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- BornApril 23, 1984, Perm
- CountryRussia, later Switzerland
- Women's world champion2008–2010
- In the line of women's championsNo. 12 of 17
- Highest rating2561 (January 2018)
FIDE's official lists (from July 1971)
The road to the title
Kosteniuk was born in Perm in 1984 and learned chess when she was five. As a child she won several girls' championships in Europe and the world. In 2001, at 17, she reached the final of the women's championship in Moscow but lost to Zhu Chen after a tiebreak.
In 2004 she won the European Women's Championship and became a grandmaster the same year, the tenth woman in the world to do so.
The title matches
| Year | Against | Result | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Zhu Chen | 2–2, tiebreak 1–3 Lost · the final of FIDE's knockout | Moscow |
| 2008 | Hou Yifan | 2½–1½ Won the title · the final of FIDE's knockout | Nalchik |
World champion
In Nalchik in 2008 Kosteniuk won the knockout tournament. In the semifinal she beat Pia Cramling of Sweden, and in the final the then 14-year-old Hou Yifan, 2½–1½. In the next knockout, in 2010, the title went to Hou Yifan.
Chess960 and the team
Kosteniuk has also twice won the women's world championship in Chess960, a variant in which the starting position of the pieces is drawn by lot. She has won several team golds with Russia, among them at the Chess Olympiad. Today she plays for Switzerland.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Alexandra Kosteniuk
- Chess.com: Alexandra Kosteniuk
- OlimpBase: the knockouts of 2001 and 2008
- FIDE: Kosteniuk's profile and rating history
The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given. The match results are also checked game by game.
Updated November 8, 2026