Politics get involved in beauty prize controversy

The following text was first published on Thorsten Cmiel's website Chess Ecosystem. Reprinted with kind permission.

Personal reasons deciphered

The Ukrainian-born Russian grandmaster Kateryna Lagno has decided not to participate in the next leg of the Women's Grand Prix in India. The FIDE statement simply mentions that Lagno has withdrawn for personal reasons. However, the player has now contradicted this in a public statement, which Peter Heine Nielsen shared on X, formerly Twitter.

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It concerns a beauty prize that Kateryna Alexandrovna Lagno, 35, did not receive; instead, it was awarded to Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk, 40. Those expecting a new politically incorrect, perhaps even misogynistic scandal between two women are mistaken. This is not about the appearance of the two players but about two chess games - and politics.

Arkady Dvorkovich | Photo: Niki Riga / FIDE

Lagno's statement was made via social media and consists of a letter addressed to the Russian President of FIDE, Arkady Dvorkovich. He is already under scrutiny by European observers, who claim he favours "his Russians". In reality, Dvorkovich is striving to normalise tournament operations. Russians are allowed to compete as individual players under FIDE but are not granted anthems or national flags. This regulation has been in place since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the last Chess Olympiad, the most significant team event in the chess world, held in Budapest, the Russian team was absent. Critics, including Magnus Carlsen's second and Danish-born chess grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen (51), have openly criticised this policy. Nielsen is married to chess grandmaster and Lithuanian politician Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen (41).

Lagno's statement

Kateryna Lagno was born in Lviv in western Ukraine in 1989, at that time still part of the Soviet Union. She achieved her first chess successes representing Ukraine but switched to the Russian Chess Federation in 2014. Her transfer caused controversy that year, coinciding with the annexation of Crimea, leading to tensions between chess federations. Lagno is married to Russian chess grandmaster Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born 1985) and has four children. He was previously married to Ukrainian chess grandmaster Natalia Zhukova (born 1979), who now lives in Odessa, Ukraine.

The beauty prize was awarded to Alexandra Kosteniuk, a long-time sporting rival of Lagno in top women's chess. Kosteniuk was Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and is a native Russian (born in Perm, Ural). However, she has since distanced herself from the Russian Chess Federation and is married to Pavel Vladimirovich Tregubov, 54, a FIDE official and fellow Russian-born chess grandmaster.

Alexandra Kosteniuk with Dana Reizniece | Photo: Niki Riga

Zurab Azmaiparashvili | Photo: Niki Riga

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The beauty prize was awarded by the Georgian Zurab Azmaiparashvili, 65, also a chess grandmaster, and Dana Reizniece, a Latvian women's grandmaster and former Minister of Economics and Finance of her country. Reizniece is Deputy Chair of the Management Board (a former version of this article mistakenly stated that Reizniece is Vice-President of FIDE) at the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and is rumoured to have ambitions to one day succeed Dvorkovich. However, the situation in world chess is highly delicate, and so far, the Latvian has never officially thrown her hat into the ring, instead maintaining a coexistence within FIDE. Her reluctance to stand for election is presumably due to the fact that, according to current understanding, anyone aspiring to the presidency of the World Chess Federation is expected to bring financial backing. At present, FIDE remains dependent on Russian money and sponsors, a point of criticism repeatedly highlighted by Peter Heine Nielsen. These numerous personal and national connections make it clear how important FIDE appears to be for the Russian Federation. In the last century, the Soviet Union dominated world chess and held the world champion title for the longest period.

Anyone wishing to examine the two mentioned games can do so through the following analyses. Both encounters featured spectacular moments, and I, too, would consider Lagno's game the more deserving. I once had a different opinion on a beauty prize at a World Senior Championship in Bucharest. However, that was a case of a slightly different perspective on what a beauty prize should reward. Whether this is true of Kateryna Lagno's public frustration remains speculative.

Incidentally, Peter Heine Nielsen believes that Lagno should not play in any FIDE tournaments at all, as she regularly participates in propaganda events organised by grandmaster Sergey Karjakin, the former challenger to Magnus Carlsen in the 2016 World Championship match in New York. Karjakin, a native Ukrainian like Lagno, is now a politician and attempts to create the illusion of normality in the occupied Ukrainian territories. This represents the broader picture in the world of chess.

Kateryna Lagno – Elisabeth Paehtz | Photo: Niki Riga

Alexandra Kosteniuk - Tan Zhongyi | Photo: Niki Riga

An open Letter by Kateryna Lagno 🇷🇺 has been published on why she has withdrawn from the FIDE women's Grand Prix, due to FIDE being anti Russian (!!)

Ill just reiterate my position, so that there is no misunderstanding. Lagno should be banned, due to playing in Karjakins events pic.twitter.com/WwiGsszozc

— Peter Heine Nielsen (@PHChess) March 27, 2025

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