Kosteniuk on Colombian TV

Click on the video above to hear me speak Spanish on TV

Hi everyone!

See me and hear me speak Spanish on Colombian TV during last month's Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent series of events in Bogotá and Medellin. You can also find my personal video about this trip here or embedded below:

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Tarrito Rojo Chess Promotion in Colombia 2010

Hi everyone!

I want to tell you about what is in my experience the BEST consumer product chess promotion done thanks to chess.

The goal was to create an association between the game of chess and the vitamin supplement for kids "Tarrito Rojo" of JGB. Tarrito Rojo help kids, especially those who can't have a balanced diet due to limited means, to have all the vitamins they need to grow well (A, B's, C, D, E, Calcium).

The key message is that chess helps to develop mental health, together with physical sports which help have a strong body. In addition, good nutrition with the minimum amount of vitamins is also key to both mental and physical health. The latin saying "Mens sana in corpore sano" tells us that a healthy body should be accompanied with a healthy mind.

For the second time (I already participated in this program in 2005, see lots of movies about it on ChessMovies.com) JGB invited me, this time as the Queen of Chess (and reigning women's world chess champion), to lead this promotion campaign. The budget for this promotion was huge, I estimate it to be more than $200,000, and was directed by top managers of the Public Relations company "Loyalty" and by brand managers of JGB extremely professionally.

The events in which I participated took place from April 17 to 22, in the Colombian cities of Bogotá and Medellin, but in fact the "Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent" started much before, with preliminary competitions to determine the best 25 youths from those 2 cities who could play me in the main events, which were to be 2 big simuls. Read the original Press Release. The Preliminary tournament in Bogotá had 465 kids participating (see signup info, and this link and another one) and many more in Medellin.

There were many events all 4 days, 2 press conferences, dozens of TV interviews (besides I participated in one of the most popular TV shows for kids, video soon to come), many magazine and newspaper interviews, exhibition blitz and even blindfolded games, two large simuls, several photo shoots, and even some time for tourism. See the full official photo album of the event.

The Bogotá simul at the Gran Estación Mall

The simuls were gigantic, with thousands of visitors all the time of the simul (chess simuls last for hours, which is great to have lots of spectators). There were "Tarrito Rojo" posters and promotional materials all over, young ladies were offering free degustations of Tarrito Rojo to spectators (I heard 8,000 degustations were distributed only during the Bogotá simul). All players were given T-shirts and logo caps, and best of all, the prizes were incredible - 6 players received a coupon for free vacation for 2 people to a beach resort including airfare and 7 nights hotel, I have never heard of such huge prizes before for chess simuls. While I won all my games except 4 draws, I still selected 6 prizes for the best players of the event (I believe that's over $10,000 in prizes we gave out).

This little girl won one of the top prizes, 7-day vacation for 2!

Sharing chess and love with kids

With the wonderful kids of "Pies Descalsos"

The key point of my visit was the good-will trip we made to the Foundation for underprivileged kids, "Pies Descalsos" (that means "barefoot") which is a Foundation created by the famous Colombian singer "Shakira" (watch her music video "Pies Descalsos"), and helps close to 1,000 kids in a very poor area about 1 hour away from Bogotá. We went there and donated a jar of Tarrito Rojo to every single kid in the foundation as well as lots of chess sets so they could play chess. You can see from the photos that it was a very special moment for me, I will soon post one or more videos about that visit.

This was the most cramped simul I ever played,

one kid would finish, the next one would jump in!

A group photo at "Pies Descalsos"

The kids did not want me to leave, I told them

I'd come back to see how their chess skills have improved!

Right upon arrival to Medellin, I was invited to the wonderful home in what is considered the "Suiza colombiana" (Colombian Switzerland) of the biggest chess collector of all of South America, Don Camilo Restrepo. I was amazed by his collection of original chess books of the 16th century, such as the Ruy Lopez of 1584, Greco of 1656, Philidor, Lolli, Ponziani, Stamma and many more. He has original score sheets and letters of Alekhine, Bogoliubov, Marshall, Retu, Janowski, as well as original antique chess sets which allow him to play those games on a chess set of the times, incredible, it was like a trip in chess history! He treated me well also with delicious arepas, quesito, empanadas and chorizos. I won't forget that side-trip, for sure!

With Don Camilo Restrepo

Some tourism in Medellin (see full photo album)

The simul in Medellin was in the "Parque del Ajedrez" with lots of people watching and a perfect organization. I drew 3 games and won the rest in what was quite a strong field of young Colombian hopefuls (including the U-14 Colombian champion).

The Medellin press was very active at the simul

The players of my Medellin simul in a group photo

Signing autographs in Medellin

In Medellin, JGB decided also to make a donation of chess sets and hundreds of jars of Tarrito Rojo to the military veteran organization "Héroe Camina", which are the military forces who have lost legs from mines that are put in the jungle by narco traffickers so that the police and military cannot get close to them. Those people have incredible courage to do that work, they are all heroes, and it was great to be among them.

At the Fundación "Héroe Camina"

With the heroes of "Héroe Camina"

Chess is a perfect gift!

I am so glad to have been part of this "Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010", and pleased most of all to see the good the company JGB is doing, first for their country, supporting good nutrition and donating to good causes, but also using chess in their marketing program. I have bee assured by the General Manager of JGB that they will continue to push to advance chess in Colombia, and are working to get chess as an obligatory school subject in school. Having kids playing chess in Colombia instead of doing nothing outside is wonderful for the intellectual development of every kid, leading to better results in school (better attendance) and most important of all, a better life.

I'm already looking forward to going back to Colombia, to continue to push for chess in schools, but most of all to see those smiling kids of "Pies Descalsos". I also hope other consumer good companies will use chess as a marketing tool to promote their brands, let them follow JGB's lead, it will be a good move!

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Kosteniuk in Bogota Day 2

Hi everybody!

This is the photo of today's 25 participants to the Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010 simul, that took place in Bogotá's biggest mall, the Gran Estación.

The 25 players were the winners of the Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010 tournament, which took place last month, and in which over 500 kids took part, in categories U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, and U-16.

The result of the simul was +21 =4 -0.

Tomorrow I fly to Medellin for more chess fiestas, will post more news and photos later!

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Kosteniuk in Bogota Day 1

With many of the wonderful kids of the Fundación Pies Descalzos

This was one of the best simuls in my life, as soon as one board finishes, another kid jumps in!

The kids of Pies Delcalzos were smiling today - thanks to chess!

Hello everyone!

Above you can see 3 photos from yesterday in Bogotá, Colombia. where I am participating in the final events around the Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010, organized by the local company JGB. I had a very big day, starting from the Press Conference, where I played a simul with journalists and kids, and giving lots of interviews. See one short TV clip on Caracol TV here.

But the high point of the day for me was a visit to Shakira's foundation "Pies Dascalzos", which is a home for very underprivileged kids about 1-2 hours away from Bogotá. Together with the brand Tarrito Rojo, we made donations of chess sets and free vitamin supplements, very needed in poor areas. As you can see from the photos, the kids were incredibly excited to see me, I played a simul in extremely cramped quarters with many kids, who kept taking over from their friends. The photo sessions were amazing, I love those smiles, those kids are precious! I hope they will enjoy the chess sets, and that chess will give them many hours of joy in the difficult economic situation they are in.

Tomorrow I will have a big simul in Bogotá, pictures of this event to come very soon!

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

TOP SECRET Chess Video

The link to this secret video is at the end of this post

Hello all!

Tomorrow April 16, I will be flying to Colombia (first Bogotá, then Medellin, finally Cali) where I will spend one week on a big promotional event: the Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 201o. On the last day of my trip, April 21, I will inaugurate the wonderful Champions for Peace program for kids in Puerto Tejada to be able to learn and play chess.

I will try to keep you posted about it but my schedule will be very tight, I will need to get up every morning at 5 - 5-30 am which is so early for me, and the program each day runs till late at night. But for sure you will be able to read about it on my Twitter feed.

A few posts ago I promised to tell you more about the Russian Team Championship in Dagomys. I played some good games (such as the games against Romanko and also the one against Cmilyte) and at the same time I had some disastrous loses (against Stefanova and Zhukova). Overall I did 3/6 and a performance of 2475, lower than my current rating of 2524. In the women's tournament everything was decided on the first board in the game between Natalia Zhukova and Victorija Cmilyte. Natalia had some advantage but in time trouble Viktorija was more precise and was able to win the game, which led her team of Saint-Petersburg to gold medals.

[Event "11th TCh-RUS Women"]

[Site "Dagomys RUS"]

[Date "2010.4.7"]

[Round "7"]

[White "Zhukova,N"]

[Black "Cmilyte,V"]

[Result "0-1"]

[Eco "D86"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4

c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.O-O Bg4 11.f3 Bd7 12.Rb1 Rc8 13.Bd3

Qc7 14.Qd2 Rfd8 15.d5 Ne5 16.c4 e6 17.Nf4 b6 18.Be2 Ba4 19.Qc1

Qe7 20.Qa3 Be8 21.Nh3 exd5 22.cxd5 h5 23.Rfd1 Qd7 24.Bb5 Qe7

25.Ba6 Rb8 26.Nf2 f6 27.Nd3 Kh7 28.Bf4 Bf7 29.Bg3 Bh6 30.Re1

Bg8 31.f4 Nxd3 32.Bxd3 h4 33.Bxh4 Bxf4 34.Kh1 Be5 35.Re3 Kg7

36.Rh3 Bf7 37.Bg3 Rh8 38.Bxe5 Qxe5 39.Qxa7 Rxh3 40.gxh3 Rh8 41.Qd7

c4 42.Bc2 Qc3 43.e5 Qf3+ 44.Kg1 Rh5 45.exf6+ Kh6 0-1

Meanwhile the strong Third Kuala Lumpur Open in Malaysia was won by the 16-year old Hou Yifan who took 7,5 points out of 9 and finished on the clear first place, congratulations to her!

To finish this post I'm offering you a TOP secret video of my recent training with the "Chess Terminator" ROBOT my father created. Just don't tell anybody my secret training method! ;-)

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010

Hello all!

As some of my fans and followers might remember, in April 2005 I had a big promotional event in Colombia. I visited 3 cities - Bogotá, Cali and Cartagena and gave many chess simuls, speeches, interviews. You can watch some TV-programs from 2005, here. The following is what I wrote about that trip in my recent book "Diary of a Chess Queen":

"In April 2005 I traveled to Colombia at the invitation of the Colombian company JGB, makers of the vitamin supplement drink Tarrito Rojo. In the week that I spent in this wonderful Latin American country, I gave countless interviews, along with a few simultaneous exhibitions, speeches, chess lessons. The most memorable of the chess simuls was put together in the largest of Bogotá’s major commercial centers. I had not seen such interest in a chess event in a long time. The whole five hours that the simul lasted, there was a huge crowd watching the games.

Simultaneous exhibition in Bogotá, Colombia, April 2005

There’s another interesting story, which I only heard about four years later. During my visit to Colombia, a great number of stories about me were printed. At the same time, somewhere in the jungles of Colombia, three Americans were kidnapped; one of them, Mark Gonsalves, happened to spot one of these stories. Encouraged by what he had read, he carved himself a chess set, which helped him to pass the time until his release (and he and his fellow captives spent 1967 days imprisoned). In 2009, Mark published a book, Out of Captivity, where Mark talks about this incident. I am happy that chess helped Mark through a tough time in his life."

Today I'm very glad to tell you that 5 years later the same company JGB has invited me to make another promotional trip to Colombia. On April 16 I will fly to Bogotá where my promotional tour "Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010" will start. Since the event of 2005 was one of the best organized event that I have ever taken part in, I'm already looking forward to my trip to Colombia next month. Even though there is almost one full month before the event, the organizers have already started a special preparation for this event. The key moment of my April trip to Colombia will be a big simultaneous exhibition with the top 25 finishers of the qualification tournament. The qualification tournament took place on March 20 in Bogota. 465 (!) young chess players took part in this competition. All the results of this tournament, as well as the official press-release in Spanish can be found here.

In March I went to Cali for 1 day to meet with the organizers of the event and to go over all the important organizational questions. Below is a photo of me with the Golden Cat of Cali, I hope it will bring me luck:)

The Press Release for this trip is below (in Spanish):

Belleza e inteligencia, cuestión de una mente sana

La Reina del Ajedrez llega a Colombia

El ajedrez, así como las vitaminas y los minerales, contribuyen al desarrollo mental. Una muestra de ello: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Campeona Mundial de Ajedrez, que llegará a Colombia invitada por la marca Tarrito Rojo, de JGB, primera compañía en Sur América que organiza un evento con su presencia.

Alexandra Kosteniuk, Campeona Mundial de Ajedrez, considera que esta disciplina ayuda al desarrollo mental de las personas, y de la misma manera lo hacen las vitaminas y minerales que son parte de una alimentación balanceada. Para impulsar el buen funcionamiento físico e intelectual de los niños, la firma JGB, con su marca, Tarrito Rojo, llevará a cabo el torneo Tarrito Rojo Chess Talent 2010.

Tarrito Rojo traerá a Alexandra Kosteniuk, un ejemplo de cómo el ajedrez ayuda a un óptimo crecimiento de los niños. La rusa de 25 años empezó su carrera como ajedrecista a los cinco años, siendo hoy una de las figuras más importantes de esta disciplina.

Kosteniuk ostenta el título más importante del ajedrez en la rama femenina: Campeona Mundial, y considera que esta disciplina trae grandes beneficios en la educación de los niños y niñas. Su más reciente libro, “Diario de una reina de ajedrez”, es la recopilación de cómo, a sus 25 años, ha logrado obtener grandes reconocimientos.

Durante su visita a Colombia, la rusa jugará simultáneas con 25 estudiantes de colegios distritales de Medellín y Bogotá, y demostrará porque es la mujer número 12 en la historia del ajedrez en obtener el título de Campeona Mundial de esta disciplina. También aprovechará la visita para entregar juegos de ajedrez y productos como Tarrito Rojo a los niños de la Fundación Pies Descalzos.

La ajedrecista, así como los niños del torneo, empezó su carrera desde muy joven, cuando su padre la inició en el mundo del ajedrez, y desde allí, ha tenido un recorrido lleno de éxitos. A los 10 consiguió el campeonato europeo en la categoría niñas. A los 14 se convirtió en Gran Maestro, y actualmente es Gran Maestro Absoluto, el título más alto alcanzado por hombres, y al que muy pocas mujeres han llegado.

Sin embargo, Kosteniuk no solo es la reina del tablero. Su trabajo como modelo la llevó a ser una de las figuras consentidas de Elle y Vogue y portada de Marie Claire. También se ha destacado como actriz de películas, escritora de libros y poemas, y como madre de Francesca, de dos años.

La Campeona Mundial de Ajedrez es ejemplo de mujer moderna, que le dedica tiempo a todo, incluso para jugar simultáneas y para vender artículos por internet para financiar su fundación. Detrás de su postura pensativa y seria durante los partidos de ajedrez, no esconde los atributos que la clasifican como la reina del ajedrez.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com