US Chess Championship 2013: GoddessChess Fighting Chess Award goes to Anna Zatonskih

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The GoddessChess Fighting Chess Award 2013 goes to four-time US Chess Champion Anna Zatonskih for her great fighting spirit at the US Women's Chess Championship 2013. The 12th Women's World Chess Champion, Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk, was the judge for the award and decided to give the award to Anna Zatonskih. Goddesschess has sponsored a special prize at the U.S. Women's Chess Championship since 2007, except for 2012.

As you know, Irina Krush has won the US Women's Chess Championship 2013 this Sunday. (Read the full Chess Blog post.) Zatonskih lost Round 3 to Irina Krush, but came back to continue fighting and winning games. In the end she stood second - behind the eventual champion - by only 1/2 point. It is indeed the mark of a true champion to come back after a loss and win game after game to get to the second spot in the standings. She never gave up and fought hard even when it required pretty long games against determined opponents. Here are the US Women's Chess Championship 2013 Final Standings:




Interestingly, either Krush or Zatonskih have been the clear favorite to win the US Women's Chess Champion title each of the past five years! Outside of chess, Anna has a variety of interests from bicycling to ping pong to scuba diving. She is coached by her husband, German Grandmaster Daniel Friedman.

Read more »