Russian Ministry of Sports Honors Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk with highest Title

Press Release: On July 20, 2012 the Russian Minister of Sports V. Mutko signed the decree [translation] to name 12th World Chess Champion Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk “Well-Deserved Sports Master of Russia” (in Russian “Заслуженный мастер спорта”), which is the highest title awarded by the State in honor of sporting achievement. The news came out on the site of the Russian Chess Federation [translation], on the Izmailovo Center page, and congratulations are flowing on Alexandra’s Russian Twitter page @kosteniuk.

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Kosteniuk’s Slow Motion Checkmate Knockout chess video vs Wang Hao goes viral on YouTube

Less than 24 hours have passed since we posted on YouTube the 1 minute 47 seconds video of the checkmate, and over 1000 views have been registered on YouTube, and the number is rising fast [now 3 days = 3,000+ views]. The video shows the confident looking Chinese #1 Super Grandmaster Wang Hao blunder against an opponent ranked close to 300 ELO points below him, and the brutal shock he gets with the checkmating of his king. The moves are in extreme slow-motion, and you can imagine the thought process that went in the Chinese GM’s mind when he was holding on to his knight on f5. Here is the direct link to the video in YouTube. Please click “Thumbs Up” or “Like” if you appreciate the video and would like more chess videos by Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk. Some more “classic” chess videos you must watch: Anand, Aronian, Carlsen, Judit Polgar,
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Chess Queen Kosteniuk featured in Vogue Magazine USA August 2012

I’m pleased to let you know that I have been featured in fashion magazine VOGUE, USA Edition, in the August 2012 issue, which hits newsstands on July 24, 2012. That issue is called the “Vogue Age Issue“, and it puts six very different women, ages 28 to 89, in the spotlight. One of them is me, Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk and as you can imagine the main theme is what I love to do – play chess, show why it’s a cool game, and promote chess around the world! This story was in the works since February, when I was contacted by Vogue New York, then a most professional team came to Florida to work on the story, among them professional photographer Ralph Mecke, Reporter Rebecca Johnson, and sittings editor Kathryn Neale, whom I thank for a wonderful job! I hope this article will give a boost to chess in the USA, especially for kids and for girls, too!
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Sensation in Biel: Kosteniuk beats Wang Hao ELO 2739 and finishes above Magnus Carlsen

Today I was invited to one of the world’s most prestigious exhibition blitz tournaments, in Biel, Switzerland. Most of the other players were super-Grandmasters 2700+ including world’s #1 Magnus Carlsen (2837). In the quarter finals, I was able to beat 1.5-0.5 Chinese super-GM Wang Hao (2739), rated almost 300 points above me, and was only eliminated in the semi-finals against GM Etienne Bacrot (2713), who created the other sensation of the day by beating Magnus Carlsen. The tournament was finally won by Hikaru Nakamura (2778) who beat Etienne Bacrot in the final, congratulations to him!

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Gallagher, Pelletier and Kosteniuk win the Swiss National Championships in Flims

The 2012 Flims National Swiss Championship just ended today, with the final victory of GM Joe Gallagher with 6.5/9, followed by GM Pelletier and me GM Kosteniuk with 6/9. See the full results and photos below. I am pretty happy with my “+3” result, with 4 wins and only 1 loss, which will make me win approximately 12 ELO points and bring me to about 2490 ELO (I’m working to get back to my record of 2540). I had some good games against Zueger and Gerber, and Chess King has already posted my game against Korchnoi at this link.




Final results:
1. GM Joe Gallagher (Neuenburg) 6½. 2. GM Yannick Pelletier (Fr/Sz) 6 (24,25). 3. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus/Sz) 6 (24). 4. IM Oliver Kurmann (Luzern) 5½. 5. IM Julien Carron (Bramois) 4½. 6. IM Markus Klauser (Belp) 4 (16,50). 7. IM Richard Gerber (Genf) 4 (14,25). 8. IM Beat Züger (Siebnen) 3½. 9. IM Alex Domont (Nyon) 3. 10. GM Viktor Kortschnoi (Wohlen/AG) 2.




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Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk is in Switzerland

Hello everyone!
No time for a break. The day after the Russia-China match finished I was back in Moscow and the day after that already in Switzerland, on my way to the Swiss National Championship in Flims to which I was invited to play in the men’s National Championship, with GM’s Yannick Pelletier, Viktor Kortschnoi, Joe Gallagher and me, and a few more Titled players. You can follow the tournament on www.schachbund.ch. For the moment I can show you some cool photos of my first couple days in this beautiful country!

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Russia beats China 2012 in Saint Petersburg

I was in Saint Petersburg last week to play in the prestigious Russia vs. China chess match. The event has men and men sections of 5 players each and is played in both classical (5 games) and rapid sections (10 games). This year in the men section, Russia was on top, while in the women, China won. Overall, Russia defeated China overall with 77.5 vs. 72.5 and took the top prize. Full results can be found on Chess Blog and check out my classical game against Zhao Xue on Chess King. Read more…