Person of day   -  30 AUGUST 2023

ANNA USHENINA

ANNA USHENINA

Anna Ushenina was born in Kharkiv, in Ukraine, where she continues to live today. She has played chess when she was 7- her mother- in an attempt to make her daughter appreciate the beautiful- sent her daughter to chess, art and music classes. A short while later, Ushenina was considered a true wunderkind: the young chess player strengthened her country’s national team and Ukraine began to win new medals: victory at the 2006 Olympiad in Turin, a silver in Dresden in 2008, a bronze in Istanbul in 2012 and bronze at the world team championship in Yekaterinburg. 

Anna Ushenina became world champion in 2012 in Khanty-Mansiysk. In the final, the Ukrainian chess player defeated Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova; they drew 2:2 in main time and she won 1,5:0,5 in the play-off. Thanks to this achievement, Anna became the 28thinternational female grandmaster. At home, Anna was awarded the Order of Princess Olga Category II. 

At the 4thworld championship, which took place in 2013 in Astana, Anna Ushenina became a world champion for the second time- this time with the Ukrainian women’s team. At the 2013 World Cup in Tromso, Ushenina traded victories with Peter Svidler in the first round of classical matches before losing the tie-break. In September 2013, Anna Ushenina lost the world championship to Hou Yifan. In November of the same year, she became the European champion with the Ukrainian team and in 2014, a bronze Olympiad medallist in Tromso. 

Anna Ushenina is one of the few Ukrainian grandmasters who has been awarded the prestigious title of “Recognised sports master of Ukraine”. In her free time, she likes reading detectives and listening to classical and pop music.