Alexandra would like you to know her little dog a little better, we have for you a collage of 4 recent photos, click here to see it. Is Moxi not adorable?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Today Alexandra turns 22 years old. She thanks her fans for the wonderful emails, letters, MP3 greetings and nice wishes she has received, that really warms her heart. Alexandra is now in Switzerland for a few days before returning to Russia for the final big training before the Torino Chess Olympiads. In a couple days she will issue her podcast #17, come back to listen to it!

We have been able to get hold of a few copies of the official TV show GOLDEN BLITZ 2005 DVD, won by Ponomariov in the men’s competition and by Alexandra Kosteniuk in the women’s, with great players such as Bareev, Short, Grishuk, Tkachev, Krush, and Skripchenko. Watch a 3 minute 5 megabytes preview of the Zhu Chen – Kosteniuk match by clicking here (quicktime). You can also download it for free in the MP4 format for iTunes and for your iPod by clicking here. The full 1 hour 50 minutes DVD featuring all players and matches is on sale for the special price of only $14.99 in our webshop, while supplies last. Click here for more info.

NEW: Have a look at our photo album of Alexandra Kosteniuk in Frascati, (near Rome, Italy). It was a beautiful spring day in Frascati and Alexandra did her best to promote chess, at a press conference with Anatoly Karpov, then visiting a youth chess tournament, and by giving a simul on the main city square. To see the 79 photos, click here.

We have for you a small analysis of Alexandra Kosteniuk’s progress during the last 5 years, where she improved from 2397 to 2540 and from 40th in the world in 2001 to 3rd today. You can see a chart showing this progress by clicking here and a full analysis in a PDF file by clicking here.

We would like to share with you the results of a recent poll conducted with the readers of the French chess magazine Chessmag. It included several top candidates, including Karmen Kaas, Monica Seps, and Antoaneta Stefanova. Look who won by clicking here. Let us just add that we are even more happy that Alexandra’s chess rating is going up, which shows the great effort she makes to be a better chess player, that’s the best way to popularize chess.

Alexandra gave a wonderful simul yesterday in the main square of Frascati (near Rome, Italy), winning all 21 games she played. Most of all, she was a tremendous attraction to practically all city residents, who came to see her play. Alexandra gave out autographs all day long, it was a fantastic promotion of the game of chess. Our photo album is almost ready, it will be online tomorrow latest.

Grandmasters Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anatoly Karpov are the guests of honor in Frascati (Italy). Alexandra will play a simul tomorrow and we will have photos for you of the event, as well as of todays press conference.

Alexandra gets a new FIDE ELO record and rank! We are pleased to announce that Alexandra Kosteniuk’s FIDE rating has increased to 2540 ELO, she now is in the 3rd position in the world. You can see the top 50 list by clicking here. This is a new record for Alexandra, which shows she has not stopped to make progress and is always trying to reach new highs.

America’s USCF April 1 Rating List just came out. As expected Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk is the top rated female member of the US Chess Federation, with her 2563 USCF rating.