Congratulations to the whole Russian women’s team who got BRONZE medals at the European Team Championships in Goteborg, Sweden: On the photo, from left to right: Nadezhda Kosintseva (board 2), Alisa Galliamova (also bronze on board 5), Alexandra Kosteniuk (board 1), Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (board 3), and Tatiana Kosintseva (also gold on board 4). Our congratulations go especially to the European Champions: Poland, and the silver medalists: Georgia. Alexandra’s games are here and our Goteborg Photo album is here. NEW: Photos of the Prize Ceremony are HERE.

Today was a tough day for the challengers Ukraine and Russia who lost to Poland and Georgia. These last 2 are practically guaranteed gold and silver. Tomorrow is the last round and Russia and Bulgaria will fight for bronze. Have a look at Alexandra’s games here and at our GOTEBORG PHOTO ALBUM which has 159 photos, and will grow to 200 by the end of the tournament!

Today August 5 Russia’s women team won against the Ukraine 2.5 to 1.5, with Alexandra drawing against Zhukova in a tough Berlin Wall Ruy Lopez. The Kosintseva sisters drew their games and Galliamova won on the last board. Russia is still in second position behind Poland, tied with Georgia. Tomorrow Russia plays against Georgia, it will be a key match for the medals. Only 2 rounds to go. Have a look at Alexandra’s games here and at our GOTEBORG PHOTO ALBUM which has 159 photos, and will grow to 200 by the end of the tournament!

Today August 4 Russia played a draw 2-2 against Poland, so they stay tied in second position. Tomorrow Russia plays the Ukraine. There are still 3 rounds to go. We have updated our PGN Player. Our GOTEBORG PHOTO ALBUM now has grown to 159 photos, enjoy!

Today August 1 Russia beat Greece in the European Championship in Goteborg, with Alexandra on the first board of Russia beating Dembo and proving that not all endings with opposite color bishops are drawn. You can see the game in our PGN Player by clicking here. Follow Alexandra’s games live at 3 PM CET on the official site. Make sure to have a look at our photo album by clicking here. We will update the album with new photos almost every day. Tomorrow Russia plays against Romania, the only other team with the maximum of 6 team points.

On the photo to the left you can see the whole Russian Women Team (Kosteniuk, Kovalevskaya, Kosintseva N. and T., Galliamova) training with coaches Y. Yakovich and M. Sorokin, and getting ready for the European Team Championship, which will start in 4 days in Goteborg, Sweden. The Russian team has the firm intention of coming in first. The official site of the championship is here. Soon you’ll get a photo album of the training session in Zvenigorod, and we will be on site in Gotebord to give you regular updates. Keep posted!

Alexandra received as a gift a unique and beautiful Fedoskino Lacquer Box, of incredible detail and quality. The person who donated the box would like it to be given to the person who will make the highest bid for a donation to Alexandra’s Chess Fund. The box is hand painted by famous Fedoskino artist Tatyana Kovganko (see another one of her works by clicking here). Send your serious bids to us by using our Contact page. A true unique collector’s item.

By convincingly beating Kovalevskaya in the last round, Alexandra tied for 2nd-3rd in the strongest women’s tournament of the year, just a 1/2 point behind India’s star Koneru and with equal points with Chinese Xu, ahead of the Kosintseva sisters, Galliamova, Chiburdanidze, Kovalevskaya, Zhukova, and Stefanova. You can judge the strength of the tournament when you see the current world champion Stefanova tied for last place. Alexandra got 5.5 out of 9, which is a strong 2569 ELO performance. You can watch all of Alexandra’s games in our pgn Player by clicking here.

Alexandra came into the lead of the strongest women tournament of the year by beating world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in a very convincing game. Alexandra has now a score of 3.5 out of 4 against Stefanova. You can watch the game and look at the nice move 36.Nxg7!! in our pgn Player by clicking here. Alexandra has now 3.5 out of 5 in the tournament, with four rounds left. Alexandra is sharing the lead with Koneru and Kovalevskaya. Follow with us her results!

Alexandra is playing right now in what is probably the strongest women chess tournament in the world of this year 2005: Krasnoturinsk! The North Urals Cups presents 10 players among the top of the top, Koneru, Kosteniuk, Chiburdanidze, Stefanova, Zhukova, Xu, Kovalevskaya, T. + N. Kosintseva and Galliamova, average ELO 2491! Extreme fighting spirit is present, and you can see Alexandra’s games in our PGN player by clicking here (select Krasnoturinsk in the pulldown menu, then the game you want to watch). Breaking News! Four rounds have been played up to now, and Alexandra has the following results: she won against T. Kosintseva, and drew Chiburdanidze, Koneru, and N. Kosintseva. Let’s wish her luck for the rest of the competition!

The new July 1 FIDE rating is out, and Alexandra has reached a personal record of 2516 ELO, well within the male Grandmaster range. She is now the 5th woman in the world overall. Alexandra’s last 15 rating positions in the world since 2001 have been 15-21-18-17-18-17-18-19-13-15-4-4-8-9-5, which shows definite progress since July 2004 when Alexandra has always been in the world top 10. Alexandra just left today for one of the strongest tournaments in the world, in Krasnoturisnk (Russia), you can follow her results and games by clicking here. Breaking News: Alexandra won her first game against T. Kosintseva.

By popular demand, we have added in our shop the possibility to buy our cute little bear alone (without buying anything else). Our little bears can be adopted by chess loving families for only $7.95 + S&H. They are made in Germany, very good quality, and are full of love. Get them while supplies last by clicking here. They make a perfect gift, buy one now!

We are happy to report that Alexandra’s 4th CD “Chess & Sun” is out, which includes all the photos of this album in high resolution, as well as many bonus videos about Alexandra you will love for sure. For a limited time only, to show our appreciation, we are giving away to all buyers of the 4th CD one of our wonderful little teddy-bear keychains, make sure you get one! You can find out more about this CD by clicking here. Again thanks for supporting Alexandra!

We are pleased to present to you Alexandra’s Favorite Chess Links, on this special page. We would like to make this page of links most useful to you, so we would be very grateful if you would send us your favorite chess links to complete the list. They can be in any language and about anything related to chess. Thanks!

We are preparing for you a full report on Alexandra’s recent trip to Colombia, to take part in the Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent. In the meanwhile, you can watch a 1m22s video (in Spanish) that aired on Colombia TV. You can see the hi-res version (4.7 MB) by clicking here, and the med-res version by clicking here.

Did you know Alexandra also likes to take photos during her trips around the world? We show you here 23 of her favorite shots. Enjoy!

Today June 10 was a beautiful day in Moscow (Russia), and Alexandra and her sister Oxana walked around the center of town. We offer you a photo album, see it by clicking here.

After her simul last Sunday in the charming city of Frascati (famous for its wine), Alexandra spent a day in Rome visiting some beautiful sites, like the Coliseum and the Vatican. Have a look at our photo album by clicking here!

Just after becoming 2005 Russian Champion on the 27th of May, and on the invitation of Vice-Mayor Giancarlo Marcotulli (on the photo shaking hands with Alexandra), Alexandra went to the beautiful town of Frascati near Rome, to give a simul last Sunday to a very strong group of Chess Correspondence Players (result +15 =5 -0). She also promoted chess in Italy (who will host the 2006 Chess Olympiads), and was a guest of honor at the Prize giving Ceremony of the GM Tournament, won by Italian Champion Fabio Bruno. A photo album will soon follow.

ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK IS RUSSIAN CHESS CHAMPION 2005! Instead of a quick draw which would have guaranteed her first place, Alexandra went all out and won her last game against Kochetkova, which gave her clear first place with the incredible result of 9 points out of 11 in the strongest Russian Championship todate, and an amazing performance of 2691 ELO, which will earn Alexandra more than 18 ELO points on the next rating list! Results: 1. Alexandra Kosteniuk 9 out of 11 2. T.Kosintseva 8 3. Kovalevskaya 7.5 4. N.Kosintseva 6.5 5. Galliamova 6 6-7. Pogonina and Matveeva 5.5 points, etc. You can look at all of Alexandra’s games in an applet by clicking here, or in our PGN Player here.

Breaking News! Alexandra won today against Valentina Gunina and yesterday against Tatiana Kosintseva, and continues to be alone in the lead of the Russian Chess Superfinal, with 8 points out of 10! Her followers are Kovalevskaya with 7.5 and T. Kosintseva with 7 (but these 2 play together tomorrow). You can look at all of Alexandra’s games in an applet by clicking here, or in our PGN Player here. Continue to follow the live games daily by clicking here. There is only one more game till the end of the tournament, tomorrow May 26,2005.

Alexandra is continuing strong and is leading the Russian Superfinal with 5 out of 6 points, with 4 wins and 2 draws up to now. On the photo to the left you see Alexandra at the beginning of her game with Nadezhda Kosintseva (which Alexandra won). Yesterday Alexandra beat Natalia Pogonina in 30 moves in a Sicilian Dragon, don’t miss her winning 29.Rh8+! sacrifice by looking at her game here. Today Alexandra beat Matveeva in 18 moves. Continue to watch the games live daily by clicking here. The tournament is fiercely fought, especially by the “K’s” Kosteniuk, Kovalevskaya, and the two Kosintseva sisters.

NEW! We are pleased to present to you a free PGN Player! You can use it very simply, in the case you don’t have your chess software handy, or maybe you are in an internet cafe or at a friend’s computer and you absolutely must see a chess game someone sent you in the universal PGN format. Just go to the PGN Player by clicking here, then copy-paste the moves in the box (or type them in), press Reset and you can watch the pieces move on the board by clicking on the arrows. We hope it will be useful to you! Enjoy! P.S. If you have a technical comment about it, please use the contact form to let us know!

Alexandra is pushing hard at the Samara Women Superfinal by winning her first two games, against World Champion U-20 Ekaterina Korbut in the first round and Nadezhda Kosintseva in the second. Today Alexandra drew Alisa Galliamova. Look at Alexandra’s games in an applet by clicking here. Women tournaments in general and this Russian championship promises to be extremely competitive and hard fought, and very few draws are expected among the top contenders! We remind you that you can watch the games live on the official tournament site by clicking here or here. The games start at 3PM Samara time, one hour ahead from Moscow. Please keep your encouraging emails coming!

Alexandra just arrived in Samara with her trainer GM Alexei Korotylev. She will participate in the 2005 Russian Superfinal, in which the top 12 Russian women are competing. Even though Alexandra is the top rated player, it will be a very hard tournament, and we wish Alexandra the best of luck! The first round is tomorrow at 3PM Samara time (which is 2PM Moscow time, noon CET, and 6AM EST). You can follow the tournament on the official tournament site (including watching live games) or the good Russian site ChessPro.

Look at the beautiful little bear-keychain we have to the left: his name is “chess is cool” and he would like to be yours! For a limited time and until we receive those cool little bears, we would like to offer them to anybody who gets membership to Alexandra’s site, or makes any purchase or donation above $40. So please visit our shop to help Alexandra promote chess in the world, and this cute little bear will come to you!

We have finally created 2 new photoalbums, one of the simul in Montreux (Switzerland) and one of Torino (Italy), enjoy! We are preparing more photo albums for you, so come back soon to check them out. Alexandra is now preparing for the Russian Women Superfinal, which will take place in Samara (Russia) next week. Wish her good luck!

Last week, we had the visit of famous Swiss photographer Pierre-William Henry, and asked him to do a summer beach chess fashion photo shoot. He has done a fantastic job and we are pleased to present to you 49 wonderful chess-fashion photos of Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk in Miami. See them by clicking here. We hope these photos will prove that “Chess is Cool” and will help to promote chess in the world, which is Alexandra’s most fondest dream.

On April 14, Alexandra was in Colombia on the TV show “Yo, Jose Gabriel”, and she was given as a present the smallest chess chess set ever made, which measures only 1.2 centimeters in total for all 8 squares and pieces! It’s made in Tinjaca, Boyaca (Colombia), and is in Tagua, which is a fruit of the ivory-nut palm, which becomes very hard and is also called vegetable ivory. The artists are Cesar Bonilla and his wife Julia Vergara, who are true masters of their craft. See the chess set next to a standard Queen here, and enlarged here.

Today 23rd of April Alexandra is celebrating her 21st birthday, congratulations! In the name of all chess players of the world we thank Alexandra for giving us her love of chess, and wish her continued success in her career and in her personal life. In a few days Alexandra will be going back to Moscow to prepare for the Russian Women Superfinal which will take place in Samara in 3 weeks.

Alexandra ran today a 5 kilometer race in Coconut Grove (Miami), and did a spectacular performance, completing the race in just over 21 minutes. She was the 4th woman overall and she won her age category (20-24 years). Look at her getting her Gold Trophy! More photos to follow soon. This shows that to be a good chess player you need to be in perfect physical condition. Mens sana in corpore sanum, as says the latin proverb. Follow Alexandra’s example!

Alexandra has been invited by the brand Tarrito Rojo of the company JGB to promote chess in Colombia, with events in Bogota, Cartagena and Cali. Today she gave a simul at Bogota’s Unicentro to the top 26 finishers of the Chess Talent tourney that was recently been held. Alexandra did a great +19 =5 -2, with many presents given out, including a laptop and many other gifts. Tomorrow she will play 40 kids at the Parque Bolivar and on Monday she will have a meeting with the Colombian first lady, to sponsor the project to have chess a school subject for all Colombian kids.

We are glad to present to you today a Press Report about chess champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. See the report by clicking here.

Alexandra visited the Nasdaq Tennis Open today and was witness to the women’s semifinals, where her compatriot Maria Sharapova beat Venus Williams in 2 sets. To the left you see a photo of Alexandra in between Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova taken in one of the booths of the Nasdaq Open. Next week Alexandra flies to Bogota for a 3-city tour of Colombia.

Alexandra wishes all of you a wonderfully Happy Easter, and many chocolate bunnies and eggs! Alexandra is now training and resting in Miami. She will soon go to Colombia (South America) for a Goodwill Chess Tour to the cities of Bogota, Cali, and Medellin. After that she will come back to Miami and will run in a 5 kilometer race on April 15.

Alexandra’s Team in the German Bundesliga, Baden Oos, has secured their top place, two rounds before the end of the competition, congratulations to all for becoming the German Women Team Champions: A. Kosteniuk, K. Kachiani-Gersinska, A. Skripchenko, E. Kovalevskaya, E. Paehtz and all others in the team! See the two games Alexandra played and won in this years Bundesliga by clicking here.

We want to let Alexandra’s fans know that a limited edition of stamps with Alexandra Kosteniuk has been printed in Austria. These stamps are valid for postage in Austria. The person who took this nice initiative with Alexandra’s permission is Mr. Manfred Herbold from Germany. Only 200 stamps have been printed and they will soon become a rarity, so if you want to get one for yourself or if you have a friend who is a stamp collector, visit his site by clicking here.

Today March 8 is the International Women’s Day, and Alexandra gave a simul in the Maison Visinand of Montreux, Switzerland, to 31 male members of the Club d’echecs de Montreux. She got 24 wins, 4 draws, and 3 losses (to J.-F. Croset, M. Bandler, and W. Baumgartner), bravo! We will soon have a photo album of the event. Coming back to the Chessdarts Championship, have a look at a 14 MB mpeg video we found on the web about the Chessdarts event by clicking here, we hope there is enough bandwidth for everybody.

Alexandra just came back from Italy, where she inaugurated the Torino Chess Olympiad 2006 Web Site, in front of a multitude of Press and visitors. Alexandra is the official godmother of the 2006 Torino chess Olympiads. She also played a 24 board simul and did a very good +16 =6 -2 against various club players and VIP’s. You can see 4 of her games by clicking here. We will soon have a nice web album of the event. On the photo on the left you can see Alexandra shaking hands with the President of the Organizing Committee, Mr. Paolo Fresco.

For a limited time only while bandwidth permits! We have taped a full video of all 5 3-minute games Alexandra played at the Chessdarts World Championship in Amsterdam on February 28. As a gift to you now we offer free the key last game of this event, in which Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Tea Lanchava to take the world title with her partner Andy Fordham. You can watch the 7MB Quicktime format movie by clicking here. We will soon be offering a unique BLITZ FEVER CD with 8 (5 min.) blitz games from Iakimanka and 5 more (3-min.) blitz games from the Chessdarts event (in higher resolution). Keep posted! Please be patient while the 7MB .mov file loads. You can watch the game in an applet by clicking here, or even download the pgn file.

Alexandra is WORLD CHAMPION Chessdarts!! Today February 28, 2005 Alexandra and her partner darts champion Andy Fordham became 2005 Chessdarts World Champions in the first ever World Championship, organized by the company hotels.nl in Amsterdam. It’s the first time in our knowledge chess and darts competition has been combined and it was most fun! The event took place in the Krasnopolsky Hotel, in the same room, where Euwe beat Alekhin in 1935. Alexandra made a no-fault appearance, with 5/5, first 2/2 against IM Yge Visser (ELO 2451) and then 3/3 against WGM/IM Tea Lanchava (ELO 2366). Her points were added to the points of her team-mate Andy Fordham (world darts champion 2004) and the team won the Cup! We have a superb 73-photo album for you, so click here to see it! And soon you’ll be able to see too the entirety of the 5 3-minute blitz games, in video. AD article. Read a report here.

On February 26, Alexandra played with the Groningen Chess Team in Breda for the Dutch League. She drew against GM Vadim Milov (ELO 2668). You can see our photo album of the Breda match by clicking here. On the next day February 27 she gave a Simul to 12 Amstelveen club members, we also have a nice photo album for you here. Enjoy!

The Aeroflot tournament just ended yesterday, and now Alexandra will spend her time to promote chess in the world. She just arrived in Paris, and tomorrow she will go to Holland for a game in the Dutch League (Feb. 26), followed by a Simul (Feb. 27) and a world first combined competition Chess-Darts (Feb. 28). Immediately after that she will go to Torino for a Simul (March 5) to inaugurate the 2006 Chess Olympiad Site, followed by another Simul in Montreux, Switzerland on March 8. Then she will go to the USA to train and then continue on her way to a Chess Goodwill Tour in Colombia, South America. Come often to our site and follow Alexandra, we promise many new photos and news!

The super strong Aeroflot Tournament ended today, with a win of 5 players: GM’s Sutovsky, Kharlov, Ivanchuk, Motylev, and Akopian. Alexandra played against 9 male GM’s, average rating 2590 (which is 100 points higher than Alexandra is), and did pretty much what she was supposed to do statistically, which is 3 points. We are happy that Alexandra has proven in both the Wijk aan Zee “B” Grandmaster tournament and the Aeroflot “A1” that she is able to give a very hard time to the strongest male GM’s in the world. You can see our photo album of the event by clicking here. On the photo to the left you will see Alexandra and her fan Liza Chetina, 7 years old, who played in the “C” tournament and often came to support Alexandra during her games.

Congratulations to Alexandra, who today beat GM Al-Modiahki (ELO 2581, Qatar, the husband of ex-world champion Zhu Chen), and she now has 1.5 out of 3 in the extremely strong Aeroflot A1 Grandmaster tournament in Moscow. Yesterday Alexandra lost against GM Izoria (ELO 2607, Georgia), and we remind you that in the first round Alexandra drew Sergei Karjakin (ELO 2599, Ukraine). 6 more rounds to go. Keep your emails of support coming, Alexandra loves them!

We have a winner! Raymond Dowson was the first to give us the answer to our photo-competition. On the photo are pictured, from left to right, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Svetlana Matveeva, Ekaterina Korbut, and Alexandra Kosteniuk. Several people guessed 3 out of 4, but we waited till we had a sole winner, congratulations! BREAKING NEWS: Alexandra just drew her game in the first round of the “A1” Aeroflot tournament, against Sergei Karjakin. It was her 12th game against Sergei! We’ll have some photos of the competition later on.

Last night was the Opening Ceremony of the very strong Aeroflot Tournament in Moscow. Alexandra will be playing in the strongest “A1” tournament, facing the strongest male competition in the world. We have a photo album of the opening ceremony. Click here to see it! Look at the photo to the left, it’s Viktor Kortchnoi and Boris Spassky who are doing quite a good job at entertaining Alexandra!

EXCLUSIVE: We bet you have never seen two beautiful women chess grandmasters karaoke singing, in both Russian and French! We have for our members an exclusive fun video of Russian champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and French champion Almira Skripchenko at their best! Click here to see the video (Quicktime format, 1.9 MB). If you’re not yet a member, it’s time to sign up, you will not regret it. We will have many new goodies for our members in the coming weeks. And the same time you’ll be helping Alexandra to do more for chess. Here’s how to get to our shop and our donation page. Thanks for your support!

COMPETITION: Look at the photo to the left, and please email us who these 4 women are. In 5 days latest we’ll turn them around for you to see, and we’ll give a prize to the first person who guessed their names right. A hint: They are all chessplayers, and all in the top 10 in Russia. The photo was taken during a training session before the Moscow Aeroflot Tournament, which starts tomorrow. We have a photo album for you of Alexandra at the Chess Camp. Click here to see it!

Alexandra worked very hard this week and has commented very deeply EVERY game she played in Wijk aan Zee 2005, 13 of them in all. They are free to see for our current members by clicking here. There is a java applet to replay all games including comments, and you can even download the complete pgn file. If you are not yet a member, you can purchase 1-year membership here. If you don’t want to become a member it’s possible to buy the 35-page PDF with all that material, including photos, diagrams, all comments (2.4 MB) for $8.95 by clicking here. Enjoy nicely commented games and at the same time support Alexandra! Due to improvements to our systems we are in the process of reassigning all member passwords, so if yours doesn’t work, please contact us with the date of your last purchase and you will be issued a new password if it’s within the last year.