Alexandra’s Podcast #15 is out with news and commentary of the recent world championship in Ekaterinburg. It’s a 9 minute audio radio on-demand MP3 file. You can download it as usual in iTunes, or directly download the MP3 file by clicking here, or find out more in our podcast page. Alexandra will be on March 31 and April 1 in the beautiful city of Frascati (near Rome, Italy) and will be a special guest of the Frascati Chess Festival, click here to see the official site. On the photo to the left you see Alexandra shaking hands with the organizer of the Frascati Festival Mr. Giancarlo Marcotulli. We will soon have nice photos for you!

Click HERE to see the BEST PHOTO ALBUM of the players of the 2006 Women World Chess Championship. You can also see a general photo album with photos of the matches played by clicking here. Watch the games live on the official site each day at 3 PM Ekaterinburg time (= 11 AM Paris time, 5 AM EST).

Alexandra lost her match against Viktoria Cmilyte of Lithuania, and so it is Viktoria who will continue in the competition, we wish her good luck! This championship has been full of surprises, from the top 12 rated players, only Chiburdanidze from Georgia and Xu Yuhua from China are left in the race! Incredible but true! Click here for the Championship album.

Alexandra won both games of the second round against Danielian, so she is qualified for the 3rd round, only 16 players remain. Have been eliminated some favorites, like Koneru, Stefanova, Cramling, Krush, Zhukova. More playoffs tonight, at 9:30PM Ekaterinburg time. Tomorrow will be the first game of the third round. We just added exclusive photos to our albums, don’t miss them! Click here for the Championship album. Our superb PLAYERS PHOTO GALLERY can be seen by clicking here to see it. More photos and news every day!

Alexandra won both games against Natalia Khoudgarian and therefore moves on to the next round! Many top ranked and favorite players have been eliminated after the first round: Zhu Chen – could not come, Lahno – lost against Peruvian player Zapata, N. Kosintseva – lost against 11-year old Chinese sensation Hou, Paehtz, Dembo, Korbut, Skripchenko have been eliminated. Alexandra’s second round match will be against Danielian NEW! Exclusive photos of the Opening Ceremony and the tournament – click here to see them. We also have a superb PLAYERS PHOTO GALLERY, click here to see it

Finally the moment you have been waiting for has arrived, the Women’s World Chess Championship has started in Ekaterinburg, Russia! On the photo to the left you can see Edgar Rossel, the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, who just played the first move in the game Kosteniuk – Khoudgarian: 1. e2-e4. Present are all high dignitaries, including FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. You can watch news and get information on the official site, and soon you will see the best photos of the championship right here. Very soon we will post the photo album link. Keep posted.

Alexandra’s little sister, Oxana, is the host of the 14th Episode of the Chess is Cool Podcast, and she talks about the women’s World Chess Championship, which starts on Saturday in Ekaterinburg, and in which Alexandra will take part as one of the main contenders for the supreme title of women World Champion. Listen to Oxana in podcast 14 by clicking here (MP3 file, 9 MB). You will be able to follow the Championship on the official site and also of course right here, we will keep you informed about how Alexandra is doing so come back often to see our news and photos.

Alexandra Kosteniuk is on her way to Ekaterinburg to play in the 2006 Women’s World Chess Championship, that starts there on March 10. We will have full coverage of the event and we promise a photo album of most players. Click here to see the final 64 players who will participate. We have created a poll (to the right) so that you can try to guess who will win the championship, one of the top rated 8 women or someone else. Will it be a surprise? Keep posted for the answer! If you haven’t yet, please vote for Alexandra’s podcast by entering your email in the box to the right. Thanks!