Alexandra just finished the very difficult Premier invitational tournament in Hastings (England), where she started being the lowest rated player, against 9 male grandmasters. Her theoretical expected result was 3.2 points, and she did just about that, getting 3.0 points, winning games against GM Tseshkovsky and in the last round winning against GM McShane, with draws against GM Sasikirian and GM Arkell. While she wanted to do better (she missed several good opportunities), it’s only while playing against stronger players that you get better yourself. Way to go, Alexandra! 🙂 You can see the detailed results here . In 3 days she will head to Wijk aan Zee (Holland) to participate in another strong invitational tournament, we’ll keep you posted!

We have a WINNER: Raymond Dowson!! Out of about 700 guesses (about 500 unique), Raymond was the only person who guessed right "ROCK RULES". We didn’t think it would turn out to be so difficult (well we knew the answer!), and so we’ll send consolation prizes to all the people who guessed at least one of the two words "ROCK" or "RULES", David Preciado, Paul Dupre, Ciaran Johnson, L.Loyd, and Paul Graham (tell me if I forgot anybody). Thanks to all for taking part in the competition, and happy holidays to all!

Christmas Competition UPDATE Dec. 23: Two days left and still no winner! We have received more than 500 guesses (400+ unique two-word combinations), but all wrong – some close (first and second line were guessed right individually but not together) 🙂 what do you think is written on Alexandra’s T-shirt (first AND second line)? No more than 10 more guesses per person and send an email and win a signed copy of Alexandra’s book! Good luck! We’ll take off Alexandra’s jacket on Christmas day and you’ll see the answer for yourself!! Here are the unsuccessul guesses so far. A nice article just came out in the U.S. edition of ELLE GIRL (Holiday 2002). You can see the first page here and the second page here,

For those of you who speak German :-), an article about Alexandra came out in the German newspaper Die Welt (November 7, 2002). You can see it here.

For those of you who speak Russian :-)), you’ll find a very interesting article in today’s (December 6, 2002) Kommersant here.

Alexandra’s sister, Oxana, just got back from England where she played 2 games in the 4NCL 2nd Division with Numerica 3CS 1 Team. She won both games, which helped her team share the lead with a maximum 4 points out of 4, congratulations, Oxana! The next round will be on January 18-19. You can get all the results at the 4NCL site.

Today Alexandra went to the official Recognition ceremony for excellent results at the Olympiads of Bled by the Russian teams (the men got GOLD and the women got SILVER). Alexandra also met her friend the famous movie director Stanislav Govoruhin, who filmed this summer "The Hotel Manager" with Alexandra Kosteniuk in her first acting role on the big screen.

The Russian women team got back in Moscow with the Silver Medal at the Bled Olympiads, only 1/2 point behind China. Bravo! The official site of the Olympiads has more information. And look at some new photos.

Alexandra just signed a sponsoring contract with the Swiss watch company "BALMAIN" Here’s the Press Release in French, or English, or Russian,

An article just came out in the Russian version of Vogue about Alexandra. You can read it on clicking on the photo. We also updated the Photo Album, enjoy!

An article about Alexandra came out in LE FIGARO of October 9. Here it is (in French!).

Alexandra finished third in Group C in the World Cup, with 3 points, behind Irina Krush with 3.5 and Humpy Koneru with 4.5, with only one loss to Humpy, two wins and two draws. Here’s a photo of her at the airport. Look at the official site. Here’s the crosstable here.

Alexandra’s younger sister, Oxana, just turned 15 years old today September 12, Happy Birthday! Here you see her taking a stroll along Arbat street in Moscow.

Alexandra is now a movie star and is on her way to get an OSCAR! She just participated in Odessa in the filming of a full-feature movie by the famous movie Director Stanislav Govorukhin, with well-known actors Inna Churikova and Aleksandr Mikhailov. The movie takes place during the second world war, and of course is about love. Alexandra plays the role of a young lady who is looking for direction in life. Photos.

Alexandra took a couple days vacation and is in Cyprus. We thought you’d like to see a few pictures of her there. Photos.

Alexandra just came back from a cruise to Egypt, where she toured in particular Ghiza (the pyramids and the Sphinx) . Look at her pictures. Photos.

It was a breath-taking match in Mainz! Alexandra won the 11th tie-break game and took the "Red Jacket" along with her. Congratulation to both girls for a fantastic show (11 sicilians!). you can read more here

Alexandra won today her 4-game match against David Howell with the score of 3.5 out of 4, congratulations! Thanks to Mike Basman of UK Chess Challenge for a superb organisation. Now Alexandra is on her way to Mainz where she will dispute a match against Elizabeth Paehtz, let’s wish her well!

While playing in the Paris championship, on July 15, Alexandra took part in a photo shoot for the magazine VOGUE. Beautiful pictures have been taken, and we suggest you buy a copy of VOGUE of november (Russian edition) when it comes out. We’ll be able to show you some of those photos only after publication!

The WINNER is: Ruxandra Caracas!! Alexandra received more than 100 emails with suggested locations as far as Sydney, Australia! The photo was taken on the shores of the Lake Leman (Lake Geneva), in the small town of Paudex, not far from Lausanne. The boats in the background of the photo are actually in the town of Lutry, which was the answer of Ruxandra. Bravo! Please Ruxandra send me your postal address and you’ll get a free autographed copy of Alexandra’s book! BRAVO!

On August 8 Alexandra visited the famous chess cafe SIMPSONS in London, accompanied by IM Mike Basman, the organiser of UK Chess Challenge, and Natalie Gibbs, chess teacher. Look out for her match against David Howell on Tuesday at Broadgate at noon!

On August 9, in London, Alexandra was photographed, and the terrific photos will come out in the US edition of ELLE (I think November or December issue). Look out for that magazine!

The Biel Masters Open finished on Friday August 2nd, and Alexandra scored a quite respectable 21st position with 6.5 out of 11, having played against 6 grandmasters, and being the 21st-ranked player at the beginning.

After Biel, Alexandra visited the Swiss city of Yverdon, to play in the Swiss Blitz National Championship. She took third place with 14 points, behind the winner Ekstroem and Cvitan, who had 14.5, but before players such as Tukmakov, Pelletier, Jenny, and many others. Congratulations!

Alexandra was in Ostende (Belgium) on July 20 and played a simul against 40 people, achieving the very respectable score of 31/40. Thanks to Jose Vandekerckhove for a wonderful organisation! You can check the local site here

Alexandra is now in Bienne/Biel (Switzerland) playing the Masters Open, wish her luck!

Alexandra did 7 out of 9 in the Paris Championship! You can see the results here

We are pleased to announce that the SPANISH version of Alexandra’s book is available for purchase now here!

Alexandra Kosteniuk is in Valencia (Spain) where she is going to participate in a tournament together with Anatoliy Karpov. The details of the visit see here www.jaque.tv. …NEW PHOTOS…

Vladikavkaz. Arrival.
Vlavikavkaz, the airport of Beslan, the first minutes in the hospitable land of Northern Ossetya-Alanya.	Alexandra together with the Chairman of the National Bank of the RNO – Alanya. Mr Dedegkaev Viktor Hasanbievich – connoisseur and admirer of the art of chess.

By the invitation of the Chess Federation and the National Bank of the Republic of the Northern Ossetya-Alanya,- Alexandra is going to visit the Festival – the Cup of Vladikavkaz, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the battle by the walls of Vladikavkaz in 1942. She will participate in a blitz-tournament, give a simultaneous exhibition for the war and labor veterans and she will also have several interesting meetings. You can find the schedule of Alexandra’s trip in Northern Ossetya by clicking here.

Dear Visitors! If you would like to buy Alexandra’s book "How I became Grandmaster at age 14" and if you don’t like to make shopping online, we are glad to offer you the list of bookstores in different countries where you can buy the book. Click here.

Non-Stop Girl! On May, 11 Alexandra visited an old French city of Lille, where she was invited by the association "Lille aux Echecs" which organizes every year a festival of games of strategy to promote them among the public. Alexandra gave a simul on 32 boards in order to popularize chess. The simul took place in the open air and it was very cold, but the young World-Vice Woman Chess Champion is not used to give up, she stood it very bravely and the simul passed very well. And … has she ever visited your city?

Welcome to Hamburg! Alexandra dropped in for a few days to Hamburg, where she got acquainted with the team of Chessbase.com, their software, discussed new projects and had a very good time. She also brought along an electronic picture album of her recent visit to Singapore and Indonesia. You can find the details of the visit to Hamburg and a small selection of photos from Singapore and Indonesia here.

Alexandra’s sister shows good chessplay. Oksana Kosteniuk made her 4NCL debut for Numerica 3 C’s in Birmingham. She played quite good for the first time, as she scored 1,5 from 3 while her opponents had higher rating. You can see the results here: Round 9 Round 10 Round 11 The administration of the site wishes to Oksana all the best in her chess career. Good Luck! Photo – Helen Milligan (www.4ncl.co.uk)

Dear guests! We are glad to invite you to our new forum. If you have any troubles in using it, apply to the SiteAdmin.

Dear Friends! Today, on the 23th of April, The World-Vice Chess Champion and the Champion of our hearts Alexandra Kosteniuk celebrates her 18th birthday! The administration of the site www.kosteniuk.com is happy to congratulate her on this holiday.

We wish you Love, we wish you joy,   We wish you smiles and glory, We wish you what we wish ourselves,   A share in the world’s chess story We wish everything what means happiness to you, Good luck in all you do! If you wish to join us in congratulating Alexandra click here

Welcome to the World of Chess from Alexandra Kosteniuk! If you don’t play chess at all but you want to start learning, you have a wonderful opportunity to study the first lessons from the book by Alexandra Kosteniuk ‘How I became Grandmaster at age 14‘.

Alexandra walks around the world! After some interesting publications in the press of England, Belgium and some other countries and after winning the title of the Best ChessBase Player of the year, Alexandra is getting more and more popular in Germany. A famous and influential magazine ‘Spiegel’ published an article about her. It says that Alexandra due to her beauty is often called by journalists ‘Kournikova of Chess’, but there is a great difference between Alexandra and Anna Kournikova: Anna hasn’t yet won any tournament! Click here to read.

Dear Guests! We are glad to inform you that the brilliant collection of publications about Alexandra is now enriched by a new article in a famous Russian magazine ‘Yat’ with a wonderful pictures on its cover. You can find all the pictures in our new gallery

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen! On the 4th of April at 18:30, a meeting of the World-Vice Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk with the employees of the Diplomatic Corps and representatives of foreign companies will take place in Moscow. The plan of the meeting: The presentation of the book by Alexandra Kosteniuk “How I became Grandmaster at age 14” in English; Press-conference; A simul on 20 boards; All are invited! The meeting will take place at the following address: the Cultural Center of the Main Administration for service to the Diplomatic Corps, Moscow, Ulof Palme street 5, building 2. Phones: 143-04-26, 143-61-57, 143-13-16

Welcome to Indonesia! On the 16th of March Alexandra arrived at Jakarta, Indonesia! She was perfectly met there and now we are waiting for new pictures and news about the visit. Local site about chess.

Player of the year! A wonderful news! Alexandra has just won the title of the best player of the year! According to the results of the poll at www.chessbase.com for the title of the best chessplayer of the year, Alexandra managed to win with a great priority. Alexandra’s talent and your help and support managed not only to make her the first, but also to surprise the administration of www.chessbase.com by the consistency and abundance of her fans. We congratulate Alexandra and all those who believed in her! We would like to thank all those who helped us during the poll! Way to go, Sashen’ka!

Alexandra hit the road – Singapore… The Chess Federation of Singapore invited Alexandra to pay an official visit. She will be there till the 16th of March. During her visit she will give two 40 boards simuls and have many interesting meetings about which we will tell on our site.

Chessfriends! Please visit our new BookFeedback section and read some of other people opinions about Alexandra book "How I Became Grandmaster at Age 14"

Dear Guests! We are truly sorry to inform you that the publication of the Spanish version of Alexandra’s book is delayed due to the reasons beyond our control. Most probably the book will be published in a month or two.

Dear Guests! We are glad to introduce to you a new film about the World Chess Vice-Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk – "Chessqueen", which was shown on CNN on February, 25.

ChessBase: Player of the Year award.Vote Instruction The ChessBase is conducting their annual competition for the title of the Chessplayer of the year! We hope that you will take part in the voting and do the right choice! :-). Vote instuctions – here

Cover girl. Part 2. Alexandra gave an interview to a Russian magazine "Shtuchka". Read it here! This popular youth magazine (reminding "Seventeen") also put Alexandra’s photo on its cover and published a poster with her pictures.

The pictures from the Aeroflot Open Press-Conference Picture 1, Picture 2 On photos (from left to the right) Alexandra Kosteniuk – World Chess Vice-Champion, Vasiliy Vasilievich Smyslov-the 8th World Chess Champion, Anatoliy Evgenievich Karpov – the 12th World Chess Champion, Roshal Alexander Borisovich – the chief editor of the chessreview "64"