"CHECK
MATE," writes the Penthouse Media Group in a recent
press release. "Alexandra Kosteniuk is the current women’s Chess
vice-champion of the world and in the May issue of Penthouse, interviewer Dave
Hollander finds out that this 'Anna Kournikova of chess' brings more to the
table than just her ethereal beauty. A ruthless and competitive opponent, Alexandra
has all the right moves and unlike Anna, she plays to win and not just look
good while she’s doing it."
The introduction to the article reads: "Most women probably wouldn't
mind being likened to former tennis beauty Anna Kournikova, but the gorgeous
chess grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk can do without the comparison. After
all, Kournikova failed to win a singles WTA title during her career. Kosteniuk,
who started playing chess at age five, has plenty of victories. She is the
2004 European champion, the 2005 Russian champion, and the current women's
vice-champion of the world (sort of like being vice-president of the game).
Kosteniuk was named a woman grandmaster at age 14. In 2004, she became the
tenth woman in history to earn the title of grandmaster (men), placing her
in chess's upper echelon."
Here are some of the points Alexandra makes in the two-page interview:
-
I do think it's possible for women to play as good as men. They just need
to work hard from a very early age.
-
To play chess well, you need to concentrate for a long time and not make
a mistake. For this, you need to be in good physical shape. I consider
chess a sport. I consider myself an athlete because I know how much effort
you need to play chess well. Part of my preparation consists in physical
training. I run five kilometers every day. During the winters, when in
Moscow I ski. When in Miami I swim.
-
My dream has always been to see chess as a part of the Olympic games,
because I see the Olympics as an important way to measure the ideal in
human performance. I met Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former president of
the International Olympic Committee. I told him what I thought, and we
got very close to putting chess into the Olympic games. Unfortunately,
Samaranch retired and the whole idea came to a sudden halt.
-
The most dangerous thing for chess is electronic performance enhancement
– the use of chess computers. Sometimes players cheat by using chess
programs during a game. That's what we really have to be aware of.
-
To me, chess was and is the battle of two human beings. What I love in
chess is psychology – to play against an opponent who is not a computer.
-
A good chess player has to have chess intuition. That doesn't come from
being a man or a woman – it comes from your chess experience.
-
[In reply to the question "Since the queen is the most powerful piece,
protecting a vulnerable king, why isn't chess seen as the ultimate feminist
game?"] In Russia, the queen is male. We have a
different name for that piece. It's called feef [Firzan]. It's
the "adviser of the king." I think we are the only country that
does it that way.
- I would like to play with Kasparov one day. He's retired from chess, but
he's still No. 1 in the world.
Penthouse is a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combining
urban lifestyle articles and soft-core pornographic pictorials. In the 1990s
it moved towards hardcore, and is currenly located somewhere in between Playboy
and Hustler in terms of explicitness. The most famous issue of Penthouse
was September 1984, which was the largest selling issue of any magazine in
history (it featured explicit photos of the current Miss America, Vanessa Williams,
from early in her modeling career). Penthouse made its founder Guccione one
of the richest men in the United States.
