Alexandra would like to thank all of you for your support during all of 2004, and wishes you a wonderful Christmas Holiday, filled with joy, love, and good mood. Alexandra has for you a little present: 28 Christmas Photos! Look at them by clicking here. Enjoy!

Just before taking her flight back to Europe from Miami, Alexandra paid a visit to the 2004 Orange Bowl Youth Tourney, gave away pens and photos, autographed the photos and posed for photographs with fans. You can find the photos by clicking here. If you see a photo of you with Alexandra, please send us an email and we will mail or email it to you for free!

Alexandra Kosteniuk, in the framework of her Chess Fund to promote chess in the world, gave last week a Goodwill Simul to the children and players of Cali (Colombia). The simul was entirely free to both the players and the organizers, and many gifts were handed to the kids by Alexandra, books, caps, pens, puzzle cards. You can see the 66-photo album by clicking here. An article came out in El Pais Online here. If you would like to donate (any amount is helpful, and any amount above $30 gives you free Membership to the site with full access to all its Member Area photos, commented games, and web videos), click here! Alexandra is most grateful to all who help her Chess Fund! Please help Alexandra do more for kids and for chess!

Alexandra participated in the Grand Prix d’Aix-en-Provence, together with Karpov, Stefanova, Lautier, and 4 other GM’s who qualified in an open tournament the week before. The tournament was at the forefront of technology and it was a pleasure for spectators to watch the games live, with Grandmaster commentary on headphones and arrows and squares lighting up in line with the commentaries. This made it wonderfully entertaining to watch for chess masters and beginners alike. Contratulations to the organizer Stephane Laborde and we hope his Grand Prix becomes regular in the future. Alexandra was eliminated by the very strong Kazakh Grandmaster Murtas Kazgaleyev in 1/4 finals. Murtas was himself eliminated in 1/2 finals against Anatoly Karpov, who eventually won the tournament, and proved that he is still in top form. Look at our new photo album by clicking here.

Here’s a useful tip for navigating Alexandra’s Photo Albums: When you are going from one (larger) photo to the next, the easiest way to advance to the next (larger) photo is simply to click on the large photo. No need to go to the link “next picture” (although you can do so too). A reminder of the most popular Photo Albums: Dolgina 2001, Henry 2003, Minkovich 2003, Henry 2004. Enjoy!

On December 4 and 5, Alexandra played in the German 1st Women’s Bundesliga, for the team Baden Oos. She won both games she played there, and in the 4th round her win allowed her team to win, since all other teammates drew. Look at both games in an applet by clicking here. Our friend Tobias took pictures of the event, you can look at them them from the German fan page that he has specially created for Alexandra here. Thanks, Tobias!