Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (Russian: Александра Константиновна Костенюк; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian and Swiss chess grandmaster who was the Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021. She was European women's champion in 2004 and a two-time Russian Women's Chess Champion (in 2005 and 2016). Kosteniuk won the team gold medal playing for Russia at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010, 2012 and 2014; the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017; and the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017 and the Women's Chess World Cup 2021. In 2022, due to sanctions imposed on Russian players after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she switched federations, and since March 2023 she has represented Switzerland.
Kosteniuk learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She graduated in 2003 from the Russian State Academy of Physical Education in Moscow as a certified professional chess trainer. As a child, she played casual chess for money, in order to earn resources for chess trips.
Kosteniuk won the girls under 10 division of the European Youth Chess Championship in 1994[citation needed] and the girls under 12 title at both the European Youth Championships and World Youth Chess Championships in 1996.[citation needed] At twelve years of age she also became the Russian women's champion in rapid chess.
In 2001, at the age of 17, she reached the final of the World Women's Chess Championship won by Zhu Chen.
Kosteniuk became European women's champion by winning the tournament in Dresden, Germany. As she achieved this with a performance rating above 2600, she was awarded the grandmaster title in November 2004, becoming the tenth woman to receive the highest title of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Before that, she had also obtained the titles of Woman Grandmaster in 1998 and International Master in 2000.
In 2005, she won the Russian Women's Championship.
In August 2006, she became the first Chess960 women's world champion after beating Germany's top female player Elisabeth Pähtz by 5½–2½. She defended that title successfully in 2008 by beating Kateryna Lagno 2½–1½. However, Kosteniuk's greatest success so far has been to win the Women's World Chess Championship 2008, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan with a score of 2½–1½. Later in the same year, she won the women's individual blitz event of the 2008 World Mind Sports Games in Beijing.
In the Women's World Chess Championship 2010 Kosteniuk was eliminated in the third round by the eventual runner-up, Ruan Lufei, and thus lost her title.
Hub AI
Alexandra Kosteniuk AI simulator
(@Alexandra Kosteniuk_simulator)
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (Russian: Александра Константиновна Костенюк; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian and Swiss chess grandmaster who was the Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021. She was European women's champion in 2004 and a two-time Russian Women's Chess Champion (in 2005 and 2016). Kosteniuk won the team gold medal playing for Russia at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010, 2012 and 2014; the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017; and the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017 and the Women's Chess World Cup 2021. In 2022, due to sanctions imposed on Russian players after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she switched federations, and since March 2023 she has represented Switzerland.
Kosteniuk learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She graduated in 2003 from the Russian State Academy of Physical Education in Moscow as a certified professional chess trainer. As a child, she played casual chess for money, in order to earn resources for chess trips.
Kosteniuk won the girls under 10 division of the European Youth Chess Championship in 1994[citation needed] and the girls under 12 title at both the European Youth Championships and World Youth Chess Championships in 1996.[citation needed] At twelve years of age she also became the Russian women's champion in rapid chess.
In 2001, at the age of 17, she reached the final of the World Women's Chess Championship won by Zhu Chen.
Kosteniuk became European women's champion by winning the tournament in Dresden, Germany. As she achieved this with a performance rating above 2600, she was awarded the grandmaster title in November 2004, becoming the tenth woman to receive the highest title of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Before that, she had also obtained the titles of Woman Grandmaster in 1998 and International Master in 2000.
In 2005, she won the Russian Women's Championship.
In August 2006, she became the first Chess960 women's world champion after beating Germany's top female player Elisabeth Pähtz by 5½–2½. She defended that title successfully in 2008 by beating Kateryna Lagno 2½–1½. However, Kosteniuk's greatest success so far has been to win the Women's World Chess Championship 2008, beating in the final the young Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan with a score of 2½–1½. Later in the same year, she won the women's individual blitz event of the 2008 World Mind Sports Games in Beijing.
In the Women's World Chess Championship 2010 Kosteniuk was eliminated in the third round by the eventual runner-up, Ruan Lufei, and thus lost her title.