Saturday, June 28, 2008

Chess Ladies : Anna Zatonskih

Anna Zatonskih (born Mariupol, Ukraine, June 17, 1978) is a chess player from the United States, where as of April 1, 2007, she has the 23rd highest Elo rating on the FIDE list among women (2462). She is a Woman Grandmaster, as well as an International Master. She is a chess professional, who coaches players and competes in tournaments. She is the 2006 and 2008 U.S. Women's Chess Champion.

Zatonskih learned chess at age five from her parents, who are both strong players. Her father Vitaly is rated about 2300, while her mother is a Candidate Master. Anna won against her mother for the first time at age 14.

Anna won many Ukrainian Girls' titles in several age categories. She was awarded the WGM title in 1999. She twice won the Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship, in 2001 and 2002. She represented Ukraine in two Chess Olympiads: in 2000 at Istanbul, she scored 7/11 (+5 =4 -2) on board two; and in 2002 at Bled, she scored 3.5/7 (+2 =3 -2) on board three.

She represented the U.S. in the Chess Olympiads of 2004 and 2006. The Americans won the team silver in 2004, their highest finish ever. Zatonskih won the United States Women's Championship in 2006 and 2008.




Chess Ladies : Zehra Topel



WIM Zehra Topel won the 2007 Turkey Women Championship after already being three-times Turkish U18 champion. This talented and perspective player was born on April 1987 in Shumen, Bulgaria and at the age of 8 she started visiting local chess club in Shumen after her mother taught her how to move pieces.

The family moved to Istanbul, Turkey on 1997 and on 2000 they were granted Turkish citizenship. Currently, Zehra is studying 2nd year of English Philology at the Istanbul University and she is member of the Istanbul Technical University chess club.