My reason of living

One thing that I like the most about being a role-model for boys and girls, something that makes my profession of chess-player and chess-educator so special, is the wonderful gifts, letters, emails and wishes, that young chess players sometimes send to me.

On the photo above, you can see a picture of me made by and sent to me by the young chess champion of Russia U-8 - Alexandra Obolentseva by the way she has her own web-site - http://www.sasha.su/

On the photos below you can see some letters that were sent by the Class 4-206 at P.S. 18, Queens, NY just after I won the world championship in Nalchik.

The most fascinating thing for me is to watch girls and boys playing chess. Despite being so young, they create, fight, they are trying to become better not only in chess but also in life. Chess often gives us the reason of living, it opens in front of us a wonderful world full of magic. We play, win or lose, we become a big part of this world. Fascinated by this ancient game, that came to us across the centuries.

Thanks to all of you for these wonderful congratulations letters, special thanks to the teacher of this class Vicky Guadagno who inspires these young kids to study chess, and helps me in my goal to show the world that "Chess is Cool!


















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

Women Chess Kaleidoscope

Various women's chess tournaments are taking place right now, or have just finished.

The Women's Ukranian Championship just finished. Tatjana Vasilevich and Doluhanova Evgenia shared first place, but Evgenia was better on tie-breaks.

The higher league of the Women's Russian Championship started today June 1 in Voronezh. Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (FIDE Elo rating 2450) is the elo-favorite of the tournament. Many young talented russian girls are playing as well. This tournament is the qualification for the Russian Women's Superfinal which is scheduled for December 2009. 5 top players at the end of the tournament will qualify for the Superfinal.

The Russian Championship among boys and girls under 8 just finished. It's amazing that today we have championships under 8! And probably many future GM's played in this event. Alexandra Obolentseva, a 7-year old girl became the Russian Champion among girls U-8. Last year Alexandra Obolentseva took part in my annual tournament "Alexandra Kosteniuk's Cup" that took place on November 29 and 30 in the Central Chess Club in Moscow and I even have a photo of her playing in my cup. I hope Alexandra will continue playing chess and working hard, I wish her all the best!

The final of the TOP 16 French teams took place in the Pyramides near Paris on May 31. Many strong female players took part in this event such as Almira Skripchenko, Inna Gaponenko, Sophie Milliet. The team of Evry (with Peter Svidler, Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Sophie Milliet and other strong players playing for this team) took first place.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com