Here’s a useful tip for navigating Alexandra’s Photo Albums: When you are going from one (larger) photo to the next, the easiest way to advance to the next (larger) photo is simply to click on the large photo. No need to go to the link “next picture” (although you can do so too). A reminder of the most popular Photo Albums: Dolgina 2001, Henry 2003, Minkovich 2003, Henry 2004. Enjoy!

On December 4 and 5, Alexandra played in the German 1st Women’s Bundesliga, for the team Baden Oos. She won both games she played there, and in the 4th round her win allowed her team to win, since all other teammates drew. Look at both games in an applet by clicking here. Our friend Tobias took pictures of the event, you can look at them them from the German fan page that he has specially created for Alexandra here. Thanks, Tobias!

From November 14 to 27, Alexandra was a guest of honor of the Russian Men’s Superfinal in Moscow. The highest rated Russian man, Garry Kasparov, convincingly won the event with 7.5 points out of 10, congratulations! Alexandra participated in the opening and closing ceremonies, she was honored for being the highest rated Russian woman and for being the only Russian woman to ever get the Grandmaster (Men) title. You will see plenty of photos of the participants and Alexandra with famous people (such as in this photo the 7th World Champion V. Smyslov), if you look at our new photo album by cicking here.

On November 25, Alexandra was invited to the Russian State Duma (the equivalent of the Congress in the USA), to give a simultaneous exhibition to 19 top government officials and their assistants. She obtained the excellent score of +16, =2, -1. This was Alexandra’s first event after she was awarded the men’s Grandmaster title, a first for Russia in the whole history of chess. Look at our photo album by clicking here.

Last night was the opening ceremony of the 57th Russian Men’s Superfinal, in the very nice Vasilievsky Restaurant of the Hotel Rossia, across of the Kremlin. Alexandra, newly crowned with her Olympiad Medal and her Grandmaster (Men) title, was a special guest of the party, along with many celebrities. Here’s a larger historic photo of Russian top rated chess female player Alexandra Kosteniuk with Russian top rated male chess player Garry Kasparov. You can also see here a photo of Alexandra with the Vice-Premier of the Government of the Russian Federation, who is also the President of the Russian Chess Federation. More photos to come soon!

We are proud to present to you Pufichek’s extensive player gallery from the Calvia Olympiads, with most players of both women (63 teams!) and men (49 teams!) competitions photographed. We have more than 3,000 photos of players at the Olympiads, about 1/3 online. This is the best and most extensive set of photos of the Calvia Chess Olympiades, enjoy! If you’d like to buy any photo, please email Pufichek! To see the albums click here for women, and here for men. From there you can access all other albums. Enjoy!

Very nice performance by the Russian team in Calvia – bronze medal overall, after China and the US, congratulations to all 3 teams! Alexandra did a strong performance of 2539 ELO, including playing against 4 (ex-) world champions, all games hard fought, no quick draws, and beating current world champion Stefanova for the second time this year. Look at all of Alexandra’s games in an applet by clicking here, and look at our updated 88-photo album by clicking here. Make sure to have a look at Pufichek’s photo albums of most teams (previous news item)!

BREAKING NEWS:We are pleased to report that Alexandra Kosteniuk, who already holds titles of WIM and WGM (women titles), and IM (International Master, Men), has just been awarded the highest chess title of all, GM (Grandmaster, Men). The FIDE ratified her GM (men) application at the recent FIDE Congress, held at the Calvia Olympiads on October 30, 2004. Alexandra is now the 10th woman in the whole history of chess to get that highest title. Before Alexandra, the only women who have ever achieved the GM title are: N. Gaprindashvili, M. Chiburdanidze, J. Polgar, Xie Jun, S. Polgar, Zhu Chen, A. Stefanova, H. Koneru, P. Cramling. Alexandra is now Number 1 Girl in the world and Number 4 Woman in the world. She is the first Russian female chess player to ever get the GM (men) title. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Today Alexandra, with the black pieces, beat current World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova in a Sicilian Defense and won in very nice style. Of the top teams, only China continued strong with a 2.5-0.5 win over France, others drew 1.5-1.5. China is still first in the rankings, with Russia and the USA tied at 6th-7th. Still 6 rounds to go, anything can still happen. Come back and see our news tomorrow!

The Olympiads in Calvia (Majorca, Spain) have started! Alexandra is leading the very strong Russian team on the first board, with her teammates Kovalevskaya, and Tatiana and Nadezhda Kosintseva. The Russian team won the first match against Iceland 2.5/3, the second against Azerbaidjan with 3/3, the third match against Vietnam 2/3, a good start to what will be a very tough Olympiad (14 rounds, 11 to go). Today Russia is playing against the USA, it should be very interesting! We will have more news almost every day, and hundreds of photos for you, we will update our photo album with new photos all the time! So come back often to see us, and visit Calvia’s official site.

Today was the 4th round in Calvia and one of the most important matches has taken place: The USA against Russia. While both teams are very strong, Russia won 2 to 1 without losing any game. On the first board Alexandra Kosteniuk drew against Susan Polgar, on the second Tatiana Kosintseva beat Irina Krush, and on the third board Ekaterina Kovalevskaya drew against Anna Zatonskih. There are still 10 rounds to go, anything can happen, especially since the Chinese are also shooting for the Gold. Come back often and follow our reports. Tomorrow we will update our photo album with many new photos.

We are pleased to report that Alexandra’s October 1, 2004 FIDE Rating is 2508, which keeps her Number 1 Girl in the world and Number 4 Woman in the world. Alexandra is the top rated woman in Russia, which guarantees her the first board at the coming Olympiads in Calvia. She is also waiting to have her GM (men) title ratified by the FIDE at their next Congress during the Olympiads in October.

Alexandra played in the Prestigious 2004 Lausanne Young Masters Tournament, which was won for a second time by GM Luke McShane, followed by Shakhryar Mamedyarov, and David Navara. Alexandra, while not in good form during the tournament, was happy to be back in Lausanne, and we can offer you a superb 78-photo album of the tournament, including a visit to a Game Room at the end of the day, by most young champions. Enjoy! Click here to see it!

For the first time, we present to you the beautiful fashion photos taken by Zhenia Minkovich in Paris last year, see them by clicking here. These photos are available on Alexandra’s 2nd CD “Fashion and More” which includes all those photos in high resolution, as well as exclusive video material, commented games, and more. Please visit our Webshop and support Alexandra.

We have more than 3600 photos in Alexandra’s photo albums, and we’d like to know which photos you like best! Please answer the poll on the right, tell us which series of photos you like best. You can look at each series by clicking its name: 1: Childhood Photos 2: The original FIDE 2001 Series 3: The Elle Girl Series 4: The P.-W. Henry 2003 Series 5,6: Zh. Minkovich Fashion Photos and Vogue Series 7: C. Cunsolo Photos 8: The Zamborlini Photos 9,10,11: The Pufichek Photos (all other photos) 12: The P.-W. Henry 2004 Series.

We have new high quality chess photos of Alexandra, in a new album signed by well-known Swiss photographer Pierre-William Henry. You can see all 52 photos by clicking here. You can also support Alexandra’s Chess Fund by purchasing Alexandra’s 3rd CD “Chess is Cool” which includes all those photos in high resolution, as well as exclusive video material, commented games, and more. Please visit our Webshop and make your selection!

Alexandra obtained an excellent 7 out of 9 at the US Open in Fort Lauderdale, only 1/2 point behind the winners of the tournament. She also participated in a book signing event and in the annual Chess Hall of Fame Induction Dinner, where former world champion Anatoly Karpov (on the photo with Alexandra) was inducted. We have a 79-photo web album for you, you can see it by clicking here.

Alexandra is now back in Florida, and she is playing at the US Open in Fort Lauderdale, which started today (5-day schedule). She got second place at the blitz tournament on August 8, the gold going to GM Vasquez of Chile. She played a 12-board simul yesterday and got 11 1/2 out of 12 (11 wins and 1 draw). She gave away 2 chess computers “Alexandra the Great” to the best players, and several other gifts to all players. Look at our 60-photo web album by clicking here. On Friday Alexandra will be at a book signing event at 5PM and at 7:30PM she is invited to the Chess Hall of Fame Annual Induction Dinner, where ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov will also be present. We will give you more news and photos later on.

We have for you 4 new games very well commented by Alexandra in our Members section, recent wins against GM Wells (4NCL), Sergeeva (Elista), Socko (Warsaw), and Slavina (Kazan). Enjoy! If you are not a Member of Alexandra’s site, keep in mind that any order above $45 will give you free membership for a year, so take advantage of this deal and buy either one of Alexandra’s CD’s or her book “How I became Grandmaster at Age 14”, or her last Puzzle Set, which is quickly becoming a must-have! Any order for the next 30 days gets free autograph! Please visit our Webshop and make your choice! Thanks for supporting Alexandra!

Who said women don’t play chess as well as men? Yesterday, Alexandra proved that she does not intend to give in to men: she obtained the silver medal at the famous blitz tournament which takes place during the free day at the Biel Masters. She got second place, after drawing first place GM Kobaljia, third place GM Rustemov, and beating seasoned GM Cvitan, who ended up taking fourth place. Other GM’s are below in the list. Have a look at the final table here.

Alexandra is in Bienne (Switzerland) playing the Master Open, which takes place from July 19 to July 30th. After Alexandra’s great successes becoming Woman European Champion in April and becoming Vice-Champion of Russia two weeks ago in Kazan, qualifying herself for the Russian Team in the Olympiads in October, Alexandra, with her very respectable 2511 ELO, is measuring herself to the strong predominantly male competition in the Biel Masters. Today is the day off, and after 5 rounds Alexandra has 3.5 points. Yesterday she drew male GM Nemet. Today is the famous Biel blitz tournament. We have 2 new photo albums for you, Kazan and Warsaw. Enjoy!

Alexandra played a 22 board simul in Zurich (Switzerland), organized by the Chess Club Zurich, hosted by the wonderful Savoy Hotel and sponsored by the Bank Hofmann, to which we are very grateful. Alexandra gave away gifts and prizes, as usual, and everybody was very happy to be with Alexandra that day. We have 78 photos for you that you can see by clicking here. Enjoy!

Alexandra did a wonderful result with 8 points out of 11 games in the very strong Women’s Russian Championship Super Final in Kazan. She earned the title of Vice-Champion of Russia 2004 and at the same time secured her participation in the Russian National Team for the 2004 Olympiads, which will take place in Calvia (Mallorca, Spain) from the 14th to the 31st of October. The other players who will represent Russia at the coming Olympiads are Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (current world vice-champion) and the two Kosintseva sisters. Were not able to qualify the strong players Galliamova and Matveeva. You can see the full table with results here. We will soon put up on the site all of Alexandra’s games as well as some photos of the event.

We are pleased to report that Alexandra’s July 1 FIDE Rating shot up to 2511 (from 2469), in part due to Alexandra great success at the European Championship in Dresden, where Alexandra became European Champion. Alexandra is now Number 1 Girl in the world (up from Number 4) and Number 4 Woman in the world (up from number 15). Alexandra is now the top rated woman in Russia, a fantastic result. She is also waiting to have her GM (men) title ratified by the FIDE at their next Congress during the Olympiads in October.

In the period June 18-21, Alexandra participated in the PWPW Chess Cup in Warsaw (Poland), together with Almira Skripchenko (France), and the whole Polish Olympic Team (Dworakowska, Radziewicz, Socko, and Zielinska). The games played were G/25 with 10 seconds added to each move. Alexandra took first place with 6.5 out of 10, Congratulations! Look at the detailed results here, and you can see the games here, games viewable in an applet or they can be downloaded here in pgn.

On June 11, during a special Press Conference at the Petrosian Match in Moscow, Alexandra was congratulated by the Vice-Chairman of the Russian Chess Federation Valerii Zubov for becoming the Woman European Chess Champion 2004, the very first time a Russian achieves that award! She then stayed on and commented the games in progress with ex-world champion Boris Spassky. Watch our 23 pictures of the event by clicking here.

On June 15, Alexandra was awarded the Sudostroitelny Cup, for her win in the SMS-Internet match against the World. To celebrate this, she played a 20-board Simul against VIP’s with a result of 19/20 (18 wins, 2 draw, no losses). The first prize of $5,000 was handed to Vladimir Litus who guessed most moves correctly in the Megamatch sponsored by Sudostroitelny Bank, hosted by the newspaper “Kommersant” and www.chessmegamatch.com. Other prizes were given out, such as Chess Computers “Alexandra the Great” by Excalibur Electronics. Look at out 106 photo album by clicking here.

On June 3 Was the Opening Ceremony of the Belaya Ladya Youth Tournament in Moscow, where both Garry Kasparov and Alexandra Kosteniuk were invited. Alexandra participated in the Press Conference, then she gave a 19-board simul to the a group of Candidate Masters, with a result of +14, =4, -1, showing that young players can be very good if they work hard. You can see photos of the event by clicking here.

Alexandra won both games against Sergeeva in the first round of the Women’s Chess World Championships 2004 (Elista, Kalmykia, Russia), and therefore qualified for the next round. In the second round Alexandra played against V. Cmilyte, but lost the first game and only drew the second, so she will not be able to continue on to the next round. You can see both games of the first round and both games of the second round by clicking here, games viewable in an applet or they can be downloaded here in pgn. And look at our superb photos of the opening ceremony, of the first round, and have a look at a super player GALLERY! Thanks to all of you fans who sent messages of encouragement, Alexandra is very grateful to you!By the way, you can download for free the photo of all the players of the Women’s World Championship in any resolution by visiting our photo download page.

Before coming back from Elista, Alexandra made sure to make some kids happy, by visiting the school of Iki-Chonos, near Elista, Kalmykia, Russia. She gave a goodwill simul to the chessplaying kids, then a talk about the benefits of chess to the whole school. Alexandra had already been to that same school about 3 years ago, when she gave the school 2 computers (PC’s) with a program to teach chess, a most welcome gift to the school which is very short on technology. Kids were very happy to get caps, and many of Alexandra’s famous chess puzzle cards, which all the children got autographed, and are fast becoming collectors items. It goes without saying that we took many photos of the event and you can watch them by clicking here. If you would like to donate (any amount is helpful, and any amount above $30 gives you free Membership to the site with full access to all its Member Area photos, commented games, and web videos), click here! Alexandra is most grateful to all who help her Chess Fund! Please help Alexandra do more for kids!

Alexandra is now in Elista (Kalmmykia, Russia), to participate in the Women’s Chess World Championships 2004. The strongest 64 women chess players of the planet are participating, and the event promises to be most interesting! The format is a double-game knock-out, with the number of players going from 64-32-16-8-4-2-winner after 6 rounds. You will recall that in the last World Championships in Moscow in December 2001, Alexandra went all the way to the final and won the title of Vice-Champion of the World. Tomorrow will be the first round, in which Alexandra will play Maria Sergeeva (Kazakhstan). Wish her luck! Come to visit often and see our reports!

Alexandra arrived last night at the Geneva airport, she will be giving a Goodwill simul for the children of Biel today Saturday, at 2 PM at the Hotel Elite. She will give many gifts to the children, including Swiss watches from Balmain and the Excalibur Chess Computer “Alexandra the Great”! Tomorrow there will be many photos from that event! After that Alexandra will fly to Moscow, then to Elista (Kalmykia) for the Women’s World Championship, which starts May 21.
We hope that you like our new web design, and that you have visited our new Guestbook and the download section (Photos and Wallpapers), and sent Postcards to your friends. Please help us have your opinions by Voting! And don’t miss the new section on Alexandra’s sister, Oxana.

Alexandra gave a Goodwill simul in Bienne (Switzerland) to 38 happy children yesterday May 15, an event sponsored by the Swiss Watch company Balmain, to whom we are very grateful. Although Alexandra won all her 38 games, each child received free gifts (caps, pens, autographed photos), and the best players received the chess computer “Alexandra the Great” and 6 beautiful Balmain watches! We have an extensive photo album with over 170 photographs for you here, enjoy! Tomorrow Alexandra is flying back to Moscow, and on Wednesday she’s off to Elista, for the world championships, which start on next Friday. Wish her luck!

Alexandra continues to be in great form, and last weekend (May 1-3) in Birmingham West Bromwich (UK), at the 4NCL First Division Alexandra got 2.5 out of 3, drawing against GM Speelman (2569), and beating GM Wells (2507), and IM Kelly (2499). Alexandra’s games are as interesting as ever, make sure to have a look at the two games where Alexandra beat her experienced male opponents, and her draw against Speelman is instructive too. The 3 games of Alexandra are here, viewable in an applet or can be downloaded here in pgn).

Alexandra spent 3 vacation days in the wonderful city of Venice (Italy), just after her 20th birthday. As promised, we have photos of Alexandra’s birthday, and also of her trip to Venice. The weather in Italy was just perfect, not too hot and not cold, and fewer tourists than during the summer. Alexandra’s next event will be on May 1, 2, and 3, when she will play in Manchester (UK) with the team Numerica 3Cs in the National Chess League (4NCL).

Today April 23 is Alexandra’s 20th birthday!!! It’s amazing how many accomplishments Alexandra has obtained in such a short period of time, congratulations!! And best wishes for the future! Alexandra just flew to Paris from the USA to celebrate her birthday in the city of lights. Here are some photos we took for you from sunny Miami this week. Take this opportunity to support Alexandra and her Chess Fund! If any of you has not yet read her book “How I became Grandmaster at age 14”, we have a special for you, buy the book and any CD for only $49 and you get membership to Alexandra’s site for free!

ALEXANDRA IS EUROPEAN CHAMPION!!! After tying for first with Peng with 9.5 out of 12 (8 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss) at the very tough European Championships in Dresden (Germany), she won the champion’s tie-break today and became 2004 European Champion! This is the most prestigious chess title after World Champion and we are very glad Alexandra got it! We have many photos for you, as well as all of Alexandra’s games (view in an applet or download pgn).

ALEXANDRA RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE OF TITLE RESULT – GRANDMASTER (MEN)!!! For her exceptional performance while winning the European Championship with 9.5 out of 12, against 12 titled opponents, which corresponds to a stunning performance of 2625 (!), Alexandra was awarded the highest title, GrandMaster (GM), a men’s title. This is in addition to the IM (International Master, men) title she already has, as well as the WGM (Woman GrandMaster) title Alexandra received at the age of 14. This title still has to be approved by the FIDE, in due time. You can see the original certificate here. This is a wonderful birthday present for Alexandra who is going to celebrate her 20th birthday in less than 3 weeks.

Alexandra just got back from Moscow a few days ago, where she did a very nice 6.5 out of 9 in the semi-finals of the Moscow Championships (Men), winning about 7 ELO points and qualifying for the Final of the Moscow Championships (Men). She won’t be able to play in the Moscow finals, because she is playing the European Women’s Championships in Dresden (Germany), which will last until April 4. She has now 3 points out of 4. Let’s wish Alexandra luck for the next games (8 games to go). We will have soon many photos for you.

Using new patented technology developed by her father Konstantin, Alexandra is starting a chess game against the world! You can participate by sending your move either by SMS on your GSM mobile phone or on the Internet. The current position will continuously be on the site www.chessmegamatch.com. Your first move (you play white) should be sent before March 11, 10 AM Moscow time. There will be 3 moves per week, each move for the world will be the most frequently proposed one for that move, and the participants (identified with a unique mobile phone number) who sent the selected move are given one point. At the end of the game, regardless of the result, the participant who has the most points (i.e. is moves have coincided the most with the world) wins a visa Gold card and $5,000! Participation is free! Send your move now!

Alexandra is midway between the USA and Russia, where she is going to on February 26. She is enjoying a few days in the Swiss alps, and skiing away on the white slopes. As usual, we have a nice photo album for you, see it by clicking here!

Alexandra took some time off today before her chess lesson to walk on the beach, pose for a few photos next to a giant chess queen, and visit an animal parc where she found a superb iguana. Look at our photos by clicking here! Also, little time is left for solving puzzle 5, very soon we will announce the results and will post a new puzzle!

During her cross-USA trip, Alexandra passed by the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show and visited Excalibur Electronics’ booth. Excalibur is the manufacturer of the chess computer “Alexandra the Great” (named after Alexandra, of course), and Alexandra was showing everybody how to use it. It’s a talking chess computer with 136 levels, and fun to play with. Look at our photos by clicking here! Now solve correctly our new puzzle in the right column and be included in the drawing for the next prize Alexandra will be giving out! 🙂

Out of more than 580 entries we finally have 11 prize winners, picked randomly by Alexandra! The big prize (Talking Chess Computer Alexandra the Great) goes to Jonathan Soo Hoo (11 years old) from San Francisco! Winners of other prizes are: Kasper Dog, Roberto Allievi (Italy), Willy (Mexico City), Axel Schneider, Peter Wakka (Belgium), Franklin Monarca (Brazil), Fasuto Castro (California), Natusechka (Russia), Sasha Shevchenko (St. Petersburg), Gordon Magat (New York). As soon as we get everybody’s addresses we will mail all the gifts! Bravo to the winners, thanks for participating, and in a few days we will put up another puzzle for you! Good luck!

Alexandra finally got back to Miami, after driving from Miami to California and back in 15 days. We have a photo album for you of Alexandra resting at the beach. Tomorrow is the big day: Alexandra will be announcing the winners of our Christmas Competition (2 puzzles in left column)! It’s not too late to send in your entry! Do it now! Good luck!

Here is a gift for our members: Alexandra is doing a cross-USA Tour, driving from Miami to San Francisco, through the whole USA, East to West and back! We will have hundreds of wonderful photos for you! These photos are dedicated to members who have supported Alexandra throughout the year. It’s not too late to be able to join (and thereby get a user id and password to open the membership area), we offer this great deal for a few days more only: buy anything from Alexandra’s web shop (book, CD, etc.) or donate anything to her Chess Fund and you will be a member till end of 2004! Please support Alexandra, her Chess Fund needs it! Then Look at our wonderful photos: day 3: Dallas (31 photos), day 5-Dec. 31: Grand Canyon (27 photos), day 6 -Jan. 1: Grand Canyon-Las Vegas (14 photos), day 9 -Jan. 4: San Diego (20 photos)

Christmas Competition! As promised, here is a chance to win a super prize: Alexandra’s wonderful new talking chess computer “Alexandra the Great“, made by Excalibur Electronics! All you need to do is solve the two puzzles in the left column and send the correct answers to Alexandra, and you may be lucky! Alexandra will pick the winner at random on January 15, 2004. Several other prizes will be given free to people with the correct answer. More than 10 prizes will be given! Is that not a good way to start 2004? Happy holidays from Alexandra and www.kosteniuk.com!

Alexandra would like to wish to all a most Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year 2004 filled with love, happiness, and success in all you do. May 2004 be much better than 2003 and may all your dreams come true! Thanks for your support during the year. Tomorrow we will announce a special Christmas competition, with a super prize – keep posted! 🙂

Alexandra was in Chicago to give a 40-board Goodwill Simul to the wonderful kids of the K-12 Scholastics Championships. Every kid who played Alexandra got 3 free gifts, and the high point of the day was the Balmain Challenge give-away, in which 3 Swiss watches worth $500 each were given as prizes to the best players! Two kids managed to win against Alexandra: Partha Vora (4th grade) and Chris Williams (8th grade) and took away their Swiss watches, bravo! Out of the 3 draws, Alexandra gave a watch to Fernando Spada (1st grade), who showed great potential! Alexandra’s travel, time and gifts were entirely donated by Alexandra to help develop chess in America. The beautiful watches and pens are gifts of the Swiss watch company Balmain to whom we are all grateful. We have photos of the simul, almost all the kids, and the book signing event here. If you see yourself or your kid, just send us an email, and we will mail to you that photo for free to you! Enjoy! If you’d like to support Alexandra to do more events like this, please donate to Alexandra’s Chess Fund!

We hope you will enjoy our new web design (which will come online this afternoon) and the improved javascript menu (which opens up when you move your mouse over it, allowing you to move down and select menu items). Please let us have your comments, and let us know if it does not work in some situations (which platform, which browser, which version). Enjoy!