New Book: Diary of a Chess Queen by Kosteniuk



I’m very glad to announce that my new book “Diary of a Chess Queen” will soon be hitting the shelves.

The English version of the book will be published on December 1, 2009 and available to ship right after that.

The Russian version “Дневники шахматной королевы” will be printed on August 18 and is available to ship in September.

Here is how the Russian version of the “Dairy of a Chess Queen” – will look:



I spent almost 6 months writing this book and hope that readers will like it, as I put all my heart and effort into it to make it my masterpiece with the best material I have ever created. There is much more text than usual, I would say over 1/3 is pure text and the rest are my best 64 chess games from my whole career, commented as best I could. Anatoly Karpov, the 12th world chess champion, wrote the introduction to my book.

Here is a concise review of the book, by the publisher, Mongoose Press:

“Women’s World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk chronicles her rise to the top of the chess world in this introspective autobiographical work. Drawing from personal diaries kept during her youth, Kosteniuk takes the reader from the very dawn of her career as a child star in Russia, through triumph and disappointment, and finally to the pinnacle of success on the black-and-white battlefield. Along the way, we are treated to much more than an inside look into how a grandmaster approaches the royal game: we also learn the unique challenges posed to a young woman pulled at once by the diverging demands of professional chess, the glamour of the modeling lifestyle, and the joys of love and family life.

Part memoir and travelogue, part game collection, Diary of a Chess Queen features a selection of 64 annotated games with a wide range of world-class competitors, including super-GM Sergey Karjakin and former women’s world champions Zhu Chen and Antoaneta Stefanova.
Fashion model, wife and mother, Alexandra Kosteniuk became the European Women’s Chess Champion in 2004 and the Russian Women’s Chess Champion in 2005, then prevailed in the final match for the Women’s World Championship in 2008.”

From the first letter to the last word I wrote this book myself and I’m looking forward very much to having this book in my hands!

You can pre-order both the English and Russian versions NOW on www.chessqueen.com . Even with the autograph, we will be able to sell the book below retail price, $22.95 instead of $24.95.

By ordering your copy before it’s printed, I will offer a free personal autograph to ev.eryone at no extra cost. Just email me the name of the person you want me to autograph it to and I will do so!

The direct link to buy the English version is here.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women’s World Chess Champion
www.chessblog.com