Chess Queen Kosteniuk writes History in Switzerland
For the first time in Switzerland’s 113-year chess history, a woman has been able to win both the women’s and men’s national chess titles. Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk has conquered the top step on both podiums last week in Grächen, Switzerland. Read about it below and check out our exclusive photos of the event.
Thanks to her dual Swiss-Russian citizenship, Alexandra Kosteniuk has been invited to fight for the National Swiss Championship for the 5th year in a row. The last 4 years she was close to the top but not quite first, the winners last years have been Grandmasters Viktor Kortchnoi (2009 and 2011), Yannick Pelletier (2010), and Joe Gallagher (2012). This year the event started with 8 GM’s and 8 IM’s, the strongest being GM’s Bauer, Stojanovic, Sokolov and Miezis, and the highest ranked fighting for the Swiss title were Gallagher, Kosteniuk, Gerber, Lötscher, Buss, Klauser and Carron.
This year’s Swiss championship took place in the beautiful mountain resort Grächen (close to Zermatt):
The local papers had articles about the tournament speculating Alexandra might win it (that makes it double as hard to win a tournament!):
A photo of the playing hall just before the 4th round:
Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk before her game:
From the game Kosteniuk – Carron, Grächen 2013. White plays and wins. 1. Ng6+! hxg6 (if 1…Kg8 then 2. Nfe7+ wins) 2. hxg6+ Kg8 3. Rh8+! resigns because 3…Kxh8 4. Qh3+ Kg8 5. Qh7+ Kf8 6. Qh8 mate:
Alexandra Kosteniuk at the Swiss national championship:
The last round was critical, Alexandra drew GM Bauer (Elo 2637) and got 6.5/9:
But IM Buss and GM Gallagher also finished with 6.5/9, so according to the rules of the championship the top 2 players according to Bukhholz had to play a tie-break match of 2 games. Alexandra won both games against IM Buss and became the first woman to win the men’s Swiss Championship
So the men’s podium was as follows: 1. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2. IM Ralph Buss 3. GM Joe Gallagher:
The women’s podium was as follows: 1. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2. WFM Laura Stoeri 3. WGM Barbara Hund:
The traditional photo all Swiss champions, from left to right: FM Vjekoslav Vulevic (Seniors), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (both Men and Women), Aurélien Pomini (U-16), and André Meylan (U-18):
After the prize ceremony, a photo of Alexandra with GM Alexander Raetsky:
And Swiss Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk with promising youth and Swiss Champion U-18 André Meylan:
Alexandra Kosteniuk holding a Chess Queen:
Alexandra Kosteniuk is the first woman to ever win the Swiss National Chess Championship in both the men’s and women’s events
If you’d like any of the photos or any information about this event, feel free to email me. Check out the official site of the event, and the final results.
Here’s an article that came out in the Berner Zeitung of August 2, 2013. A higher resolution scan of the article can be found here.
Posted by Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th women’s world chess champion
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Tags: Alexandra Kosteniuk, bauer, buss, carron, gallagher, gerber, klauser, lötscher, miezis, sokolov, stojanovic, swiss chess, Switzerland
Posted in Chess Tournament | 24 Comments »
Bravo Alexandra, we are proud to have you as our champion !
Felicitaciones Alexandra!! Congratulations Alexandra!! Awesome result, You´re great! Best Regards from Argentina
Bravo chère Chess Queen pour ce nouveau et unique titre Helvétique réunifié !
Cela confirme de manière éclatante que la femme est l’avenir de l’homme, y compris au jeu d’Echecs.
Jean
Un admirateur échiquéen inconditionnel du sud de la France
Felicidades!! eres hermosa; además, inteligente. Me llena de orgullo que me sigas en Twitter. También juego ajedrez, pero no a tu nivel. Tu mirada es encantadora, tienes unos ojos sumamente expresivos: ¡me fascinan! Deseo lo mejor para ti, deseo que sigas cosechando victorias…¡ÉXITOS!
TOOO GOOD CONGRATS CHESS QUEEN – you’re the real one.
Alexandra Kosteniuk is the first woman to ever win the Swiss National Chess Championship in both the men’s and women’s events – One sec isn’t that true for any woman in any country – so this is a first on the planet!!!! Congratulations to my favourite GM.
Nope, Viktorija Cmilyte became champion of Lithunia at the age of 16.
Congratulations – you’re setting the bar quite high in women’s chess. Kudos dear lady.
I think also WGM/IM Eva Moser won in 2006 the men’s chess championship in Austria, that’s very nice!
You rock Chess Queen – Conquest of Switzerland – Alexandra the Conqueror
WOW that is historic. Proud to be a fan of yours Chess Queen.
Babe you amaze me. Congratulations.
Beautiful game there – Congratulations GM Kosteniuk. You fully deserved this achievement for all the hard work you do. Heartiest congratulations.
Congratulations Madame – Greetings and Congratulations from the country of Pakistan. Your achievements in chess are very inspiring and very fantastic. Best wishes, Abdul Karim, from the beautiful and holy city of Lahore.
Very well done GM Kosteniuk.
That is very strong performance indeed. You play chess very well and are a natural talent. I follow your career. Best Wishes. Please do play in Beijing. I look forward every year and meet you at World Mind Games. Again December I await.
Congratulations on this historic achievement! I am a long time fan of yours! Always analyze your games and try to capture the ideas! Show and my students for their games as a source of inspiration for them to engage in the game of chess! Once again congratulations on this achievement!
You rock!!
What a fantastic piece of news there. Congratulations Alexandra.
congratulations on you Swiss win, it is just great!
Dr. Jonathan Ray Fortune, Portland Oregon USA
Alexandra! Job well done! The Chess Queen rocks Switzerland!!
this is just an incredible story of strength determination and valor that seems almost impossible for a woman chess player to fulfill! only alexandra can do such a difficult task of winning both the men and women’s tournament; it is probably her greatest accomplishment so far, as i believe she is the first and only woman to have actually done this in chess history; still she seems so calm and happy in the photos, nothing to worry about, no stress over the board like one would think most chess professional experience during tournament play. she is truly and admirable lovely intelligent leader! all i can say is “wow alexandra you are great!”
Congrats, Alexandra! I wish you all the happiness!
Robert M. Cuadros, Chief Admin of Mundo Ajedrez
wonderful
great performance by alexandra! nice to see her in the podium (with her daughter!?)
s.ganesan,pudukkottai, south india