Alexandra Kosteniuk’s Russian Team wins the Istanbul Chess Olympiads!

Hello everyone!
I am pleased to report that we managed to repeat our success of last Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk and won again in Istanbul. In the final round we crushed the team of Kazakhstan 4-0 who had drawn with China 2-2 the round before. Our winning team was made of the sisters Tatiana and Nadezhda Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Natalija Pogonina and me, Alexandra Kosteniuk. See the full results, an interview, and our Russian team results. Besides getting Gold medals for our team, Nadezhda Kosintseva on 3rd, Natalija Pogonina on 5th and I on 4th managed to get medals on our boards.
It’s very difficult to actually win an event when everybody says you’re favorite to win, so I’m glad it worked out. There were many very strong teams out there, especially of course China and Ukraine, who ended up on the podium with us.
In the next few days I will publish here some of my games of the Olympiads, so come back soon to visit!




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Russia Team-1 in Khanty-Mansiysk

Hi Everyone!
Today is the first free day of the Olympiad and the teams are resting and getting ready for the next 6 rounds. After the first 5 rounds in the women’s tournament the teams of Russia and Ukraine are in the lead and tomorrow we will meet in a direct encounter. Before this round our team went for a nice autumn stroll in Khanty-Mansiysk. The weather is perfect for this time of this year. All trees are yellow and in the Victory Park I found a nice poster , have a look a the photo below. Read more…

Name the Players from Russia 1 & 2

Hi Everybody!
I’m now training with the Russian National Team, preparing for the upcoming Chess Olympiads in Khanty Mansiysk. After the chess training, each evening, most players and coaches from Russia 1 & 2 play soccer, it’s great, we have a great time together, the teams are very friendly! Can you name the players and coaches? If you click “Read more…” you will see a larger photo. Good luck!  Read more…