Person of day   -  28 SEPTEMBER 2023

ALEKSANDRA GORYACHKINA

ALEKSANDRA GORYACHKINA

Aleksandra Goryachkina was born on the 28th of September 1988 in Orsk. Aleksandra was born into a chess family- her father Yuri is a master who helped his daughter since she was little. Goryachkina immediately became one of the strongest players of her age group and made a name for herself at illustrious competitions, winning the world U10 and U14 championships and the European U12 and U14 championships. 

Soon enough, the rising star was noticed by Salekhard- a thriving chess city- and Aleksandra began to be trained by grandmaster Vladimir Belov- a notable women’s coach. Aleksandra Goryachkina surged forward: she won the women’s stage at the 2011 Russian Cup in St Petersburg, became the second-youngest grandmaster in the world after Hou Yifan and won European and global competitions, often outplaying older rivals. 

In 2012, Goryachkina won the Russian Cup before winning two world U20 championships and making her debut at the Superfinal of the Russian championship in 2013. In her fight against her country’s strongest players, Goryachkina only needed three attempts to reach her goal: in 2015, in Chita, Aleksandra came first.   

For several few years, Aleksandra was being trained by Ruslan Scherbakov- another celebrated grandmaster. 

As a member of the Russian team, Goryachkina has won silver at the World U16 Olympiad, silver at the world team championship and silver at the European team championship. She has played in the Russia vs China matches. In national team championships, she has usually played for Yamal alongside men.  

In 2015, Goryachkina played in her first world women’s championship, where she defeated Lilit Mkrtchian at the Armageddon before losing to Anna Muzychuk, who was one of the favourites. 

“Three years ago, I could not decide where my home was. Now, we are fully settled in Salekhard and my mother has moved there. We spend most of our time there, including in between different tournaments. 

I watch chess news, but not always. When I lose, I don’t want to go on a website and read something bad about myself. So I don’t visit certain websites. But when I am in a good mood, why wouldn’t I read positive things about myself?” (Aleksandra Goryachkina).

In 2017, Aleksandra reached new landmarks: she won an individual medal at the European championship and won the world team championship with Russia. A book about her life and career written by grandmasters Dmitry Kryavkin and Roman Ovetchkin is on its way. 

In March 2019, Aleksandra gained the gold medal on the third board at the World Team Championship with a fantastic result of 8 points out of 9. The Russian national women's team won silver medals there.

In May 2019, Goryachkina played on the first board for the Yamal team at the Russian Team Championship Higher League and took 6 points out of 8 (with the performance of 2670). This result helped her team qualify for the Premier League of the Russian Team Championship 2020. 

In May-June 2019, Aleksandra Goryachkina brilliantly won the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. She secured first place with two rounds to go. In September of the same year, Goryachkina shared 2-3 places with the women's world champion at the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Skolkovo. 

The Women's World Championship Match between Ju Wenjun (China) and Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) took place in January 2020 in Shanghai and Vladivostok. After 12 regular games, the score was equal - 6-6, but Ju Wenjun won on tiebreak 2.5-1.5 to secure her title. 

In March of the same year, Aleksandra shared 1-2 places with Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) at the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Lausanne. In September she won gold medals of the FIDE online Olympiad as a member of the Russian team. She scored the only victory in the final match against India, having defeated Humpy Koneru. 

In December 2020, Goryachkina won her third title of the Russian women's champion. In Summer, she gained bronze at the Russian Championship Higher League thus becoming the first women to qualify for the Russian Championship Superfinal. In September 2021, Aleksandra won gold at the second FIDE Online Olympiad as a member of the Russian national team.

One year later, Aleksandra Goryachkina won the second FIDE Online Olympiad as a member of the Russian national team. In 2021, she won the World Women's Team Championship as a member of the Russian national team.

After the anti-COVID restrictions were lifted, Aleksandra has once again started the fight for the world women's champion's title. She became the silver medallist of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2022/2023 and qualified for the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament. In August 2023, she won the FIDE Women's World Cup in Baku.

Aleksandra's sister, Oksana, is also a chess player and has gained some victories in the youth events.