It was a very nice day in Martigny, Switzerland today. Alexandra played a 30-board simul organized by the Union Valaisanne des Echecs to celebrate their 40 years of existence. She scored 27 wins, 2 draws (Pierre Perruchoud and Gilles Favre), and one loss against Gérald Darbellay. The Sponsor was the Martigny Migros which we thank for its support of chess. Congratulations to all! Watch the Canal 9 TV news clip.

Baby Francesca and her Mom celebrated their birthdays yesterday and today, first Francesca on the 22nd, then Alexandra on the 23rd. Thanks to everyone who sent congratulations, on Facebook, on YouTube, on our guestbook, and per email, Alexandra is very grateful to all of you for every message!
Just received, have a look at the fax sent by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

The Union Valaisane des Echecs is pleased to announce that Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk will be in Martigny to give a simul to 30 players on Saturday April 25. The event will take place in the Centre de la Migros de Martigny, starting at 11 AM. They may still be a chance to sign up, and we hope Swiss fans will come to what will certainly be a memorable event.

Alexandra Kosteniuk just published the 33rd episode of her popular chess audio podcast “Chess is Cool”. It’s a 7 minute MP3 file in which she talks about how she spent the first months of 2009 and her plans for the future. As usual, she also gives a tip that may help you improve your game. You can listen to it by clicking here or by susbcribing for free on iTunes.

Kids from 5 to 18 are invited to take part in ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK’S FIRST ANNUAL CHESS CAMP! You can sign up for any or all of 4 weekly camps (June 22-26, June 29-July 3, July 6-10, and July 13-17), which will take place at the historic Chess Hall of Fame and Chess Museum in Miami, Florida. Sign up fast as space is limited. More information as well as the sign up form can be found on the Chess Museum’s site. There will also be a tournament, 10-12 July Alexandra Kosteniuk USA Chess Cup (for girls and boys U-8, U-11, U-14, U-18) 4 sections 6 Rounds USCF Rated Swiss System Tournament Time Control Game/45 minutes, trophies top 5 medals for all, and lots of prizes in kind each section.

The Chess Supernationals in Nashville just ended tonight. Lots of winners received sizable trophies and chess made over 5,000 kids and their parents happy. Alexandra did lots of activities, gave lectures, signed thousands of autographs, and played two monster simuls, one of 50 boards on Friday and another one of 57 boards on Friday. In total she did not lose a single game, in the first simul gave 4 draws (so 46 wins), and in the second only 3 draws and 54 wins!! Congratulations to the kids who drew and won Alexandra’s DVD: Thomas Rehmeier, Jiahua Zhang, Aaron Jing, Derek Sachs, Gregg Curry, Bing Jie Liu, and Bradley Guan.