Chess player Alexandra Kosteniuk: biography, achievements

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Those who are familiar with chess should know the name of Alexander Kosteniuk. This representative of the beautiful half of humanity won the title of grandmaster of chess at a young age. Moreover, the title was received both among women and among men.

A fourteen-year-old grandmaster

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk was born in Perm on April 23, 1984. And in 1985, her family moved to the capital of Russia. Already in Moscow, the girl fell in love with chess. This feeling was persistently instilled in her by her father. Board logic game has become her favorite thing. Due to the fact that the father became the first coach for the girl, Alexandra became the champion of the capital at the age of 7. Three years later, she won the title of Olympic champion. And four years later, Alexandra Kosteniuk, for whom chess became the main occupation, achieved the titles of "grandmaster" (among women) and "international master". Her case is special. After all, before Alexandra, no one has achieved such dizzying results.

With leaps and bounds to success

2000 brought the Queen of Chess the titleMen's International Master.

In 2004, a chess competition held in Dresden made Alexandra the European Chess Champion.

In November of the same year, Alexandra Kosteniuk became the 10th woman in the world to receive the honorary title of International Grandmaster among men. She was only 20 then.

In 2005, chess player Alexandra Kosteniuk received the title of Russian chess champion (among women).

In August 2006, there was a random chess competition between our heroine and Elisabeth Petz (random chess is a variant of the game when the initial positions of the pieces are determined randomly).

In 2008, I had to defend the title of champion. Ekaterina Lagno, who encroached on this title, lost to Alexandra.

Two years after receiving the title of world champion, the girl had to defend it. And she did it with great success.

Chess Queen - Photo Model

Thanks to her fame in the sports world and her photogenic appearance, the girl was able to appear in commercials for various brands. To popularize chess, Alexandra Kosteniuk poses in a bikini against the backdrop of a rook, knight, and queen. She wanted to show that everyone can move the pieces on the board, including people with a bright appearance.

The most interesting photo session of Kosteniuk is the pictures in the men's magazine Penthouse. Four pages with her photographs and interviews are devoted not only to the smart, but also to the charming chess player. AlthoughAlexandra claims that there was no photo shoot. She simply sent the most suitable pictures to the editors of the magazine (of course, for a certain monetary reward). In addition, the queen of chess starred in many commercials, and some magazines can boast that the world chess champion is located on their pages.

Alexandra's parents

Thanks to the support of her parents, Alexandra Kosteniuk became the champion. Her father, Konstantin Kosteniuk, always believed in his daughter. And from the age of five he began to train her. This led to the fact that Sasha became the champion of the capital at the age of seven! In order to deal exclusively with his daughter, the head of the family quit his job (he held the position of a teacher at the military academy), money was not enough. And washing cars on the embankment, and other part-time jobs, the purpose of which was to send his daughter to the world championship, once brought Konstantin to a casino, where he accidentally bet on a certain number and won. One and a half thousand dollars was enough to send Sasha to the World Championship. And after receiving the title, sponsors appeared, and it became easier with finances.

The discipline inherent in a military man was a fundamental part in the career of a young chess player. All victories and losses were clearly analyzed. Konstantin forced his daughter to memorize various openings. It even came to solving chess problems blindly. Also thanks to her father, Alexandra became incredibly famous from a young age. Konstantin Kosteniuk willingly communicated withjournalists, invited television personalities and helped his daughter write books for self-promotion. And Sasha, who was a very modest and shy child, needed only to play well and smile more often.

Alexandra's mother worked as a kindergarten teacher. After the dismissal of her husband, she believed that they would get out of a difficult financial situation. Several years have passed, and now Natalya Kosteniuk teaches children how to play chess. In her studio "Alexandra" children from three to eight years old learn the secrets of the logic game. The special technique that Natalia began to develop back when Alexandra Kosteniuk was just starting to walk will definitely make the kids future grandmasters.

Also, the queen of chess has a sister. Oksana followed in the footsteps of Alexandra and also became a chess player. But she didn't get to the top. She is three years younger than Sasha, she studies at the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University. Occasionally participates in tournaments, flashing in the chess press.

Loving wife and mother

The first marriage of Alexandra Kosteniuk was in the year of majority. Successful businessman Diego Garces laid eyes on the charming chess player when she was only 16 years old. They met in Lausanne. In this city in 2000, a chess tournament was held, where Diego played with Ponomarev. Despite his advantage, Garces lost and then went for a walk and met Alexandra. And after that, he flew to all the tournaments of the girl. At the time of the meeting, she was 16, and he was 41. Despite this, they got married two years later. 5 years after their marriage, they had a daughter, who was named aftergrandmother Diego - Francesca Maria.

2007 April 11 (two months ahead of schedule). For a long time she was in the hospital under the supervision of doctors. And while the baby did not get on her feet, Alexandra Kosteniuk and her husband did not spread about such good news. By the way, a young grandfather, Konstantin Kosteniuk, calls his granddaughter Froska.

Union of Grandmasters

Alexandra Kosteniuk's first marriage ended with her leaving Garces for Pavel Tregubov. The grandmaster, who has lived in France for a long time, is only 12 years older than his wife. Compared to her previous husband, this is a small difference (the difference with Diego Garces is 25 years).

Pavel Tregubov and Alexandra Kosteniuk got married.

Books written by a female chess player

Father, Konstantin Kosteniuk, always supported his daughter. His support, not only in sports, but also in the field of literature, helped the girl a lot. In just two years, the queen of chess wrote her first book, How to Become a Grandmaster at 14. It was released in three languages - English, Spanish and Russian. Then came these books:

• How to teach chess: a preschool chess textbook. Co-authored with his mother.
• Chess Queen Diaries.

Personal life of Alexandra Kosteniuk

Kostenyuk Alexandra, whose personal life is not limited to traveling around countries and cities and participating in chess tournaments, leads a rather interesting lifestyle. Smart and beautiful, shepromotes activity, proper nutrition, and the rejection of bad habits. Running 10 kilometers a day, she wants to take part in a marathon. According to Alexandra, she would star in a movie. But most of all she wants to get into the "Ice Age".

Sasha had teaching experience. Once she led a detachment in a children's camp. According to the chess player, it was unbearable. Therefore, Alexandra Kosteniuk decided not to experiment anymore.