Beautiful and sexy chess players

Beautiful and sexy chess players
By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

WHEN Bobby Fischer was in a Japanese jail in 2004 for using a cancelled passport, Boris Spassky wrote to President Bush to free Bobby or place him also in jail and supply them with a chess set. Bobby, in a rare display of humor, requested instead the young Russian model Alexandra Kosteniuk,23, whom they say is as beautiful as the young Elizabeth Taylor.

Alexandra is an International Grandmaster with a Fide rating of 2515, which means that she can compete with our Pinoy grandmasters as an equal.

Kosteniuk’s motto is “beauty and intelligence can go together”.

Carmen Kass is a supermodel and was elected president of the Estonian National Chess League in 2004. She ran a campaign to obtain the rights to organize the 2008 Chess Olympics in Tallinn. However, that right was given to Dresden, Germany instead in 2008.

Kass was awarded by Vogue as “Model of the Year” at the 2000 Vogue Fashion Awards and is well-known for her distinctive runway walk.

Arianne Caoili is a Fil-Aussie mestiza who was born in the Philippines, but now resides in Australia. At one point during 2002, she achieved a Fide rating of over 2300.

She is known as the Anna Kournikova of chess and made headlines during the Turin Olympiad when Danny Gormally and Levon Aronian had a scuffle over her during the “Bermuda nights” party.

Monica Seps, 17, is a beauty to behold and comes from Switzerland. Although not exactly a world-class chess player, she can beat most Cepca members with her Fide rating of 2095.

Jessica Basland comes from France and according to The French Chess Association, her rating is 1100. Remember, we are talking here of beauty, not just ability, so pardon me if I include her here.

Vera Nebolsina, Russia, 16, won WWC U10 1998 with 9.5/11 and made second place in 1999 (with 9.5/11 tied for first place). She learned how to play chess at the age of 4 and won the Russian championship of girls U8 at the age of 7. Her latest Fide rating is 2349 and she is a WGM. Very pretty.

Kinga Harsanyi is a Hungarian Fide Master rated 2118 and only 18. They say that if you are a man, you can never defeat her in chess as she is so beautiful you don’t want to put her down. Extremely photogenic.

Natalija Pogonina, 22, is a Russian Woman Grandmaster currently ranked 22nd among women in the world with a Fide rating of 2462. She looks like Julia Roberts and they say she is even more beautiful in person.

Maria Manakova, 33, is a Russian Woman Grandmaster whose Fide rating is 2331.She is well known for being the only woman chess grandmaster ever to pose nude. She posed nude for the Russian men’s magazine Speed, after her comeback from Serbia to Russia in 2004.

During the Turin Olympiad in 2006, the winners of the most photogenic women chessplayers were Sanja Didijer from Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosteniuk, Mariam Mansur of UAE, Almira Skripchenko of France, Zehra Topel of Turkey,Regina Pokorna of Slovakia, Valquira Rocha of Angola.

Other winners were Sophie Millet of France, Ingrid Aliaga of Peru, Anna Sharevich of Belarus,Caolli,Eva Repkova of Slovakia, Shirin Navabi of Iran, Maria Belen Sarquis of Argentina, Lilit Mktrchian of Armenia and Katerina Lahno of Ukraine.

Cebuana Therese Gonzales is a head–turner who used to play in Cepca tournaments and is a very good player. Although I have not met them in person Kimberly Cuizon, Phoebe Bitoon and Christine Mayol are budding chess beauties according to arbiter Marvin Ruelan.

According to IM Manny Senador an astounding beauty is Arriane Aguja, a 2004 UP graduate who was U18 champion in Greece.