Alexandra Kosteniuk

Alexandra Kosteniuk Konstantinovna (Russian Александра Константиновна Костенюк; born April 23, 1984 in Perm ) is a Russian chess player. She was the twelfth world chess champion in the years 2008 to 2010. She won the 2004 Grandmaster title (GM). In July 2012, she was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Russia.

Chess career

Since she was two years she lived in Moscow. At the age of five she learned chess from her father Konstantin Vladimirovich. Alexandra Kosteniuk made ​​fast progress. Your first achievements came in junior tournaments. In 1994, she won the first European Championship title in girls under 10 years. A month later, she took second place at the World Championships for under 10 year olds. She later won that track, so it was, for example, 1996 World Champion of girls under 12 years.

In 1997, she received at the age of 13 years the title of International Champion. In February 1998, it reached all the required standards for the title as an international woman grandmaster, who became her then awarded at the FIDE Congress in November 1998, the 33rd Chess Olympiad in Elista at the age of 13 years and ten months. In 2000 she became an International Master of Men (IM). The standards required for the title of Grand Master of Men (GM ), it reached 2004. This title was conferred at the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvia.

In the Chess Classic in Mainz in 2002 Kosteniuk played a rapid chess match against Elisabeth Pähtz, which she won with 6:5. Further steps in her career were winning the 2004 European Championship as well as winning the Russian championship in 2005.

In September 2005, she won the Golden Blitz Blitz in Moscow in the final against Almira Scripcenco. In a rapid chess tournament on Villandry Castle Kosteniuk won on October 21, 2007 game against Laurent Fressinet by 237 trains, which is a record for the longest decisive game. The balance sheet at the Chess Olympiad 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk was excellent, she won the first Russian women's choice by a wide margin gold.

Since her husband is Swiss, has also Kostenjuk a Swiss passport. In July 2010, she took on the Swiss national championship men's part and came in at number 4, the Swiss single women's championship she won in 2011. At Swiss Individual Championship 2013 Alexandra Kosteniuk Bern became the first woman Swiss men's champion.

The current Elo rating is 2489 Alexandra Kostenjuks (September 2012). This places it in the world rankings of women in 21st place your best placement was previously the third place with an Elo rating of 2540 in April 2006.

World Chess Champion

Alexandra Kosteniuk took an early start to win the title of world chess champion. At the World Championship 2001 Kosteniuk was the first time in the final, but lost against Zhu Chen the competition after tie-break 5-3. In the Women's World Cup 2004 in Elista Kostenjuk failed, however, already in the second round by Viktorija Cmilyte. In September 2008, her career finally reached its peak. At the World Championship in Nalchik, she won the title by a 2 ½: 1 ½ in the final against Hou Yifan. In the semi-final Kosteniuk had previously prevailed against Pia Cramling. In 2006 and 2008 she also won in Mainz Chess960 World Championship for Women. In the Women's World Cup 2010 in Antakya they eliminated in the third round against the later finalist Ruan Lufei. Her successor was the 16 -year-old Hou Yifan.

Author and chess trainer

Parallel to the practical chess Kosteniuk is focused on to write chess books and to act as a trainer. Your first partially autobiographical work How I became Grandmaster at age 14 was released in 2001 and has been in three languages ​​( Russian, English and Spanish). It is a textbook, in which they also reported how they themselves learned the game of chess. In July 2003, she graduated from the Institute of Sport and has since been certified chess coach. Under Chess is Cool she runs a chess podcast. Her second book, play like a champion appeared in 2007.

Private

Alexandra Kosteniuk is with their manager Juan Diego Garces Montoya ( born 1959 ) married in 2007 and was the mother of a daughter. Her younger sister Oksana (* 1987) is also chess player. In addition to chess, they pursued other interests, including poetry and sports. Attracted attention in particular their tendency to repeatedly advertise as a model for himself and the sport of chess, their motto is "beauty and intelligence can go together ". In addition, Kosteniuk has starred in a film.

Works

• How I Became Grandmaster at 14, Moscow 2001, ISBN 978-5-829300432 лет ( in the original) Как стать гроссмейстером в 14. Moscow 2001, ISBN 5-89069-053-1