Web Chess Mercantile proudly features Lady Alexandra Kosteniuk as the featured Grandmaster for the month of December. Alexandra has been a prominent competitor in the world of womens chess for the past decade and is about to defend her world womens chess championship title that will take place in Hatay, Turkey from December 2 through 25.
Beauty and brains is a blessed combination, and Russian chess grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk has them both.
"Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk was born on April 23, 1984 in Perm Russia. Alexandra learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She has a little sister named Oxana, who is a FIDE master 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. Three years later, she became European women's champion by winning the tournament in Dresden, Germany.
In November 2004, she was awarded the International Grandmaster title, becoming the tenth woman to receive the highest title of the World Chess Federation, FIDE. Before that, she had also obtained the titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master.
She also won the 2005 Russian Women's Championship, held in Samara, Russia, finishing with a score of +7 =4 -0.
Lady Alexandra competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2008, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan, with a score of 2.5-1.5.
On October 4, 2010 Alexandra and her fellow team mates from Russia took the gold medal in the 39th Chess Olympiad held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
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.
For the complete story go to:
Thank you for reading
Terry Ritschard
