We are working on a superb video-CD, which will include 8 blitz games Alexandra played in the famous Moscow Iakimanka Chess Club in November 2004. The CD will include footage from all those games, several of them also in pgn form (including against GM Riazantsev), and a video commentary all along the movie by Alexandra herself. Most entertaining. You can watch one last minute of an incredibly fast game ending which was played by Alexandra, in a one-minute video (1.4 MB, Quicktime format). Click here to see it! On the video CD, the screen will be much bigger!

Two days ago the Corus “B” tournament ended in Wijk aan Zee, with a win by GM Sergei Karjakin and a good performance by Alexandra. Both young GM’s are in Paris today, and Alexandra invited Sergei and his mother Tatiana to see the famous and beautiful Sacred Heart Basilica. We have an entertaining 31-picture photo album that you can watch by clicking here. Enjoy! The rest of the time, Alexandra is working on a full report on each one of her 13 games at Wijk aan Zee, it will be instructive, keep posted.

Alexandra did a very respectable 5.5 points at the 2005 Corus “B” Grandmaster tournament in Wijk aan Zee, earning the Xth spot in the rankings. Thanks for all the support emails and letters Alexandra received during the tournament. She started the tournament as the 13th player, so we are very pleased to see that she keeps exceeding expectations. We will update latest tomorrow Pufichek’s Photo Albums to include the closing ceremony, and you can watch all of Alexandra’s 13 games in an applet by clicking here. Alexandra is preparing a special gift for our members: she will fully comment all her 13 games, with general comments, detailed variations, diagrams, photos, etc.! Check back within a week, it should be up!

Today’s a day off at Corus, and Alexandra visited the very nice steel plant of CORUS, the sponsor of the Wijk aan Zee Tournament. We have an illustrated report with photos you can see by clicking here. Enjoy!

In the last rounds Alexandra drew against the tournament’s top rated player Nikolic (ELO 2676), then drew GM Nijboer, and won against GM Ramirez. She has a very respectable 4 out of 8 in this very strong field, 5 more rounds to go. Don’t miss Pufichek’s photos of the event by clicking here. You can watch Alexandra’s first 7 games in an applet by clicking here.

We’d like to give some feedback to Alexandra’s fans about her cat, “Kaissa”: Alexandra has a cat, called “Kaissa” (named after the goddess of chess, Caissa). She was born on July 30, 1993. Here’s a photo of Kaissa with Alexandra and her little sister Oxana in 1994, Kaissa was then less than 1 year old. Now she’s 11 years old. Some recent photos: 1) with Oxana 2) on a chair 3) with Alexandra 4) on the bookshelf. This last photo was taken in November 2004. Enjoy!

Finally we are announcing the winners of the Christmas Competition Puzzle Solving Contest. The “Mate in 2” Puzzle from the most recent Newsletter Number 3 is solved by playing 1.Qh8! and whatever Black plays White will mate next move. For example: 1…Rxh8 2.Be5# or 1…Rh2+ 2.Qxh2#. From the hundreds of correct answers we have selected 5 winners, who will get an autographed present from Alexandra: 1.Kieran O’Donnell (Ireland), Bas Schokker (Holland), Giovanni Fagian (Italy), Miguel Narva Mallqui (Peru), Riley Driver (USA). Congratulations! So we are awaiting the mailing addresses of the winners and as soon as we get them we will send the gifts out! We will soon post another puzzle for you to solve, so keep posted!

Alexandra created a sensation by beating Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk, ELO 2652, 47th strongest player in the world, at the first round of the Corus Grandmaster “B” tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Onischuk was the first board in the USA men team in the recent Calvia Olympiads. The game was fascinating, and lasted 114 moves! You can watch it in an applet by clicking here. We have the best PHOTO ALBUMS of the tournament. After 4 rounds, Alexandra has 1.5 points, yesterday she drew GM Cheparinov (ELO 2562). Today is a day off, nine more rounds to go!

Alexandra just arrived in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee, where she will be playing in the very strong “B” Grandmaster tournament from January 14-30, 2005. We promise many and regular updates to our site, and of course many photos of Alexandra and of all the players of all 3 tournaments, “A”, “B”, and “C”. Come often and visit our site!