Chess player Kostenyuk Alexander: biography, achievements

Those who are familiar with chess, the name of Alexander Kosteniuk should be known. This representative of the beautiful half of mankind won the title of chess grandmaster at a young age. And the title was received both among women and among men.

Fourteen-year-old grandmaster

In Perm, April 23, 1984, was born Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk. And in 1985 her family moved to the Russian capital. Already in Moscow, a girl fell in love with chess. This feeling was persistently instilled in her father. A table logic game became her favorite thing. Thanks to the fact that the father became the first coach for the girl, Alexandra became the champion of the capital at the age of 7. Three years later she won the title of Olympic champion. And four years later, Alexandra Kosteniuk, whose chess became the main occupation, achieved the title of "grandmaster" (among women) and "international master." Her case is special. After all, before Alexandra, no one has achieved such dizzying results.

Seven-mile steps to success

Two thousandth year brought the Queen of chess the title of international master among men.

In 2004, the chess competitions held in Dresden made Alexander the champion of Europe in chess.

In November of the same year Alexandra Kosteniuk became the 10th woman in the world who received the honorary title of international grandmaster among men. Then she was only 20 years old.

In 2005, the chess player Alexandra Kosteniuk was awarded the title of Russian Chess Champion (among women).

In August 2006, there was a random chess competition between our heroine and Elizabeth Petz (random chess - a variant of the game where the initial positions of the figures are determined randomly).

In 2008, I had to defend the title of champion. Catherine Lagno, who encroached on this title, lost to Alexandra.

Two years after receiving the title of world champion, the girl had to defend him. And she did it with great success.

The Queen of chess - a fashion model

Thanks to her fame in the world of sports and her photogenic appearance, she was able to appear in various brands. To popularize chess, Alexandra Kosteniuk poses in a bikini against a backdrop of a rook, horse, queen. She wanted to show that the figures on the board can move everything, including people with a bright appearance.

The most interesting photo session of Kostenyuk - pictures in the men's magazine "Penthouse". Four pages with her photos and interviews are devoted not only to the clever, but also to the charming chess player. Although Alexandra claims that the photo session was not. She just sent the most suitable pictures to the editorial office of the magazine (of course, for a certain monetary reward). In addition, the queen of chess was shot in a lot of commercials, and some magazines can boast of the fact that the pages of their pages are the chess world champion.

Alexandra's parents

Thanks to the support of her parents, Alexandra Kostenyuk became a champion. Her father, Kostenyuk Constantine, always believed in his daughter. And from the age of five began to train her. This led to the fact that Sasha became the champion of the capital at the age of seven! To deal solely with his daughter, the head of the family quit his job (he held the position of lecturer in the military academy), money was scarce. And the washing of cars on the embankment, and the rest of the work, whose purpose was to send her daughter to the world championship, was once brought to Constantine's casino, where he accidentally bet on a certain number and won. One and a half thousand dollars was enough to send Sasha to the World Cup. And after the title got sponsors, and it became easier with finances.

The discipline characteristic of a military man was a fundamental part of the career of a young chess player. All the victories and losses were clearly analyzed. Constantine forced his daughter to learn by heart various debuts. It even reached the point of solving chess problems blindly. Also thanks to his father, Alexander became incredibly famous from a young age. Konstantin Kostenyuk eagerly communicated with journalists, invited television figures and helped his daughter write books for self-promotion. And from Sasha, who was a very modest and shy child, she needed only to play well and smile more often.

Mother Alexandra worked as a teacher in a kindergarten. After the dismissal of her husband, she believed that out of a difficult financial situation, they would twist. Several years have passed, and now Natalia Kosteniuk teaches children the game of chess. In her studio "Alexander" the children of three to eight years old learn the secrets of the logical game. A special technique, which Natalia began to develop at a time when Alexandra Kosteniuk was just beginning to walk, will surely make the children future grand masters.

Also, the chess queen has a sister. Oksana followed in the footsteps of Alexandra and also became a chess player. But I did not reach the peaks. She is younger than Sasha for three years, studying at the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University. Occasionally participates in tournaments, flickering in the chess press.

Loving wife and mother

The first marriage of Alexandra Kosteniuk was in the age of majority. Successful businessman Diego Garcia set his eye on the charming chess player when she was only 16 years old. In Lausanne, they met. In this city in 2000 there was a chess tournament, where Diego played with Ponomarev. Despite his advantage, Garces lost, and then went for a walk and met Alexander. And after that I flew to all the tournaments of the girl. At the time of dating she was 16, and he was 41. Despite this, they were married two years later. Five years after their marriage, they had a daughter, who was named after Francesca Maria's grandmother Diego.

2007 on April 11 (two months earlier than the due date). For a long time she was in hospital under the supervision of doctors. And while the little one did not get up, Alexandra Kosteniuk and her husband did not talk about such joyful news. Ksta, a young grandfather, Konstantin Kosteniuk, calls Frosya's granddaughter.

Union of Grand Masters

The first marriage of Alexandra Kosteniuk ended with the fact that she left Garces for Pavel Tregubova. Grandmaster, who has been living in France for a long time, is only 12 years older than his wife. In comparison with the previous husband, this is a small difference (the difference with Diego Garcés is 25 years).

Pavel Tregubov and Alexandra Kosteniuk got married.

Books written by a chess player

Father, Konstantin Kostenyuk, always supported his daughter. His support, not only in sports, but also in the field of literature, has greatly helped the girl. In just two years, the chess queen wrote her first book, How to Become a Grandmaster at 14. It was released in three languages - English, Spanish and Russian. Then there were such books:

• How to teach chess: a pre-school chess textbook. In co-authorship with his mother.
• Diaries of the chess queen.

Personal life of Alexandra Kosteniuk

Alexandra Kostenyuk, whose personal life is not limited to traveling alone through countries and cities and participating in chess tournaments, leads a rather interesting lifestyle. Clever and beautiful, she propogandiruet activity, proper nutrition, the rejection of bad habits. Running 10 kilometers a day, she wants to take part in the marathon. According to Alexandra, she would have acted in a film. But most of all she wants to get into the "Ice Age".

Sasha had a teaching experience. Once she led a detachment in a children's camp. According to the chess player, it was unbearable. Therefore Alexander Kostenyuk decided not to experiment any more.