Rapid Interview with Svitlana Demchenko

The Canadian WIM is only 17 years old, but her chess skills are already well-developed.

While Elisabeth Paehtz is showing us plenty of chess gems from her treasure chest, Svitlana Demchenko will coach us soon, too.

Her channel is called Svitlana's Smart Moves, and will launch Tuesday 27.04.2021 here on ChessBase, and on our YouTube channel at 17:00 CET.

0:54 - Who are you, and where did you learn how to play chess?
2:31 - How come your English is so fluent?
3:19 - The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit with 5. Qxf3 is on the board.
3:40 - Which five languages do you speak in total?
4:25 - You are 17 years old. What are your plans for the future?
5:24 - In the last years, your FIDE-rating went up and down, and then up again. How come?
7:40 - How do you like Black's position right now?
8:40 - What is your favourite opening?
10:38 - Are you coaching chess, and do you have a GM coaching you?
11:33 - Who is your favourite chess player?
12:31 - And what is your favourite chess book?
13:57 - How did you like the series "Queen's Gambit" and do you have a favourite movie?
15:34 - Maybe it is time to give a pawn back to White.
16:45 - What else are you doing in life, besides chess?
18:12 - Chess players are lucky to play online.
19:25 - White just blundered a piece?
20:08 - You play for the Canadian national team. How much contact do you have with the team?
23:24 - Four pieces attack a pawn. This has to work, no?
24:58 - What do you like about chess?
26:37 - A short analysis of our played game.

Svitlana Demchenko

Here are a couple of pictures, showing Svitlana in action:

Back in the Ukraine, Svitlana already trained hard to get stronger at chess

She is capable of making smart moves on the chessboard, and on the beach

The Canadian national women team in Batumi 2018 (From the left: Maili-Jade Ouellet, Agnieszka Matras-Clement, Qiyu Zhou and Svitlana Demchenko)

Fundamentals of Chess Openings

Starting out in chess is difficult, and this DVD aims to reduce that stress. Designed for beginner levels in openings, a brief introduction to the reasons we play some of the most common moves in popular openings like the Spanish and Sicilian is given.

Canada vs. Uganda with the Queen of Katwe - Phiona Mutesi in the back.

One of Svitlana's heroes also showed up in Batumi - Susan Polgar

The young WIM had some excellent chess results this year at the 1st FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship. She drew against IM Yian Liou, and won against IM Krishna GV Sai.

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Books, boards, sets: Chess Niggemann

Arne Kaehler Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.