics/Perm">Perm
Perm
Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....

) is a Russian chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 Grandmaster and a former Women's World Chess Champion
Women's World Chess Championship
The Women's World Chess Championship is played to determine the women's world champion in chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE....

.

Chess career

Kosteniuk learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She has a younger sister named Oxana
Oxana Kosteniuk
Oxana Kosteniuk or Oksana Kosteniuk is a Russian chess player. She is a Woman FIDE Master, with a rating of 2096.She is the younger sister of Alexandra Kosteniuk, the former Women's World Chess Champion.-External links:*...

, who is a FIDE master
FIDE titles
The World Chess Federation, FIDE , awards several performance-based titles to chess players. Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and norms . Once awarded, FIDE titles are held for life...

 level chess player.

In 2001, at the age of 17, she reached the final of the World Women's Chess Championship, but was defeated by Zhu Chen
Zhu Chen
Zhu Chen is a chess Grandmaster. In 2001, she became China's second women's world chess champion after Xie Jun, and China's 13th Grandmaster.She today plays for Qatar.-Biography:...

. Three years later, she became European women's champion by winning the tournament in Dresden, Germany. She also won the 2005 Russian Women's Championship, held in Samara, Russia
Samara, Russia
Samara , is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: . The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast...

, finishing with a score of +7 =4 -0. In August 2006, she became the first Chess960
Chess960
Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home...

 (Fischer random) women's world champion after beating Germany's top female player Elisabeth Pähtz
Elisabeth Pähtz
Elisabeth Pähtz is a German chess Woman Grandmaster.She was trained from early childhood by her father Thomas Pähtz, a chess grandmaster himself. At the age of 9 years she won her first German championship in the under-11 age group. In 1999 she became Germany's women's chess champion...

 5.5-2.5. She defended that title successfully in 2008 by beating Kateryna Lahno 2.5-1.5. However, her greatest success so far has been to win the Women's World Chess Championship 2008
Women's World Chess Championship 2008
The Women's World Chess Championship 2008 consisted of a tournament for the Women's World Chess Championship which took place from August 28, 2008 to September 18 in Nalchik in Russia. It was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk, who beat Hou Yifan in the final by 2½ to 1½.-Participants:Players were seeded...

, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess prodigy. She is the reigning Women's World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of Grandmaster.At the age of 12, Hou became the youngest player ever to participate in the FIDE Women's...

, with a score of 2.5-1.5.
In November 2004, she was awarded the International Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....

 title, becoming the tenth woman to receive the highest title of the World Chess Federation, FIDE
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. It is usually referred to as FIDE , its French acronym.FIDE...

. Before that, she had also obtained the titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master. She is 44th on the November 2011 FIDE
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. It is usually referred to as FIDE , its French acronym.FIDE...

 women's Elo rating list with a rating of 2439.

Kosteniuk's mottos have been "chess is cool" and "beauty and intelligence can go together". With these as a backdrop, Kosteniuk has been promoting chess in the capacity of a fashion model and ambassador of chess in order to spark interest in the game around the world.

In the Women's World Chess Championship, 2010 she was eliminated in the third round by Ruan Lufei
Ruan Lufei
Ruan Lufei is a Chinese chess player. She plays for Jiangsu chess club in the China Chess League .-Career:...

 and thus lost her title.

Personal life

Kosteniuk is married to Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

-born Diego Garces, who is of Colombian
Colombian people
Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...

 descent, and 25 years older than she is. On April 22, 2007 Alexandra gave birth to a daughter, Francesca Maria. Francesca was born 2½ months premature, but after an 8-week stay in the hospital has made a full recovery.

Alexandra is today 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
Peace and Sport, "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport” is a neutral and apolitical international initiative based in the Principality of Monaco and placed under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco....

, a Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

-based international organization.

Notable games


External links

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