HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We have made a large 80-photo Halloween Chess Album for Members, click here to see it. Remember if your Membership expired you can renew or purchase a one-year Membership by clicking here. Any purchase above $50 in our shop will get you a one-year Membership for free. Getting a membership is a way to tell Alexandra you support her promoting chess in the world. Don’t forget to answer our special competition of Oct. 27 which runs till Thanksgiving, you can win one of the 10 prizes!

Alexandra continues to support chess tournaments all over the world. The last one, being last weekend, was the Youth Championship Marktredwitz-Stiftland in Troestau, Germany, where many of the presents were offered by the Kosteniuk Chess Fund. The arbiter was our good friend Tobias Feigel, who made a photo album to be viewed by clicking here. Alexandra needs your help to support chess, please be so kind to make a donation to her Chess Fund. Any amount is welcome and will be personally acknowledged by Alexandra.

Halloween is only 3 days from now, and so we have some exclusive Halloween Chess Photos for our Members. If you are not a Member of Alexandra’s site yet, you can purchase a one-year Membership by clicking here. Any purchase above $50 in our shop will get you a one-year Membership for free. Members have access to special features such as commented games, special photo albums and videos. By supporting Alexandra you also support chess. Thanks for your support!

Thanks to all of you who sent emails of encouragement to Alexandra, who was caught right in the path of hurricane Wilma yesterday. The hurricane was a powerful category 3, and winds upwards of 120 mph were felt right next to Alexandra’s home (even worse in the Fort Lauderdale area), knocking down all services (such as electricity) to millions of people in Florida. There is a lot of damage to be cleaned up, signs, fences, and many many trees. We have a 12-photo album of Alexandra just as the storm left the Miami area, see it by clicking here. Let hope it will be possible for all to go back to normal life soon.

In about 2 weeks Alexandra will be interviewed on radio by a well-known chess collector from Las Vegas, and Alexandra will be asked questions from the public. We need YOUR questions, so the interview can be fun and informative. Please send your questions to us ahead of time via our contact form by clicking here or simply send us an email by clicking here with your proposed question(s). The interview will be put on the web in MP3 format afterwards for you to listen to. UNIQUE RECORDING! The chess collector’s site graciously gives you the chance to listen to a unique 1938 BBC interview of Alexander Alekhine, it’s fantastic! Listen to it by clicking here! (MP3 file, 3.9 MB).

Some people have asked to see the short news clip that appeared on Swiss TV about Alexandra’s simul in Sierre, so we put it online (3.5 MB video quicktime file). Click here to see it (Note: it’s in French).

Alexandra took today a short break from her chess and sports training. She was photographed by Pufichek in a new chess series, view it by clicking here. Enjoy!

After her long summer in Europe, Alexandra finally made it back home to Miami. For the next 3 months she will train very hard her chess and also she will do a lot of sports. You will see her play chess at the North American Open in Las Vegas in December. Before that, Alexandra will run in several 5K races, the next one being the Key Biscayne Lighthouse Run on November 12, then a Run for Manatees on November 19. As the saying goes, “mens sana in corpore sano” (a healthy mind in a healthy body). In April, Alexandra ran 5K in 21:38, she’s now training to do better. Wish her luck and please don’t forget to do some sports too!

Today Alexandra played a perfect simul, winning all 28 games she played, in the beautiful Swiss city of Sierre. Alexandra attracted lots of TV and Press to cover the event, it was great to promote chess, lots of passers-by were assisting to the event. The simul was part of the 50-year celebration of the Club d’Echecs of Sierre, happy 50th birthday! We have a new photo album of the event, with 68 photos, look at it by clicking here!

NEW OCTOBER 2005 RATINGS! The new rating lists have just come out on October 1: Alexandra Kosteniuk is still rated number 1 in the USA with a USCF rating of 2565 (see USA top rated women list here) and number 5 in the world with FIDE rating of 2516 (see FIDE top women list here). Note that at this time in the year 2000 Alexandra was 44th in the world, and 2 years ago 19th, so we can see Alexandra has done great progress the last 2 years. After a Simul in Sierre on October 8, Alexandra will go back home to Miami for training after the long European tournament season.

We have a special album for you, with 48 scans of Alexandra in her role of Chess Cover Girl with one key mission – to show the world that Chess is Cool! Look at our album by clicking here.
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We have a unique photo album for you: Alexandra and her friend Almira Skripchenko were in Moscow on September 15, just after the Golden Blitz Tournament, enjoying a day off and beautiful weather. Almira Skripchenko is current French woman champion while Alexandra is current Russian woman champion, so you have tremendous chess power in those two ladies. But most important is their friendship, as you will see by looking at the photos here. Enjoy!

Alexandra Kosteniuk played a chess simultaneous exhibition in Zurich last week, organized by Bank Hofmann, whom we thank very much. She won all her games except for 1 loss (against Dr. Issler), and 6 draws. We have a 53-photo album about the event for you, you can watch it by clicking here.