 Hello everyone!
Many people have asked me to help comment live chess games as they happen, so I opened an account with Ustream with nickname “Kosteniuk” (www.ustream.tv/user/kosteniuk). On Tuesday I made a broadcast in Russian, and today in English. Ustream keeps recordings of the broadcast, you can watch the English one here. During the broadcast I was commenting the LIVE games of Wijk aan Zee (live link here) and of Gibraltar (live link here) and answering any questions that were coming in the chat or via the social sites.
Follow my Twitter and Facebook to hear about next broadcasting days and times.
 The best selling chess software combos Chess King and Chess King Pro (which include Houdini 2 and the huge GigaKing game database) and Chess King Training today have become even more affordable with a special “Free Shipping” offer until the end of January (regardless of where you live). Take advantage of this offer and get one for yourself of for a loved one. The Chess software Chess King has been top selling on the USCF web site and around the world. The $50 coupon code “INTROKING50″ has been extended so that more people can get it for $49 instead of $99 (and Chess King Pro for $99 instead of $149 for people who have a PC with at least 2 cores and wish to have the strongest chess program possible).
To find out more about Chess King, watch the ad below, or check the description, the tutorial, the FAQ, or the help page. Buy any of the free shipping combos, and any of the Chess King packages. We highly recommend the Chess King Training software disks in addition or complement to the Chess King system.
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
Following the June 2011 press release about my collaboration with exclusive watchmaker Pasquale Gangi, the day finally arrived (on January 15, 2012) when 5 numbered specimens of the famous chess pocket watch were created and ready to be presented to the press and to the public. This happened at the Geneva Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. I was full of emotions holding in my hand such a jewel, especially thinking it was created to time chess games. Let me share with you my photo album of the event below. Feel free to email me with questions or post comments below.
Read more…
 Hello everybody!
On January 13, 2012 I was invited by the famous Zurich Chess Club to give a simul to Swiss VIP’s in the club’s “Savoy Corner”, which appropriately took place in the wonderful Savoy Baur-en-Ville hotel, right at ParadePlatz. After a lecture, in which I commented one of my games to the audience, I gave a simul to 9 players, three of which played 2 games at the same time, so in all I played 12 games. I won all my games except one draw, which I made with the organizer of the event, Mr. Christian Issler. You can watch photos of the event in the gallery and at the end of the post some of my personal sightseeing photos taken the next day in Zurich. Read more…
 Hello everyone!
The last tournament of the year is over, one of the most prestigious of the year, the women’s world team chess championship, in Mardin, Turkey. It brought Silver medals to all members of my team, Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Natalia Pogonina and me, Alexandra Kosteniuk. In this event, the Chinese, with Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Tan Zhongyi, and Zhang Xiaowen, were head above the others, and deserved the Gold. Georgia got Bronze, with Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili, Khotenashvili, Khurtsidze, and Melia, Congratulations to all! See below for some photos of the event.
I am preparing Read more…
 Hello everyone!
I just want to share with you the modernization of my “Chess Queen” logo from 2D to 3D. It’s also more in line with the Chess King logo, which is my new chess software project (site, shop, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube).
Let me know if you like it this way!
Happy Holidays to everyone, and may 2012 bring you love and success in all you do!
P.S. You guessed it, purple is one of my favorite colors!
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
As you know, Chess King with Houdini 2 , the new affordable professional chess software, has been out for about a week and we are shipping it worldwide. My husband and I and a great team of chess programmers have been working on it for the last 2 years and we are very proud of the result, it’s powerful enough for a GM and simple enough for a kid to use, and has exclusive features not found anywhere (the random mode to prove you can win an won game is unbelievably useful). And the price of $49 (with coupon code INTROKING50) makes it an amazing value, since it includes the strongest chess engine in the world Houdini 2 and the biggest GigaKing Chess Games Database. We are continuing the deals below until the end of the year since they proved so popular. Read about Chess King (launch, tutorial) and get yourself a copy!
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
Maybe you know that my Dad Konstantin Kosteniuk likes to invent things, he’s invented quite a few things in his life. His most recent invention is the “Chess Terminator”, a modern day chess robot that can play up to 3 people at the same time and with incredible speed, precision, and strength.
I’d like to share with you a video of my Dad’s robot playing one of the leading Grandmasters in the world, Alexander Grischuk.
Enjoy!
Read more…
Hello everyone!
I you know any kids around you, please share with them my chess comic. Remember that giving a chess set or a chess book or a chess program for Christmas is a great idea!
Happy holidays!
P.S. See the full comic below. You can see or download for print all of my comics in several languages here.
Read more…
 Hello everybody,
In this wonderful pre-Christmas period, I’d like to wish you all great holidays! If you have a moment free, try to play some chess! I’d like to thank you, my fans, here on my site, on Twitter, on Facebook, on YouTube, for supporting me all year long, I could not play chess without your support! I hope that 2012 will be a great chess year for all of you. Play some nice chess, train with Chess King, and most important, share the love of chess around you!
With chess and love, Alexandra 
P.S. Check out the photos below and tell me if you like them.
Read more…
 Watch the 2 minutes interview of Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk at the 2011 Sport Accord Mind Sport Games. Alexandra was both the ambassador of this prestigious event and a winner of a Gold medal (in the women’s Rapid event) and a bronze medal (in the women’s Blindfold event).
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
The 2011 Sport Accord Mind Sports Games are over and they were great! In the 3 events, I took Gold medal in the Rapid, 4th place in the Blitz, and Bronze in the Blindfold event. The only other player who also got 2 medals is Hou Yifan who got 2 Gold medals, in the blitz and in the blindfold, congratulations to her! The other ladies who got medals are Lahno and Dzagnidze (Silver & Bronze in the Rapid), Stefanova and Muzychuk A. (Silver and Bronze in the Blitz), and Cmilyte (Silver in the Blindfold). Thanks to Sport Accord for the kind words about me Read more…
 Hello everyone!
I am now at the Mind Sports Games in China, playing the third event, which is blindfold chess. This is one of the games I played today against Anna Muzychuk. One often wonders how one would play chess blindfold, and actually, as you can see from the game, one can play quite well! In the position below, I was happy to find the winning move (for me, playing black), can you?
Read more…
 I’m so pleased to announce that I won the first Gold medal at the 2011 Mind Sport Games women’s chess rapid event, with 6 out of 7 (wins against Zatonskih, Dzagnidze, Paehtz, Dembo, Lahno and draws againt Ju and A. Muzychuk). Silver went to Kateryna Lahno and Bronze to Nana Dzagnidze, congratulations to them too! The competition was very tough, read what was published on the official site: “The former World champion and Ambassador of the SportAccord World Mind Games, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia crowned a successful performance and even won the last game of the rapid tourney against Yelena Dembo. She became the first female winner of this very interesting competition. Finally, she scored 6 points out of 7 – what a brilliant result!”
Read more…
 Below I have embedded a YouTube 26-minute interview made by the Spanish channel RT TV this year about me and about chess. If you speak Spanish you will enjoy it. If you don’t speak Spanish, head over anyway to my YouTube news channel “ChessQueenTV“, as you will find clips there in many languages. By the way, did you recognize the famous chess champion sitting in front of me in the photo to the left?
Read more…
 I just found this 1:13 minute clip in English from the Mind Sport Games that are taking place right now and in which I am participating, both as a player and as the official ambassador of the event. Watch the embedded YouTube clip.
Read more…
 Hi everybody!
If you’d like to see the photos I take personally during my trips, chess tournaments, vacations, on my iPhone, you can follow me on Instagram and see them as soon as I shoot them. My nickname is “chessqueen”. The best way to see photos published on Instagram are on the iPhone & iPad (it’s a free application), but they are also automatically pushed also to my Russian Twitter account @kosteniuk and sometimes I repost them on my English Twitter account @chessqueen . Here is my most recent “self-portrait“.
 Hello everyone!
I just arrived in Beijing, China, and am very happy to participate in the 2011 SportAccord World Mind Games, which is like the Olympics but for intellectual Games. As you may know, I was honored to win the first Gold medal of the event in 2008 (news, Chinese news, final against Stefanova [game 1, game 2, game 3]). This year, I was elected the Ambassador of this prestigious event, and I feel very honored about that appointment. I’m playing the tournaments, and you can follow the results at the official site (home page, live games, YouTube). Wish me good luck!
 On November 26-27, 2011 in Svetlogorosk (Kaliningrad region, Russia) the 5th Alexandra Kosteniuk Chess Cup among kids U-6, U-8 and U-10 years old took place. 162 young players from 24 cities of Russia, Latvia and Lithuania took part in this event. Every single participant got prizes. The full table of the results of the tournament can be seen here. You can see photos of the event here and here. It was a great chess event and was strongly supported by the local authorities.
The 6th Alexandra Kosteniuk’s Cup is announced and scheduled to take place again in Svetlogorsk from October 5 to October 7, 2012. I will post the regulations of this event here as soon as they are ready.
 Hello everyone!
Nice surprise to see I was featured in the brand new December 2011 Chess Life Magazine, in a feature article called “Dress Like a Grandmaster” (click on the title to read it). Do you think chess players should dress nicely when they play a public tournament, or do you think it does not matter how they are dressed?
Press (Facebook) LIKE if you think the 2 photos were well chosen by the editor of Chess Life, and write your comments to this post below.
Alexandra
P.S. Check out my ARTICLES page (200+ articles) and my PHOTOS page (12,000+ photos).
 Hi everybody,
The new chess ratings of November 2011 are out. Due to not so great tournaments this year I’m at 2439, but dynamically I’m at +12 thanks to the great result at the recent European Team Championships in Greece. I now have 2 more important tournaments before the end of the year (the Sport Accord in China and then the World Team Championship in Turkey), so I hope to do alright overall. In my career, my best rating has been 2540 in 2006 and I reached 3rd woman in the world also in 2006. As for titles, I got the title of Grandmaster (men) in 2004 and the highest women’s title of 12th women’s world chess champion in 2008, defeating Hou Yifan in the final of the World Championship. I am also the current women’s world Chess960 champion.
Read more…
Breaking News: Our Russian national chess team just won the European Team Chess Championships!
It was not easy! While our starting ratings were the highest and we were the favorites to win, it’s actually very hard to win when you are expected to win. I know something about that, for sure, having been Women’s World Chess Champion. Everybody looks at the favorites and makes an extra effort to beat them. Well in this championship we were able to keep our cool the whole event, I’m so happy we won!
Read more…
Hi everybody!
I finally have posted the photos from my visit on September 2 to the Swiss Museum of Games in La Tour-de-Peilz, close to Vevey, Switzerland. In French it’s called “Le musée du jeu”. If you ever pass by the French part of Switzerland, I recommend you go and see the museum, which is in a great location close to the Lac Léman. You will be greeted by its Manager, Mr. Ulrich Schädler, who will show you the treasures (many of which related to chess, of course) it contains. See the official web site of the museum for exact address and hours of operation. Below you will see some photos from my visit. There are more photos in my Photo Album Page.
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
I visited the city of Kaliningrad on Wednesday for meetings to prepare for the “Alexandra Kosteniuk Chess Cup for Kids U-6, U-8 and U-10″, that will take place in Svetlogorsk (see tournament announcement) on November 26 & 27, 2011.
I made a post in Russian at this link, but for the moment I will share with you some nice photos of that day trip below.
Read more…
 I am very saddened by the news of the death of Steve Jobs last Wednesday. In a way, he has inspired many of us to be the best we could be, to create, and not to waste a minute of our lives.
I particularly remember the graduation speech he made at Stanford University in June 2005. I made a Livejournal post on January 9, 2006 about it.
I continue to wish to myself, and to all of you to “Stay hungry, and Stay foolish”.
R.I.P. Steve Jobs.
 Hello everyone!
Below you can play over my game of the first round of the Nalchik Grand Prix.
You can watch the games LIVE at this link every day from 3PM Moscow time (That’s Paris time + 2, or New York time +8).
Read more…
 Hello everybody!
I have received lots of emails asking to explain my game against Olivier Kurmann from Leukerbad (Loeche-les-Bains) from this summer’s Swiss National Chess Tournament. In one variation I was ready to sacrifice my Queen (with the move 20. Nxe6!). So I made a video where you can see all the details of the combination that started with 16. c5! and culminated in my opponent resigning after 20. Qh6! A nice miniature, especially nice since I played 1. d4 on the first move, which usually leads to quiet games, but that was not the case in this one!
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
Lots is happening in the world of chess. I’m also working on several new big projects, as well as playing many chess tournaments. To be able to share the information with you, I am creating a special free chess email newsletter. It will contain information on the world of chess, notable chess news, tips, and also news on what projects I am working on. I also will share exclusive news to my Newsletter subscribers before anybody else, and will run some chess puzzle competitions with prizes only for subscribers. Gifts and coupons for free goods and large discounts on products will be included in each Newsletter. Since the newsletter is totally official and will not be spam (it will be opt-in), after you sign up in the right column of my site, after you get the confirmation email please click the “confirm” link. You’ll be able to unsubscribe anytime, of course, but I hope you will stay with me as long as possible!
Yours truly, 12th Women’s World Chess Champion and Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk
 Hello everyone!
As Champion for Peace, after inaugurating the “Ajedrez por la Paz” program in Puerto Tejada, Colombia (see photos) last April, I am pleased to report that I continue to be committed to Peace and am now the patron of a joint project run by the National Chess Federations in Israel and Palestine, with FIDE, called “Chess for Leadership and Creativity“, supported by the NGOs “Jerusalem Suburbs Community Center” and “Care Palestine.” The organization “Peace & Sport“, who does so much to make life better for so many kids in the world, is calling for donations for this project, please help if you can, by clicking here then on the Donations tab.
 The beautiful Kings vs. Queens tournament, organized by the Saint Louis Chess Club is over. The Kings won by 31.5 to 18.5, with an impressive showing by Hikaru Nakamura who won the event with 9.5 out of 10! In second place is GM Ben Finegold with 7.5, then IM’s Marc Arnold and IM Jacek Stopa with 6.0. Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk, who finished strong with 4 wins in a row, is top woman (Queen) with 5.5, followed by Kateryna Lahno 5.0, Irina Krush 3.0, Anna Zatonskix & Martha Fierro 2.5. The full table, photos and a nice video can be seen below.
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
Here is the rapid chess game played today by Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk against Jacek Stopa of Poland (ELO 2482), in the Kings vs Queens Tournament organized by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Alexandra won both games. The final results of the tournament will be available tomorrow.
Read more…
It was a great surprise at my return to Miami to get in the mail an award of “Special Friend of the USCF 2011″. It was accompanied by a nice letter, signed by the Executive Director of the USCF Bill Hall. Thank you! I’m always ready to do more to promote chess in America, and of course also in all the countries in the world!
Read more…
 Hello everybody!
Alexandra is now playing at the Russian Women’s Superfinal, but already next week, she will be giving a chess simultaneous exhibition in the charming Swiss city of Neuchâtel. Look below at the poster of the event, Read more…
 Hello everyone!
We share a YouTube video in French about the legendary game Bobby Fischer – Bent Larsen, Portoroz 1958.
Thanks to Chess King French commentator Damir Levacic for his excellent work! If you like the video please click “thumbs up!”. Feel free also to embed onto your blogs.
Read more…
 Dear friends!
As you may know, each year I organize a tournament for kids, with many prizes and no entry fee, so I am glad to let you know that this year it will take place again!
The 5th Alexandra Kosteniuk’s Chess Cup will take place on November 26-27, 2011 in the city of Svetlogorsk, Russia. All kids born in 2001 and younger are invited to take part in this tournament. There is no entry fee and each participant gets a present. Read more…
Hi everyone!
In this week’s Migros magazine, distributed free to every household in Switzerland, I am featured on the cover and on 4 pages showing one of my favorite recipes, the one for Beef Stroganoff. Read the article and interview and check out the pictures!
Bon appétit!
Alexandra
Read more…
 Hi everybody!
Today I am pleased to report that at the Biel Chess Festival I showed a good result in the 2011 Swiss Chess960 Championship, with a third place in the tournament and the best result by Swiss players.
I am posting some photos below and soon will post the full table of results, as soon as it is available.
As for my personal result in the tournament, I won against I. Lamoureux (2093), P. Lee (1876), GM Sebastien Maze (2578), FM Tom Weber (2324), and GM Christian Bauer (2637), drew against GM Boris Grachev (2680) and lost only to GM Tigran Gharamian (2670), total 5.5/7.
Read more…
 Hello everyone!
I just came back from the 2011 Swiss National Chess Championship in Leukerbad, Switzerland. It was won by GM Bauer with 7.5/9, followed by GM Sokolov 7 points. The best Swiss were the amazing Viktor Korchnoi (men) with 6.5 and Alexandra Kosteniuk (women) with 5.5. While I am not happy with my result (I started quite well with 4/4, but had a horrible end of tournament), I nevertheless had a great time in Switzerland (especially spending time with Viktor and his wife Petra) and played some nice games at the beginning of the tournament. I will soon post a nice game I won against Kurmann in that event.
More photos, statistics, to come soon! Tomorrow I’m off to Biel to play the Chess960 and Rapid events!
Read more…
Hello everybody!
It is my pleasure to announce my partnership with the Italian creator and Swiss watchmaker Pasquale Gangi in giving birth to the most exclusive chess pocket watch ever made: Scacco Matto GMT3!
I have never seen such a beautiful watch that can be used to play chess! It is a true piece of art! Of course it has 3 time zones for big travelers, but also has a complete system to time a chess game, including the elegant flags that go up and down as time goes by. It’s extremely exclusive and reserved for the most discerning connoisseurs and chess collectors. It has 2 sides with different functions (see photos on this page). The base model is in Titanium, but individual models can be made with diamonds and other expensive gems… Read more…
 Hello everybody!
Today I reached 150,000 Twitter followers on my English @chessqueen account! I started working with that account in 2009 and am in my third year of tweeting, I’m totally hooked! I’ve started to tweet also in Russian and my separate @kosteniuk account has recently passed 2000 followers and is gaining momentum. Note that I often post on the Russian account photos that I don’t post on the English account, so feel free to follow both accounts. Twitter is amazing, it’s the fastest way to get news or to share news, if you’re not familiar with Twitter, give it a try! Read more…
 Hello everybody!
I am pleased to introduce to the world a new line of chess clothing exclusively for ladies:
CHESS QUEEN™ COUTURE!
A competition was held to select the best artists for this project and I am very pleased of the result, I hope you will like it too. I’ve long felt that it is important to show our love of the game around us and to be proud of being ladies chess players. Chess Queen™ Couture embodies elegance and style, and is now available to be purchased by chess lovers around the world.
Make yourself or your loved one a gift that can be worn with pride. Available on the shop of our partner site www.chess-king.com currently in 2 models and 4 sizes S, M, L, and XL. More photos of the current models available are presented below. Buy one today! Read more…
 Hello everyone!
Today the site Top 10 Blog published my top 10 chess tips.
I hope you find them useful. Let me know if you agree with the tips or would like to suggest more or different chess tips!
Posted by Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women’s World Chess Champion
 Hello everybody!
Today I got hold of the June 2011 issue of the magazine SHARP (Russian Edition), and found the long awaited interview I gave last month with some really beautiful pictures. As soon as I get permission from the publisher I will post some more, but for the moment here is a preview… Read more…
 Hello everybody!
It’s a pleasure to share with you some of the best photos taken during the May 20 Culinary event (see the Press Release here), organized by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council in St. Petersburg, Russia. The photos were taken by photographer Alexandra Belensky (Александр Беленький) whom we thank for allowing us to use them in this post. As you can see from the images, everyone had a great time at this event!
It was a great combination food and chess, like we had last year in Moscow. The goal of these chess-culinary classes is to prove that there is a little champion in each child and we just need to help kids to discover this talent. Healthy living habits, sport exercises and of course chess can help a kid to grow into a happier, healthier and smarter person.
Read more…
 Hello everybody!
Today I’d like to wish a most wonderful birthday to the 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov.
There is a lot that connects me to Anatoly, and not only our initials (we’re both “A.K.”!)
In the photo you can see me getting an autograph from Anatoly when I was only 6 years old, in 1990. That autograph was one of my most prized possessions, and stimulated me to work hard on chess. Little did I know that Read more…
Hello everyone!
I looked back at all the documentary videos I have in my collection, and for sure one of the best, if not THE best is the following one, made by Eurovision, in 1997, when I had just won the Girls Under-12 World Chess Championship. The documentary is called “To Become a Queen”.
As they say, “the rest is history…”.
Read more…
 Hello everybody!
Now that the European Championship is over, tomorrow I fly to Moscow and then immediately to St. Petersburg where I will give a Culinary Master-Class with the Norwegian Seafood Council on May 20, 2011, at 4 PM at the Stroganoff Steak House (Строганофф Стейк Хауз). Below you can find the Press Release in English & Russian. You can also download the Russian Press Release or the English Press Release. I also have a blog on the site zdr.ru (in Russian about health).
Read more…
 Dear all! The Women’s European Chess Championship 2011 is over, it went pretty badly for me at the end and my result is far below that I was hoping for, and in total contrast to my win in Olginka just a couple weeks ago. The first 3 winners in Tbilisi were Viktorija Cmilyte, Antoaneta Stefanova, and Elina Danielian, whom I congratulate wholeheartedly. However, for me, life goes on, and as soon as I get back home I will post some of my games from Olginka and Tbilisi with comments on my blog. But now in my next post I will to announce a very special event that will take place in Saint Petersburg on May 20th.
|
|
Hello everybody!
Hi everybody!
If you want a nice surprise...
