Alexandra is training hard in the Russian town of Zvenigorod, where at the moment the temperature is extremely cold at below 35 degrees Celsius (note that -35 Celsius = -31 Fahrenheit). That does not stop Alexandra from doing cross country skiing each day, in between her chess training sessions. We will have a new photo album for you shortly! It is important Alexandra be in top shape for the upcoming World Championships in March, and in order to play in the Olympiads in Torino to defend the colors of her country in May. Thanks for your messages of support, please feel free to write emails to Alexandra and to leave her voicemail messages, with greetings, questions, or simply good wishes to 1-305-767-2143. Thanks!

Alexandra has a gift for you, she commented two of her wins of the recent North American Open, you can download the pgn file by clicking here. Make sure to listen to Alexandra’s podcast show (radio-on-demand), the 11th episode just came out, in 5 minutes you will hear Alexandra tell you about her future competitions, give us some chess news, and of course her weekly chess tip. It’s all on our Podcast page.

Finally Alexandra is back in Miami after her trip to Las Vegas, to play the North American Open and participate in the CES, as well as some tourism to the beautiful Valley of Fire then the Grand Canyon (more photos to come soon). The solution to the Chritmas puzzle is: 1. Qf4!! and mate is unavoidable next move. We received close to 500 answers with about 450 correct ones, and about 10 extra credits for having sent MP3 greeting files. Alexandra will announce the winners in tomorrow’s podcast #10, listen to it by visiting our Podcast page.

After the tournament of last week Alexandra and her friend Almira spent New Year’s in Las Vegas, then started the year with active tourism, first in the Valley of Fire, then visiting the Grand Canyon. We will soon have a nice photo album for you, come back and see it. P.S. make sure to listen to Alexandra’s podcast #9, and be so kind to vote for it in Podcast Alley and in Yahoo Podcasts. Thanks!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! The FIDE rating list of January 2006 is out, and Alexandra moved up to #4 woman in the world. You can see Alexandra’s most recent Rating card by clicking here and the top 50 women list by clicking here. Alexandra is doing great progress, you might remember that in January 2001 she was in position 40, in January 2003 in position 18, in January 2004 in position 13, and last January 2005 she was in position #8. Since April 2004 Alexandra has consistently been in the World top 10 and improving.