Tomorrow Sunday will take place the first game of the final of the Women’s World Chess Championship between Grandmasters Alexandra Kosteniuk playing under the Russian flag and Hou Yifan playing for China. They will play 4 games in total for the title of Women World Champion. There is a site www.chesspolls.com that collects forecasts on this match, so if you have an opinion on the possible winner, you can go there and cast your vote. You can view or download the full 28-page Bulletin with all semi-final games very well commented by clicking here (1.3 MB). Links: Photos, Live Games, Videos.

The last 6 months of intense training are paying out for Alexandra, who qualified today for the Final of the World Championship by drawing Pia Cramling in the second game of their mini-match, bringing her score to 1.5-0.5. Alexandra is the only player left in the championship not to have lost a single game up to now. Alexandra’s opponent in the Final will be decided in the tie-breaks tomorrow, it will be either China’s Hou or India’s Koneru. It will be Alexandra’s second try at the title, remember that in 2001 Alexandra went all the way to the Final but lost narrowly to China’s Zhu Chen after tie-breaks. Now Alexandra has 7 years more experience and many new titles, European Champion 2004, GM (men) 2004, Russian Champion 2005, Chess960 World Champion 2006 & 2008, European Team Champion 2007.

It was pure domination today, before 30 moves were played Cramling playing Black could hardly find any piece to move. Have a look (copy and paste moves into the pgn player then press "apply"): 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Bd3 Bb4 7. Bd2 Nxd2 8.
Qxd2 f6 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Qxc3 fxe5 11. dxe5 Qe7 12. h4 Bd7 13. b4 a6 14. h5 O-O-O
15. Qd2 Kb8 16. c3 Rdf8 17. Qe3 Na7 18. a4 c5 19. bxc5 Rc8 20. Rb1 Qxc5 21.
Qxc5 Rxc5 22. Bxa6 Rc7 23. Kd2 Bxa4 24. Rb4 Bd7 25. Rhb1 Bc8 26. Nd4 Re8 27. f4
Ree7 28. Rb6 h6 29. g3 Re8 30. Rd6 Ree7 31. Bf1 Bd7 32. Bh3 Nc8 33. Bxe6 Nxd6
34. exd6 Bxe6 35. dxe7 Bd7 36. Nf5 1-0 Tomorrow the second game of this semi-final will be played (watch live at 3 PM local time). In the other semi-final, Hou beat Koneru with the white pieces. The tension is at a maximum since the ticket to the World Chess Championship Final is at stake.

Both Alexandra Kosteniuk and Pia Cramling have been in superb form and have reached the World Semi-finals. They are only 1 step from the World Finals. Who will win? Cramling is very experienced but Alexandra is very dangerous. They will play 2 games, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. In the other semi, Humpy Koneru will play Hou Yifan. By the way you can watch the games live here both days at 3 PM Nalchik Time (1 PM Paris time, 7AM New York time).
New, Pufichek updated his “Look at me!” gallery of beautiful women chess masters. Update: Kosteniuk won the first game.

Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Anna Ushenina today in the second game of their quarter finals match. Alexandra qualifies for the semi-finals. She will play Pia Cramling. In the other semi-final Humpy Koneru will play Hou Yifan. Have a look at Alexandra’s game: Ushenina – Kosteniuk: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c5 7. dxc5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. e3 Qa5 11. Be5 O-O 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. Bxe4 Nxe5 14. Bh7+ Kg7 15. Bd3 b6 16. cxb6 d4 17. exd4 Nxd3+ 18. Qxd3 Re8+ 19. Kd1 Bf5 20. Qd2 Bxc3 21. Qxc3 Qxb6 22. Ne2 Rac8 23. Qa3 Rc2 24. Re1 Rd8 25. Qe3 Qxb2 26. Rc1 Re8 0-1. You can copy and paste the moves into this pgn player. New: Download the Bulletin with this great game commented by GM Shipov.

Another free day for Alexandra during the World Chess Championship in Nalchik. She had a chance to visit the famous Blue Lake, whose color is absolutely amazing. It’s also one of the deepest lakes in Europe and divers have gone as far down as 180 meters below surface. You can see Pufichek’s photos by clicking here.

Alexandra qualified for the 1/4 finals of the Nalchik Women World Championships by beating Tatiana Kosintseva (ELO 2511) 1.5 – 0.5. She will be opposed to Anna Ushenina (ELO 2476) from the Ukraine next round. Make sure to visit Pufichek’s photo album of most of the players from the Women World Chess Championship in Nalchik. We have uploaded for you the two games Alexandra played against Tatiana Kosintseva, commented by GM Belov in a PDF, and to be downloaded in pgn format. By the way if you want to see the games in your browser, we recommend you simply copy and paste the pgn text into this universal pgn player.

Pufichek from our partner site Chesspics created a photo album of most of the players from the Women World Chess Championship in Nalchik, you don’t want to miss it. As usual ou can vote for the players you like best (5 stars = best, 1 star = worst). We have obtained special "Look at me!" gallery for you, enjoy! You can also watch Alexandra’s free educational videos (youTube channel, chess killer tips, flash videos, quicktime videos).

Today Alexandra had a free day and she was invited to explore the very beautiful countryside of Kabardino-Balkaria. About 2 hours away from the capital Nalchik she
visited the Chegemskie waterfalls. The local people were very hospitable and made meat shashliks and other delicious local dishes (like the traditional bread with cheese and potatoes called khychin). You can see a photo album of Alexandra’s day out by clicking here.

Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk won her first two games in Nalchik against Pourkashiyan from Iran. You can read GM Belov’s analysis of her first game from the bulletin. Alexandra is qualified for the third round which will start on Thursday. Thanks to all of Alexandra’s fans who sent her emails of support for this important competition.

Alexandra has been training very hard and is looking forward to going in 6 days to Nalchik to participate in the World Women’s Chess Championship. The championship will start on August 28, and we will let you know regularly how Alexandra is doing. The official championship site is here. It will be extremely hard fought, as the top world elite will play, for example Xu Yuhua, Humpy Koneru, Yifan Hou, Antoaneta Stefanova, Pia Cramling, Marie Sebag, Zhao Xue, Kosintseva T., Viktoria Cmilyte, Anna Muzychuk, Lufei Ruan, Natalia Zhukova, etc. Top players wait for this event every 2 years, so let’s wish that good games are played and may the best player win!

The very respected Association Chess Journalists of America has awarded 3 Top awards to Alexandra for her work in promoting chess: 1) Best Chess Blog Video or Podcast for her free Chess Killer Tips Podcast 2) Best Analysis for her Huss-Kosteniuk game (download PDF or download pgn) and 3) Best Chess Art for her Comic Series Chess is Cool, with text by Alexandra Kosteniuk and Illustrations by René Duret. If you have a web site or cover chess in the press, we recommend you join the CJA to increase excellence in chess press coverage in the world.

Alexandra has commented in detail her two recent wins with the Black pieces in Rapid chess against Grandmasters Tregubov (ELO 2658) and Hracek (ELO 2625). You can watch them either on YouTube (Tregubov, Hracek), or Tubechess (Tregubov, Hracek), or Chessmovies (Tregubov, Hracek). Each video is less than 10 minutes and is very educational. We hope you have also watched Alexandra’s report on her Mainz Chess960 World Championship Win YouTube (10 minute version), Tubechess (24 min.), Chessmovies (24 min).

Breaking news: Alexandra Kosteniuk is World Champion! Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk beat 2008 European Champion Kateryna Lahno 2.5-1.5 to retain her Women’s World Chess960 Champion title. Overall Alexandra scored a spectacular 8/10 in this event. Have a look at Pufichek’s 143 photos from the Mainz World Championship, and another superb 226 photo gallery of Mainz Grandmasters, vote for the ones you like best. NEW! Watch Alexandra’s VIDEO REPORT of Mainz, on YouTube (10 minute version), or on Tubechess or Chessmovies (24 minute version).

Alexandra brilliantly qualified for the Chess960 World Championship Final that will take place tomorrow. She beat both Olympic champions Natalia Zhukova and Kateryna Lahno 2-0 and Viktorija Cmilyte 1.5-0.5, for an unforgiving total of 5.5/6. Her challenger will be current European Champion 2008 Kateryna Lahno in a 4-game match for the World Champion title.

Alexandra started well the first day of the Chess960 qualifyers, with 2.5 out of 3, beating both Kateryna Lahno and Natalia Zhukova and drawing Viktorija Cmilyte. Tomorrow is the second day of the qualifyers and the top two qualify for the World Championship final.

Chess Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Vishy Anand opened the Mainz 2008 Chess Festival with a friendly game, in front of chief organizer Hans-Walter Schmitt, main sponsor Wolfgang Grenke, Mainz Mayor Jens Beutel. Alexandra will defend her Chess960 World Title against challengers Natalia Zhukova and Kateryna Lahno of the Ukraine, and Viktorija Cmilyte from Lithunania. More info can be found on the organizer’s site.

We are pleased to report that the leading video sharing site in the world YouTube has invited Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk to create a “Guru channel” and present her videos for free to the world. YouTube has offered Alexandra the channel name “ChessQueen” so you will be able to reach it by simply clicking or typing youtube.com/chessqueen in your browser. We hope that this new medium will bring many more people to the wonderful world of chess. Alexandra has recently posted 6 videos to the channel but has many more (including exclusive ones) in the pipeline. Please go to her channel and subscribe to it, you will then automatically be notified of new free videos. Also, feel free to rate and put your comments about the videos so Alexandra has some feedback and can give you the types of videos you like best. Enjoy!

The very successful 12th International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg just ended, and Alexandra was a VIP guest to politicians and business leaders alike. You can see her on the photo playing the Krasnoyarsk Region Governor Khloponin. Alexandra also met very important politicians like Premier Alexander Zhukov and she played over 20 speed games with President Medvedev’s Aide Arkady Dvorkovich in between VIP simuls. Pufichek created a photo album for you, you can have a look at it by clicking here.

Alexandra commented another one of her IMSA (International Mind Games Association) blitz games, this time against GM Yuri Balashov, at the IMSA Cup in Perm 2 weeks ago. The video is just under 10 minutes, and weighs about 40 MB. The opening was a Sicilian Defense and it was a tough fight, listen to Alexandra explain her thoughts all along the game. You can watch it either in Flash format or in Quicktime.

Alexandra’s first blitz video of the IMSA Cup is out, with a commented win against IM Vladislav Krapivin at the IMSA Cup in Perm. The video is 5 minutes long, and weighs about 20 MB. You can watch it either in Flash format or in Quicktime. More blitz videos to come out soon.

We have some news for you about Alexandra’s younger sister, Oxana. She’s now 20 years old and in 4th year of her studies at the University of Moscow, department of Journalism, specialty TV. She was sent for practice to the Baku Chess Grand Prix, and she is turning out quite good reports daily, aired nationally on Russian TV. If you understand some Russian, you will enjoy watching her reports. Here are the links: Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Free Day, (this list will be updated or you can go directly to www.tubechess.com for all reports).

Chess is now one step closer to the great Olympic family. Alexandra just came back from Perm (Russia), where the first IMSA Cup took place, a preview of the grandiose World Mind Sport Games which will take place in Beijing, China, this October, right after the Olympic Games. The International Mind Sports Association unites Chess, Draughts, Bridge and Go and has as declared goal the inclusion of mind sports in the Olympic movement. The partnership of several mind sports raises chances of success significantly and is officially approved by the European Olympic Committe (Read this). Grandmasters Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anatoly Karpov were the two stars of the event. NEW! watch our exclusive photo album! Come back soon for video of the IMSA Cup.

Alexandra’s DVD of her lecture on the Ruy Lopez is finally ready and available for $14 + s&h $6 = $20. If you’d like to support Alexandra by buying her DVD, please click here.

We are happy to present to you Alexandra’s complete lecture on the Ruy Lopez Opening, which she gave at the Marshall Chess Club on April 12, 2008. The lecture is in video format, completely free for you to watch. The files are large, so please be patient while they load in your browser.
A) Intro (3 min., approx. 9 MB, Quicktime, or Flash)
B) Part 1 (26 min, approx. 65 MB, Quicktime, or Flash)
C) Part 2 (27 min., approx. 70 MB, Quicktime, or Flash)
D) Part 3 (10 min., approx. 28 MB, Quicktime, or Flash)
E) Part 4 (15 min., approx. 38 MB, Quicktime, or Flash)
Due to the high cost of providing the bandwidth for this lecture, the links may be temporary. If you’d like to order a DVD of the lecture in full quality for $20, please contact Alexandra.

Alexandra gave a simul to 29 sharp minds at New York’s fine Columbia University. Under a cool and windy day, the games were hard fought and Alexandra ended the day with 22 wins, 5 draws, counting two losses to Daniel Park and Conrad Ho, congratulations to all! Read Chris Morris-Lent’s Post on the University Blog by clicking here, and an article just came out in the Columbia Spectator, read it here. Exclusive: have a look at our photo album by clicking here and make sure to watch our 3-minute video review on either Chessmovies (quicktime) or on Tubechess (Flash).

Alexandra would like to thank Dr. Frank Brady, President of the Marshal Chess Club, for his warm welcome in New York, this last weekend. Alexandra played in the Friday night Blitz tournament and gave a lecture on the Ruy Lopez on Saturday night. Alexandra will soon comment for you a near-perfect game she played against the winner of the tournament GM Paragua and we will also have video material from the lecture.

Alexandra visited today Ben Silva’s elective chess class at the Miami Beach Senior High and gave a chess lecture based on the game she won against Huss. She talked about the ideas behind the Queen’s Indian Defense, and showed several spectacular games on that theme. You can see some photos of the events on this chesspics album. You can also download for free the PGN file with all detailed analysis or the complete 4-page PDF of the lecture content. More information, photos and even a video can be found on the official Miami-Dade Scholastic Chess Blog.

Alexandra has posted new podcast episodes, which are free for you to download/listen/watch: 1) Audio podcast Chess is Cool Episode 29 2) Video Podcast Chess Killer Tips (Episode 52 Flash, Quicktime, Episode 53 Flash, Quicktime) 3) Commented game Aronian – Van Wely: Flash, Quicktime. Enjoy!

Next month Alexandra will make a visit to New York, invited by the one of the Nation’s top schools, Columbia University. She
will give a Simul to the members of the Columbia Chess Club in the afternoon of Sunday April 13. Last year Columbia invited Hikaru Nakamura, see the report of that event. Two days before that, on April 11 at 7:30 PM Alexandra will play a Rapid in the home of the brilliant ex-world champion Bobby Fischer, the Marshall Chess Club, at 23 West 10th Street. Come and play the Friday Rapid or watch Alexandra play, attendance is open to all.

Alexandra participated yesterday in the Miami Beach Ocean Drive 5K Run, and won her 20-24 age category with the excellent time of 21 minutes and 31 seconds for the 5 kilometers (approx. 3.1 miles, that’s a pace under 7 minutes per mile). She came in 7th woman overall, in a field of over 1,000 runners. You can see all exact results of the race by visiting this site, then by selecting menu items: Results – Calendar View – March 2008 – Ocean Drive Run – Results.

Alexandra is finally back in Miami and training hard for the coming world championships this summer (the FIDE world championship and the Chess960 World Championship, where she is the title holder). As you know it is important to be physically fit to play chess well, so Alexandra has incorporated running into her daily routine. Alexandra will be promoting the Community Partnership for Homeless and has been invited to the CELEBRITY 5K race in Miami Beach, on March 30, 2008, as one of the celebrities running this race. Come and run with Alexandra on March 30 or donate to this worthwhile cause.

It is now time to announce the winners of our Christmas Competition. We thank the more than 100 people who took part and sent us their answers, among which Alexandra selected 10 winners! The first prize, donated by Chessqueen, is a "Gold Chess Package" which includes Deep Rybka 2.3.2a, with Chess Openings 2007 and the excellent Chess Assistant Professional Software Program 9.1, goes to David W. from the USA. Next we have winners of various chess DVD’s and chess books: Fernando R. (Brazil), Leonardo S. (Brazil), Glenn M. (USA), Hernan V. (France), Keith J. (Malaysia), Helen K. (Canada), Enzo R. (Italy), and Ivan I. (Russia). Congratulations! You can watch the solutions on chesskillertips in video, for positions ONE (flash, mp4), TWO (flash, mp4), THREE (flash, mp4).

The chess world is in sorrow following the death on Thursday January 17, 2008, of the 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer, at the age of 64. There is no question that Fischer was a pioneer in professional chess and that he was far in advance of his time. Through his rise to the top leading to his win in 1972 over Soviet World Champion Boris Spassky, he has attracted millions of people to the game of chess. In addition, he invented the chess variant "Fischer-Random chess" (also called Shuffle Chess or Chess960), which well may be the future of chess. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk has taken up this chess variant with enthusiasm and is the current World Champion in that speciality. Watch a 1972 Quicktime movie about Bobby Fischer.

Thanks to our friend Arif (in photo third from left), who organized the day of his birthday a chess competition in the
CSSEPG Group of the well-known University of Melbourne, Australia. The tournament was won by Abdun Mahmood (second from left), in second place Sami Ur Rahman (far right), and third place Md Mustafizur Rahman (far left). Alexandra was glad to support the event by sending a few chess gifts for the winners. More photos: winners, finals, third prize, second prize, grand winner. Congratulations to all! We are grateful to Arif for the organization and for the players for showing their love of the game.

Happy New Year 2008 to all my dear chess friends (that’s my daughter Francesca in the picture). I wish you to have a wonderful year, filled with love, good health and success in all you do. Thanks for visiting my site the last year, I will do my best to prepare interesting chess material for you all year long, on this site, as well as on the sites chessmovies, tubechess and chesskillertips.

I’ve had some email problems, so if you have not been able to send in your solutions to my Christmas Competition, you can do so now, in 5 days I will select the winners and announce them as well as the solutions. There are hundreds of dollars in prizes and everyone will be a winner! Good luck!

We are pleased to report that Alexandra had a great success at the annual New Year Blitz tournament, organized by the Deputy Economy Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in Moscow. After qualifying in the semifinals, she won convincingly the final with 8 points out of 9, ahead of GM Najer (2635) 7, GM Dlugy (2518) 6.5, GM Alekseev (2716) 6, GM Bareev (2653) 4.5, GM Vasiukov (2492) 4, etc. We have all of Alexandra’s games in video and by popular demand will soon post some online. By the way, we will be soon closing the Christmas competition, hurry to send your answers, free prizes are ready to be won!

Yesterday December 23 Alexandra’s Chess School for boys and girls Under 7 organized the First Alexandra Chess Cup, in two categories, birth date after 2000 (up to 7 y.o.) and birth date after 2002 (under 5 y.o.). For most kids this was their first chess tournament ever, and it was most successful, Alexandra handed every kid prizes and they were all very happy. Alexandra announced that this tournament will be held each year, another building block in proving to kids that Chess is Cool! Watch the photos of the event.

Have a look at this excellent 43-minute documentary by Davide Fasolo about 12 chess professionals talking about their passion. The movie features Anatolij Karpov, Levon Aronian, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Michele Godena, Fabio Bruno, Rusudan Goletiani, Elisabeth Paehtz, Ennio Arlandi, Martha Fierro, Daniele Genocchio, Marl Quinn, and Alex Wohl. We have two versions for you to chose from: A Flash version and a Quicktime version. Enjoy. For reference, here is the link to Davide Fasolo’s web site.

CHRISTMAS COMPETITION!! To celebrate its great success and the soon-to-come 50th episode, Alexandra’s new video podcast , CHESS KILLER TIPS, is hosting a Christmas Chess Competition, with many chess prizes to be won! Chess books, chess software and other chess gifts are ready to be sent to you. To win, you need to send in the best answers to the following three chess puzzles: ONE (white plays and wins), TWO (black plays and wins), THREE (white plays and wins). The deadline is set to December 24, 2007. Send us your detailed solutions, together with your name, age if you’re less than 18 years old, and mailing address for the prize. We’ll publish the solutions and names of the winners in one of the next Chess Killer Tips podcasts, as well as here on our home page. Good luck!

We have a gift for you: Alexandra Kosteniuk comments in great detail and in video format her blitz game against GM Zoltan Almasi (ELO 2691) at the Moscow World Chess Blitz Championships Qualifyers of last week. The game demonstrates important ideas in the Berlin Wall Defense of the Ruy Lopez. Watch Alexandra show you each move, in a 11-minute video file (approx. 76 MB, please be patient while it loads, it’s worth it), either in Flash or in Quicktime. If you’d like to analyze the game further, you can download the pgn file. Please send Alexandra comments if you like these videos and would like more of them, or if you have any problems watching them.

The excellent European Chess Magazine "Europe-Echecs" just came out, and Alexandra, victorious from the European Team Championships, graces its cover. The magazine features an interview, photos, and commented games by Alexandra. You can see the cover in higher resolution by clicking here.

Exclusive: Alexandra Kosteniuk comments for you the most important blitz game of the year, the one that decided the World Blitz Champion title, between Vishy Anand and Vassily Ivanchuk. The game was won by Ivanchuk who took the title. Watch Alexandra show you how he did it, in a 10-minute video file (approx. 60 MB, please be patient while it loads, it’s worth it), either in Flash or in Quicktime. If you’d like to analyze the game further, you can download the pgn file with the key variations explained. Enjoy!

Tonight Alexandra Kosteniuk took part in a friendly closed blitz tournament in Moscow, with select GM’s playing as well as two of the highest Russian government officials, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Deputy Economy Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, both avid chess players, and supporters of Russian chess. In the blitz tournament Alexandra shared first place with GM Vasiukov with 9/11, then GM Vaisser 8.5, WGM Zhukova 8, GM Dlugy 7, etc. Watch Pufichek’s photo album by clicking here.

It was undoubtedly the strongest blitz tournament in the world, held in Moscow’s famous Central Chess Club, the World Blitz Championship Qualifyers, with over 60 Grandmasters (men). There were only two women that hold that supreme GM title that were invited to play, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lahno. They both did a respectable 9.5 points, with Kateryna beating GM Smirin 2-0 and Alexandra beating GM Naiditsch 2-0, both 2639 ELO, among several upsets suffered by the men. That’s what we call girl power! We have all games in video and will soon post the best ones on Chessmovies (Quicktime) and Tubechess (Flash).

Pufichek’s photo album is ready for you to view, we will add new photos in the next days.

Watch the short news clip (hosted by Tubechess) that aired tonight, filmed at the Moscow airport Sheremetievo upon arrival of the triumphant Russian teams (men and women) from Crete. The clip features Alexandra Kosteniuk and Petr Svidler, and it is in Russian.

PHOTOS OF EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. Pufichek brings you a special gallery of smiling European champions, taken during the prize giving ceremony in Crete last night. We remind you that for the first time since the Soviet years, Russia has been able to regain both men and women’s titles simultaneously, it’s a great achievement for the men (Svidler, Morozevich, Grischuk, Alekseev and Jakovenko) and for the women (Kosteniuk, T. and N. Kosintseva, Kovalevskaya, Korbut). The Russian champions earned each a Gold team medal, and no less than 8 medals for top board results. Congratulations!

BREAKING NEWS! Both Russian teams, men and women, have won their sections in the 2007 European Chess Championships!! Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, leader and first board of the Russian women’s team, is pleased to congratulate her fellow team-members T. and N. Kosintseva, E. Kovalevskaya, and E. Korbut, in a well deserved success. See the final results and the individual performances.

Top 3 (women): 1. RUSSIA 2. POLAND 3. ARMENIA. Alexandra will also get in addition to the Gold team medal a medal for being among the highest individual performance on the first board (2587 ELO).

Watch Pufichek’s photos in the best photo album of Crete 2007.

Today was a key day and all eyes were turned to Table 1 – Board 1: Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk beat GM Zhaoqin Peng and led her team to a 3.5 – 0.5 win. The Russian women’s team is in top position ahead of Poland going into the last round.

Make sure to visit our monster photo album. We’d also appreciate if you could vote for Alexandra’s new free video podcast Chess Killer Tips either in Podcast Alley or in iTunes, so she can go up in the podcast rankings and show more people that chess is cool!

Pufichek has posted on Chesspics more than 150 photos of the participants of the 2007 European Team Championships in Crete. The collection is growing daily and promises to be the top chess photo album of the year. Have a look at it and vote for your favorite players.

As far as the competition is concerned, in the women’s section, it’s a fight between top teams Poland and Russia. Today on table one Russia beat Georgia, with Alexandra Kosteniuk drawing ex-world champion Maia Chiburdanidze on board one.