Chess GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is the Top World Chess Promoter

Alexandra Kosteniuk Women World Chess Championship

Chess Games of Alexandra Kosteniuk


Chess GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is the Top World Chess Promoter


Sasha, Queen of Chess

ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK
(born Apr-23-1984) Russia 
Women's World Champion

Alexandra Kosteniuk was born on April 23rd, 1984, in Perm, Russia. She was taught the game at the age of five by her father, Konstantin Vladimirovich Kosteniuk. Her younger sister, Oxana Kosteniuk is a WFM
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A WGM since age 14, an IM at 16, and a GM at 20, Kosteniuk has featured prominently in various regional and world age title competitions, including winning the Girls U10 European Championship in Herculane in 1994, the Girls Under 12 European Championship in Rimavaska Sobota in 1996, and the Girls Under 12 World Championship in Minorca in 1996. In 2001, at the age of 17, she was runner up to Zhu Chen for the Women’s World Championship.

In September 2008, she scaled the summit of women’s chess when she became the 14th Women's World Chess Champion after winning the final of the Women's World Championship (2008) against Yifan Hou by 2.5 - 1.5.
In 2000 and 2004, Kosteniuk was second in the Russian Women’s Championships but went one better in 2005 when she won that Championship with a score of 9/11 and a 2691 performance rating. Other prominent tournament successes include winning the First European Women’s Championship that was held in Dresden in 2004, and equal second behind Koneru Humpy in the 2005 North Urals Cup.

Kosteniuk became the inaugural Chess960 Women’s World Champion in 2006, and successfully defended her title in 2008 against Kateryna Lahno.

Based on FIDE’s October 2008 ratings list, Kosteniuk is ranked number 592 in the world (http://www.benoni.de/schach/elo/res...), eighth amongst women, and is the top rated Russian woman. Under the US rating system, she is the second ranked female player in the USA after Zsuzsa Polgar.

She has also captured the public's eye by appearing in a Russian film, doing many product promotions, fashion modeling, and appearing in fashion