1/27/2020 Alexandra Kosteniuk - Wikipedia

Alexandra Kosteniuk
Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (Russian: Алекса́ндра Константи́новна Костеню́к; born
Alexandra Kosteniuk
23 April 1984) is a Russian chess grandmaster and Women's World Chess Champion 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 Olympiads
of 2010, 2012 and 2014, the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017,[1] and the Women's
European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017.

Contents
Chess career
1994
1996
2001
2001-2004
2005
Kosteniuk at the Women's European
2006-2008 Team Championship, Warsaw 2013
2010
Full name Alexandra
2013
Konstantinovna
2014
Kosteniuk
2015
Country Russia
2016
2017 Born 23 April 1984
2019 Perm, Russian SFSR,
Soviet Union
Other activities
Title Grandmaster (2004)
Personal life
Women's 2008–10
Notable games World
Bibliography by Kosteniuk Champion
References FIDE 2504 (https://ratings.fid
External links rating e.com/card.phtml?even
t=4128125) (January
2020)
Chess career Peak Elo 2561 (January 2018)
rating
Kosteniuk learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father.

1994
Alexandra won the girls under 10 division of the European Youth Chess Championship.

1996
Alexandra won the girls under 12 title at both the European Youth Championships and World Youth Chess Championships. At twelve years old
she also became the Russian women's champion in rapid chess.[2]

2001
In 2001, at the age of 17, she reached the final of the World Women's Chess Championship and was
defeated by Zhu Chen.

2001-2004
Kosteniuk became European women's champion by winning the tournament in Dresden, Germany.[3]
Thanks to this achievement, in November 2004, she was awarded the 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 in 1998 and International Master in 2000.[4]

2005
Kosteniuk at the 35th Chess
Kosteniuk won the Russian Women's Championship.[5]
Olympiad, Bled 2002

2006-2008
In August, she became the first Chess960 women's world champion after beating Germany's top female player Elisabeth Pähtz by 5½–2½.
She defended that title successfully in 2008 by beating Kateryna Lahno 2½–1½.[6] However, her greatest success so far has been to win the
Women's World Chess Championship 2008, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan, with a score of 2½–1½.[7][8] Later in
the same year, she won the women's individual blitz event of the 2008 World Mind Sports Games in Beijing.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Kosteniuk 1/3
1/27/2020 Alexandra Kosteniuk - Wikipedia

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 Swiss Chess Championship.[10] She also won the women's Swiss champion title,
and thus became the first person to win both the women's and men's national chess titles in Switzerland.[10]

2014
In 2014, she tied for first place with Kateryna Lagno in the Women's World Rapid Championship, which was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, and
took the silver medal on tiebreak, as Lagno won the direct encounter.[11]

2015
In 2015 Kosteniuk won the European–ACP Women's Rapid Championship in Kutaisi.[12] In July of the same year, she lost the Swiss
championship playoff to Vadim Milov, and was declared women's Swiss champion.[13]

2016
Kosteniuk again won the Russian Women's Championship.[14]

2017
In 2017 she won the European ACP Women's Blitz Championship in Monte Carlo.[15]

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.[16] Kosteniuk dominated the match and won with an overall
score of 20–8.[17]

Other activities
Kosteniuk worked as a model and also acted in the film Bless the Woman by Stanislav Govorukhin.[3][18]

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-based international organization.[19][20]

Personal life
Born in Perm, Kosteniuk moved to Moscow in 1985.[3] She has a younger sister named Oksana, who is a Woman FIDE Master level chess
player.

Kosteniuk has dual Swiss-Russian citizenship.[10] She married Swiss-born Diego Garces, who is of Colombian descent,[21] at eighteen years
old. On 22 April 2007 she 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.[22] In 2015, Kosteniuk married Russian Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov.[23]

Notable games
The World vs Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2004, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. English Attack (B90), 0–
1 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1333486)
Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Alexander Onischuk, Corus, Group B 2005, Spanish Game: Classical
Variation (C65), 1–0 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1327780)
Anna Ushenina vs Alexandra Kosteniuk, WWCh. 2008, Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical, Noa
Variation (E34), 0–1 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1504421)

Bibliography by Kosteniuk
Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2007
Kosteniuk, Alexandra (2001). How I became a grandmaster at age 14. Moscow. ISBN 5829300435.
Как стать гроссмейстером в 14 лет. Moscow, 2001. 202, [2] с., [16] л. ил. ISBN 5-89069-053-1.
Как научить шахматам : дошкольный шахматный учебник / Александра Костенюк, Наталия Костенюк. Moscow : Russian Chess
House, 2008. 142 с ISBN 978-5-94693-085-7.
Kosteniuk, Alexandra (2009). Diary of a Chess Queen. Mongoose Press. ISBN 978-0-9791482-7-9.

References
2. "Alexandra Kosteniuk: "The victory was so close!" " (http://wwrbc2
1. McGourty, Colin (2017-06-28). "Flawless China retain World Team 014.fide.com/alexandra-kosteniuk-the-victory-was-so-close/).
Championship" (http://chess24.com/en/read/news/flawless-china-r FIDE Women World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2014. FIDE.
etain-world-team-championship). chess24.com. Retrieved 2014-04-24. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
2017-09-21.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Kosteniuk 2/3
1/27/2020
3. "The 2004 European Women's Chess Champion" (http://en.chess
base.com/post/the-2004-european-women-s-che-champion).
ChessBase. 2004-04-04. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
4. Alexandra Kosteniuk (https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=4
128125) rating card at FIDE
5. Silver, Albert (2016-11-01). "Riazantsev and Kosteniuk are 2016
Russian champions" (http://en.chessbase.com/post/riazantsev-an
d-kosteniuk-are-2016-russian-champions). Chess News.
ChessBase. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
6. ChessBase.com – Chess News – Mainz 2008 Kosteniuk wins
Chess960, Rybka and Shredder qualify (http://www.chessbase.co
m/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4806)
7. Alexandra Kosteniuk is Women's World Champion (http://www.ch
essbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4912) ChessBase
8. The crowning of Kosteniuk as a World Champion (http://photos.ch
essdom.com/wwcc-2008/closing-ceremony) Chessdom
9. "Kosteniuk wins WMSG blitz title" (http://reports.chessdom.com/al
exandra-kosteniuk-wins-wmsg-blitz-chess). Chessdom.
10. chessqueen.com - Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess
Blog (http://chessqueen.com/chess-queen-kosteniuk-writes-histor
y-in-switzerland.html#more-3675)
11. "Title: Kateryna Lagno crowned Women's World Rapid Champion"
(http://wwrbc2014.fide.com/title-kateryna-lagno-crowned-women-s
-world-rapid-champion/). FIDE Women World Rapid and Blitz
Championships 2014. FIDE. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 9 January
2016.
12. "Alexandra Kosteniuk wins European-ACP Women's Rapid
Championship" (http://www.chessdom.com/alexandra-kosteniuk-w
ins-european-acp-womens-rapid-championship/). Chessdom.
2015-06-04. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
13. "Abschluss der SEM in Leukerbad: Erster Titel für GM Vadim
Milov" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160119061202/http://www.s
wisschess.ch/news-112/items/abschluss-der-sem-in-leukerbad-er
ster-titel-fuer-gm-vadim-milov-fm-patrick-grandadam-junioren-mei
ster-hans-georg-morger-holt-gol.html) (in German). Swiss Chess
Federation. 2015-07-17. Archived from the original (http://www.swi
sschess.ch/news-112/items/abschluss-der-sem-in-leukerbad-erste
r-titel-fuer-gm-vadim-milov-fm-patrick-grandadam-junioren-meister
-hans-georg-morger-holt-gol.html) on 19 January 2016. Retrieved
4 January 2016.
Alexandra Kosteniuk - Wikipedia
14. Silver, Albert (2016-11-01). "Riazantsev and Kosteniuk are 2016
Russian champions" (http://en.chessbase.com/post/riazantsev-an
d-kosteniuk-are-2016-russian-champions). Chess News.
ChessBase. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
15. "Anna Muzychuk & Alexandra Kosteniuk won the European ACP
Women's Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship" (http://www.fide.co
m/component/content/article/4-tournaments/10465-anna-muzychu
k-a-alexandra-kosteniuk-won-the-european-acp-womens-rapid-a-
blitz-chess-championship.html). FIDE. 2017-10-24. Retrieved
2017-10-24.
16. https://www.chess.com/article/view/2019-speed-chess-
championship#wscc2019
17. Doggers, Peter (27 May 2019). "Women's Speed Chess:
Kosteniuk Too Strong For Zatonskih" (https://www.chess.com/new
s/view/women-speed-chess-championship-kosteniuk-zatonskih-
1). Chess.com.
18. Alexandra Kosteniuk (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1445717/)
on IMDb
19. "The Chess Queen Becomes Champion for Peace" (http://www.ch
essblog.com/2010/03/chess-queen-becomes-champion-for-peac
e.html). chessblog.com. 2010-03-03. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
20. Champions for peace (http://www.peace-sport.org/en/championsd
elapaix/77-champions-de-la-paix/les-champions/720-alexandra-ko
steniuk.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151119074
351/http://www.peace-sport.org/en/championsdelapaix/77-champi
ons-de-la-paix/les-champions/720-alexandra-kosteniuk.html)
2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine Peace and Sport
21. Various photos of Frascati (http://www.asigc.it/News/frascati_vari
e.htm) (in Italian)
22. "Francesca Maria Kosteniuk enters the world" (http://en.chessbas
e.com/post/francesca-maria-kosteniuk-enters-the-world).
ChessBase. 2007-06-21. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
23. "Alexandra Kosteniuk Marries Pavel Tregubov" (http://chess-new
s.ru/en/node/19713). chess-news.ru. 2015-08-08. Retrieved
10 October 2015.

External links
Official website (http://www.kosteniuk.com)
Chessqueen (http://chessqueen.com/) Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess blog
Alexandra Kosteniuk (http://www.365chess.com/players/Alexandra_Kosteniuk) chess games at 365Chess.com
Alexandra Kosteniuk (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=10940) player profile and games at Chessgames.com
Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess tips – ChessKillerTips (http://www.chesskillertips.com/)
Interview with Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk (https://web.archive.org/web/20080506035709/http://www.latestchess.com/showIntervie
w.php?id=9) on LatestChess site

Preceded by Women's World Chess Champion Succeeded by

Xu Yuhua 2008–2010 Hou Yifan

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexandra_Kosteniuk&oldid=932848115"

This page was last edited on 28 December 2019, at 15:22 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Kosteniuk 3/3