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USA's Top Daily Chess News Blog, Informative, Fun, and Positive

hosted by Chess Queen™ & 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk

 

Friday, October 30, 2009

Prize Ceremony European Team Chess Championship


The smiling faces of our team, who won Gold at the European Team Chess Championship, in Novi Sad 2009. From left to right: Valentina Gunina (Board 4), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Board 1), Nadezhda Kosintseva (Board 3), Tatiana Kosintseva (Board 2), Yuri Dokhoian (coach), and Marina Romanko (Board 5).

One more photo taken during the prize ceremony (from the Organizer's site):


Women's chess was celebrated these last 10 days. Thanks to all fans and friends who have cheered for us during the whole championship. We dedicate this victory to you all. You can see from our smiles that all our efforts were not in vain. It is a sweet victory, and one which benefits us all, and the game of chess in particular.

I will go back home in a few hours, and I am already preparing for you full video reports of most of my games. They were all of a very high level and contained many interesting moments, nice sacrifices, deep strategical moves, and of course some mistakes on both sides. I look forward to sharing some of those experiences with you.

After a short training stay at home, in less than 2 weeks I will fly to the Moscow World Blitz Championship, to which I have been invited and which will be the strongest blitz tournament I will ever have participated in, I'm looking forward to it!

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion

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Medals at the European Team Chess Championship


Here are the official medals given out to the best players at the European Team Chess Championship 2009, in Novi Sad, women's section:


1st Board:
Gold: Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia)
Silver: Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria)
Bronze: Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine)

2nd Board:
Gold: Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia)
Silver: Lilit Mktrchian (Armenia)
Bronze: Sophie Milliet (France)

3rd Board:
Gold: Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia)
Silver: Sopiko Khukhashvili (Georgia)
Bronze: Lilit Galojan (Armenia)

4th Board:
Gold: Ekaterini Fakhiridou (Greece)
Silver: Joanna Dworakowska (Poland)
Bronze: Olga Vasiliev (Israel)

5th Board:
Gold: Joanna Majdan (Poland)
Silver: Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia)
Bronze: Valentina Gunina (Russia)

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion


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Russian Women win Gold at European Team Championship



Dear Chess friends,

I am so pleased to let you know that just a few moments ago my team, the team of Russia, won what is probably one of the strongest and most important team competitions of the year, the European Team Championship.

It was a race until the last moment with Georgia. We had an individual point advantage before the last round, but it was critical we win our last match against Armenia. We managed to win, and so ended up the championship with 8 won matches out of 9 (see full rankings), that's 16 match points, and more individual match points than anybody (26 points, see individual results). Second came in Georgia, with 16 match points (that's 7 won matches and two drawn matches), but only 24 individual points.

I played all my games on Board 1, my team members are, in order of boards, Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Marina Romanko and Valentina Gunina. I'd like to thank them all for supporting the team and helping us get gold.

The championship was extremely hard fought, and almost all my games have been interesting. I scored 6 out of 8, that's 4 wins (against Monica Calzetta Ruiz, Kateryna Lahno, Zeinab Mamedjarova, Jana Jackova) and 4 draws (against Nana Dzadnidze, Szidonia Vajda, Monica Socko, and Elina Danielian). I missed winning opportunities in a few games, and played out some nice combinations, so you can be sure I will soon publish some new videos both for my Chess Killer Tips podcast and for my YouTube channel "ChessQueen".

I'll write much more after the prize ceremony.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Champion

Happy Chess Halloween (3)

One more Halloween pic for you. Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to use it on your blogs and sites.
Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Russia and Georgia Leading in the ETC Women's


Russia today beat the Czech Republic 3-1
(from left: Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, N. Kosintseva, Romanko)

Hello to all!

Just a short post to let you know that the 8th round was played today in Novi Sad at the European's Team Championship, and tomorrow morning will be the final 9th round.

Contending for the gold in the women's section is Russia and Georgia, both having 14 match points. Russia has 2 individual points more, which may turn out to be useful in case of a tie-break.

The standings before the last round are on www.chess-results.com.

Here below you can see my game against Jana Jackova. I'm playing white, again in a Ruy Lopez, and playing against a Marshall attack (I like to play the Marshall myself, so this was tough playing against one of "my" openings). Well the game was decided not in the opening, but later in the middle game and in the end-game. That's why I advise my students not to spend too much time on the opening, but rather concentrate on middle games and endgames. The important thing about the opening is that you should enter the middle game in any "playable" kind of position, then try to show your mastery in the middle and end game.

Again, I'm playing white: Kosteniuk - Jackova


Here's another picture of the same team, but 2 days ago (the photos are from the organizer's site).

(from right: Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, N. Kosintseva, Romanko)

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion


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Happy Chess Halloween (2)



By popular demand I'm posting another Halloween pic. I repeat my offer from 2 days ago (see below) to give an autographed prize to anybody who sends me their best Halloween chess photo(s) - I will select up to 3 prizes from all entrants.

Tomorrow I will post a re-mastered series of my Halloween chess photos.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion



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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

ETC - Round 7 & Mamedjarova - Kosteniuk



Hello dear chess amateurs of women's chess!

Today was the 7th round at the European Team Championship in Novi Sad. On the first table, my team Russia beat Azerbaijan 4-0, on the second, Georgia beat Israel 3-1, and on the third, Armenia beat Romania 3.5-0.5.

Preliminary rankings show Russia and Georgia leading with 12 team points, followed by Armenia and the Czech Republic, with 10.

There are still 2 rounds to be played, so anything can still happen. Tomorrow Russia plays the Czech Republic and Georgia plays Bulgaria.

All results can be found on the site www.chess-results.com
and
All games and photos come from the organizer's site.

Here is the game I played today against board 1 of Azerbaijan, Zeinab Mamedjarova:


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

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Happy Chess Halloween!


Dear Chess Fans,

I would like to wish you a nice Chess Halloween this October 31st.

If any of you will celebrate Halloween with chess in any way, and if you send me a photo of your celebration that day, which includes chess in any fashion, carved in a pumkin, or a frightening chess move, or in your chess costume, I will send an autographed prize to the best submission I get!

Very best chess wishes to you,

Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion

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Kosteniuk - Lahno Preview


Dear friends,

I would just like to show you the game I played today in the European Team Championship. I beat Ekateryna Lahno from the Ukraine in a Ruy Lopez Opening. I will comment this game fully after the tournament is over, as there are three very important rounds left.

I am playing white in this game, Kosteniuk - Lahno:


Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Champion

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Monday, October 26, 2009

Commented Chess Blitz Sutovsky - Kosteniuk




Hello dear chess lovers!

I just posted a new YouTube video with my second chess blitz game against Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky (FIDE ELO 2607 at the time) from the 2006 Tal Memorial. I had already commented my first blitz game against him last year.

I have lots of other blitz and serious games commented on my YouTube channel, named "chessqueen".

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion

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Friday, October 23, 2009

October-09 AK Grand-Prix Puzzle Contest


Hello everybody!

It's time for the October Puzzle Contest and 3 more interesting puzzles of the Alexandra Kosteniuk GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST. As usual till the end of this month you can send me your solutions by email. On the 1st of November I will announce 3 winners who sent me the most complete and correct solutions.

I remind you that from August 2009 on, once a month here on www.chessblog.com I will give you 3 chess puzzles to solve, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. They will be challenging and interesting for everyone. I hope you will try to solve them on your own without help from the computer. At the end of each month I will announce 3 winners who will get 3 chess prizes (1 for each).

At the end of this year, on December 31, 2009 I will announce the Grand-Prize winner who will get the top chess prize. The Grand-Prize winner will be determined by the number of times participated, and of course the maximum number of correct answers.

The more you participate in my puzzle contests, the more chances you will have to win, and of course solving my puzzles will be useful to you and will help you improve at chess.

Please answer only by email and not putting the solution in the comments to this post, give a chance to everyone to enjoy solving the problem on their own. And in the email, please mention whole variations to the end, do not only give the first move, special credit will go for completeness of the solution. When several variations are present, write them all. And please write as the subject of the email October 2009 Puzzle Contest. Good luck!

Here they are:

(Above) Puzzle 1. White plays and wins.
Category Intermediate.


(Above) Puzzle 2. White to move.
White plays and wins. Category Intermediate.


(Above) Puzzle 3. White to move
White plays and wins. Category Difficult.


Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion


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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Kosteniuk - Calzetta Preview


Hello dear chess fans!

I usually don't comment games while the tournament is still raging, but I received some requests (from Twitter and from Facebook) to show them the game of the first round of the European Team Championship in Novi Sad, which I played against Monica Calzetta Ruiz of Spain.

There are two ways to watch it.

1) Copy and Paste the pgn moves as below in my PGN PLAYER:

[Event "17.EWTCC 2009"]
[Site "Novi Sad"]
[Date "2009.10.22"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Black "Calzetta Ruiz, Monica"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 d6 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. Bd5 Bg4 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. Qe2 Nf6 9. Nbd2 Bd6 10. Nc4 O-O 11. h3 Bh5 12. Bg5 Qe7 13. g4 Bg6 14. Nfd2 h6 15. Bh4 Rab8 16. f3 Bc5 17. Nb3 Bb6 18. O-O-O Qe6 19. Bg3 Nd7 20. h4 f6 21. g5 fxg5 22. hxg5 h5 23. Rxd7 Qxd7 24. Nxe5 Qe6 25. f4 Be8 26. f5 Qe7 27. g6 Qg5+ 28. Kb1 Be3 29. Rxh5 Qxg3 30. Qc4+ 1-0

2) Have a look at the game, in the following diagrams:

Before 7. Bxc6+ to weaken Black's pawns


Before 13. g4 to start an attack on the King's side


Before 21. g5! to continue the attack on the King's side


Before the nice exchange sacrifice 23. Rxd7!!


The ending position, after 30. Qc4+. Mate is unavoidable


I will comment this game in more detail after the tournament has ended, most likely on YouTube.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Champion

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

European Team Championship 2009 Starts!


Click on logo above to go to Organizer Site

NEW: LINK TO LIVE GAMES ROUND 2 October 23, 2009

Dear chess friends,

Tonight was the opening ceremony of the 17th European Team Chess Championships, which are taking place in Novi Sad, Serbia. The tournament will be very tough, as 14 teams are fighting for the gold, among which some very strong teams, such as Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, and Armenia.

Click on banner above to see all Results

You can see below that many very strong players are participating. I'm playing in the Russian team, which is composed of:

Board 1: GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, ELO 2516
Board 2: GM Tatiana Kosintseva, ELO 2536
Board 3: IM Nadezhda Kosintseva ELO 2493
Board 4: IM Marina Romanko ELO 2453
Board 5: WFM Valentina Gunina ELO 2437

Tomorrow my team will play against Spain.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion

Announced players are (in order of starting rating):

As soon as the tournament will start, you'll be able to click on the player's name to see their individual results.

Kosintseva Tatiana

Dzagnidze Nana

Muzychuk Anna

Stefanova Antoaneta

Sebag Marie

Kosteniuk Alexandra

Kosintseva Nadezhda

Danielian Elina

Lahno Kateryna

Dembo Yelena

Paehtz Elisabeth

Socko Monika

Ushenina Anna

Javakhishvili Lela

Mkrtchian Lilit

Rajlich Iweta

Zhukova Natalia

Romanko Marina

Khukhashvili Sopiko

Gaponenko Inna

Khotenashvili Bela

Gunina Valentina

Moser Eva

Bojkovic Natasa

Khurtsidze Nino

Zawadzka Jolanta

Zdebskaja Natalia

Milliet Sophie

Peng Zhaoqin

Maric Alisa

Jackova Jana

Peptan Corina-Isabela

Calzetta Ruiz Monica

Houska Jovanka

Vajda Szidonia

Michna Marta

Gara Anita

Gara Ticia

Majdan Joanna

Vojinovic Jovana

Vega Gutierrez Sabrina

Borsuk Angela

Kachiani-Gersinska Keti

Schuurman Petra

Dworakowska Joanna

Sedina Elena

Voiska Margarita

Nikolova Adriana

Chelushkina Irina

Cosma Elena-Luminita

Krivec Jana

Galojan Lilit

Bensdorp Marlies

Leconte Maria

Rakic Marija

Stojanovic Andjelija

Medic Mirjana

Collas Silvia

Zimina Olga

Lakos Nikoletta

Motoc Alina

Ohme Melanie

Aginian Nelly

Videnova Iva

Guichard Pauline

Golubenko Valentina

Muhren Bianca

Makropoulou Marina

Kulovana Eva

Botsari Anna-Maria

Rudolf Anna

Mamedjarova Zeinab

Pitam Ella

Voicu Carmen

Pares Vives Natalia

Llaneza Vega Patricia

Schoene Maria

Sandu Mihaela

Vasiliev Olga

Boric Elena

Igla Bella

Nemcova Katerina

Robles Garcia Claudia

Kopinits Anna-Christina

Fakhiridou Ekaterini

Raeva Elitsa

Jelica Mara

Rozic Vesna

Srebrnic Ana

Andriasian Siranush

Mamedjarova Turkan

Kazimova Narmin

Pertlova Sona

Schut Lisa

Franciskovic Borka

Cedikova Katerina

Isgandarova Khayala

Mammadova Gulnar

Novak Ksenija

Stiri Alexandra

Solic Kristina

Porat Maya

Koskoska Gabriela

Milovic Aleksandra

Stojanovic Marija R

Regan Natasha K

Lauterbach Ingrid

Brunello Marina

Ambrosi Eleonora

Grigoryan Meri

Exler Veronika

Savola Laura

Newrkla Katharina

Novkovic Julia

Dedijer Sanja

Chevannes Sabrina L

Chierici Marianna

Blagojevic Lidija

Johnsen Sylvia

Jonoska Katerina

Puuska Heini

Bayrak Asli

Dedijer Mira

Haug Marianne Wold

Rautanen Sari

Malokas Nermina

Sop Selen

Misovic Sanja

Gjorgjieva Ivana

Reppen Ellisiv

Sasmazel Burcu

Soylemez Cansu

Carlsen Ellen Oen

Stojkovska Monika

Walta Paivi

Bejatovic Bojana

Menzi Nezihe Ezgi

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