Bikini chess championship in Ukraine

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

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

Beauty and the beach: WGMs and WIMs in bikinis

Thoroughly enjoying the chess championship: the beachside belles

Alla Babiy without Tatiana Grisha

And the radiant winner Olga Alexandrova

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.