Anna Ushenina became Ukraine’s first woman to win the world women’s chess championship on Dec. 1 after defeating Bulagarian Antoaneta Stefanova in a tiebreaker in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
The
27-year-old Kharkiv native emerged victorious in a 64-player knockout chess
tournament that started on Nov. 10.
The two emerged
tied 2-2 after playing four final matches on Nov. 27-30.
Today,
Ushenina won the two-match tiebraker with a 1.5-0.5 score after drawing the
first game with the black pieces, and winning the second match with white. The
tie-breaker time control was 25 minutes, with an addition of 10 seconds per
move.
According
to Ushenina’s profile on FIDE, the world’s chess governing body, her rating is
2452, and she carries the title of International Master and Woman Grandmaster.
“This
bright success was made possible thanks to Anna’s hard, daily work through the
years, and her strong personal qualities…Ushenina…is the pride of Ukraine!” exclaimed
Viktor Kapustin, president of the Ukrainian Chess Federation.
Ukraine’s
Ruslan Ponomariov became the country’s first and only men’s world chess
champion in 2002.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached
at [email protected].
