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!