Bikini chess championship in Ukraine

by ChessBase
5/23/2004 – The Ukraine Women's Championship 2004 was held in the beautiful Black Sea resort of Alushta. It brought us dazzling chess – and dazzling pictures of young women grandmasters and IMs in beachside circumstances. We remain eternally indebted to the tournament winner and new Ukraine women's champion Olga Alexandrova for sending us this pictorial report.

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Ukraine Women's Championship 2004

From Hotel „Cajka“ in Alušta
By Olga Alexandrova and Thomas Lemanczyk

The town of Alušta (or Alushta, as we shall call it) lies on the Crimean peninsula on the north of the Black Sea, which is part of the modern Ukraine. It is a seaside resort, popular with the Russian and Ukrainian middle-class. There are many sanatoriums in Alushta, each one with its own piece of beach. There is a long-long promenade along the sea shore and it is covered by many cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops. A great number of chess tournaments have been held in the city – official ones like national championships, and qualification tournaments for world and European championships, international opens, invitationals.


This year Alushta hosted the Ukraine Women's championship with 53 participants, in the beautiful Cajka ("Seagull") hotel.


The playing hall

The championship started with a ferocious 4/4 by WIM Natalia Zdebskaja, who then lost to WIM Evgeniya Doluhanova, who then took over the sole lead with 5½ out of 6. Evgeniya looked like a clear winner, but in the eighth round she was beaten by WGM Olga Alexandrova, who incidentally started the tournament with a loss. In the end Olga won the championship with 7/9. Here are all the results:

1.  1   Alexandrova,Olga       7.0
2. 12 Kostiuk,Tatiana 6.5
20 Doluhanova,Evgeniya 6.5
23 Aksionova,Tatiana 6.5
18 Baklanova,Tatiana 6.5
6. 5 Ushenina,Anna 6.0
13 Gutsko,Anastasia 6.0
3 Kononenko,Tatiana 6.0
9. 31 Dolzhikova,Katerina 5.5
4 Zdebskaja,Natalia 5.5
8 Hryhorenko,Nataliya 5.5
7 Gritsayeva,Oksana 5.5
26 Kostiukova,Liubov 5.5
6 Vozovic,Oksana 5.5
9 Sulejmanova,Ava 5.5
16 Goreskul,Alyona 5.5
15 Yakivchik,Myroslava 5.5
18. 11 Semenova,Lidia 5.0
14 Matseyko,Katerina 5.0
27 Kalinina,Larisa 5.0
51 Maiko,Alina 5.0
53 Ostroverhova,Elena 5.0
10 Karlovich,Anastazia 5.0
28 Moskalets,Svetlana 5.0

Download all the games
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25.  2  Arutyunova,Diana       4.5
22 Efremova,Yulia 4.5
30 Breslavska,Galina 4.5
35 Sluzhbina,Anastasiya 4.5
38 Berezjuk,Evgeniya 4.5
21 Shliahtich,Galina 4.5
29 Panakhova,Elena 4.5
33 Mokriak,Liudmila 4.5
33. 19 Maiko,Julia 4.0
17 Chulivska,Vita 4.0
50 Kovaleva,Natalia 4.0
47 Karpova,Svetlana 4.0
32 Mamonova,Yulia 4.0
38. 39 Sova,Olga 3.5
24 Aslanian,Ludmila 3.5
49 Kovaleva,Marianna 3.5
43 Babiy,Alla 3.5
45 Gordienko,Anna 3.5
40 Kalinina,Olga 3.5
42 Andrenko,Irina 3.5
25 Rudakova,Zhaneta 3.5
44 Blizniuk,Julia 3.5
47. 34 Kovtoniuk,Natalia 3.0
46 Grisha,Tatiana 3.0
52 Marshakova,Zhanna 3.0
41 Gorbatenko,Kateryna 3.0
37 Romanova,Mariya 3.0
52. 36 Majboroda,Evgenija 2.5
53. 48 Khudoshina,Valentina 1.5


The winners WIM Tatiana Kostiuk, WGM Olga Alexandrova, WIM Evgeniya Doluhanova


Some pool relaxation for Katerina Dolhzikova and Anastasia Karlovich


Kateryna Gorbatenko and Anna Ushenina


Zanna Morshakova posing with blue irises


On the beachfront: the popular local Chinese restaurant


The proper attire for a visit to the "Peking" restaurant


Beauty and the beach: WGMs and WIMs in bikinis


Thoroughly enjoying the chess championship: the beachside belles


Alla Babiy and Tatiana Grisha


Alla Babiy without Tatiana Grisha


The Kalininas: Olga and Larisa


And the radiant winner Olga Alexandrova


In front of a defensive tower from the 6th century


With a friend in front of a curiosity shop


...and feeding another in the park


Kateryna Gorbatenko in front of a beachside booth


The view of the Black Sea front


The famous beach promenade, by day...


... and even more spectacular by night.


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