Tatiana Kosintseva


Tatiana Anatolyevna Kosintseva is a Russian chess player. She was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2007. Kosintseva is a two-time European women's champion and three-time Russian women's champion. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010 and 2012, and at the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Career

Kosintseva started to play chess at 6 years old along with elder sister Nadezhda, when coming back home from dance lessons with their mother they happened upon a chess club and decided then and there to take up the game. As a youngster, she recalls being inspired by a book of former world champion Alexander Alekhine's games and was similarly impressed by the games of Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer.
At the World Youth Chess Championships, she earned silver medals at the Girls Under 10 and Girls Under 12 events. Kosintseva won the gold medal in the Girls Under 10 category of the 1996 European Youth Chess Championships, held at Rimavska Sobota. Silver medals were added at the European events in Mureck and Kallithea, at the Girls Under 12 and Girls Under 18 levels, respectively.
In 2002, 2004 and 2007 Kosintseva won the Russian Women's Chess Championship. In 2006, she finished a half point behind the winner, Ekaterina Korbut. Also in 2004, Kosintseva won the Accentus Ladies Tournament at the Biel Chess Festival.
She won the European Individual Women's Chess Championship in 2007 with a tournament performance rating of 2774. She won again in 2009 after prevailing in a rapidplay playoff with Lilit Mkrtchian by 1½–½. Both players finished the tournament on a score of 8½/11 points.
In 2010 Kosintseva won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event in Nalchik with a performance rating of 2735. Her score was 9/11, 1½ points ahead of her nearest rival, Hou Yifan. She gained 160 Grand Prix points in Nalchik.
In 2012, Kosintseva won the European Women's Rapid Chess Championship in Gazientep, Turkey. In April 2014, she won the bronze medal at the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk. In July of the same year, she took the silver medal in the European Individual Women's Championship in Plovdiv, Bulgaria scoring 8½/11 points.

Personal life

Kosintseva attended along with her sister Nadezhda a law course at Pomor University in their hometown, Arkhangelsk. They both graduated in 2008.