Aleksandra Goryachkina

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (Russian: Александра Юрьевна Горячкина; born 28 September 1998) is a Russian chess grandmaster. She is a two-time Russian Women's Chess Champion and was also twice World Girls Under-20 Champion. In 2019, she qualified for Women's World Championship 2020 after winning Women's Candidates Tournament 2020. Goryachkina lost the match to Ju Wenjun in a rapid playoff 2.5-1.5 after the score was tied 6-6 in the classical games.

Goryachkina won the gold medal at the World Youth Chess Championships in the Girls Under 10 category in 2008, the Girls Under 14 in 2011 (scoring 9/9 points) and the Girls Under 18 in 2012, and at the European Youth Chess Championships in the Girls Under 12 in 2010, the Girls Under 14 in 2011 and the Girls Under 18 in 2012. She also won a silver medal in the Girls Under 12 section at the European Youth Championships and a bronze medal in the same division at the World Youth Championships in 2009.

In 2011, she won the Lyudmila Rudenko Memorial in Saint Petersburg and during that year her rating climbed almost 300 points from 2045 to 2333. In 2012, she tied for second place in the Russian Junior Girls Championship, finishing third on tiebreak, and won the Women's Russian Cup knockout competition.

Goryachkina took part in the Tata Steel C Tournament in Wijk aan Zee in January 2013, scoring 3.5 points out of 13 games (1 win, 5 draws, 7 losses). In April of the same year, she finished second in the Russian U19 Championship open section, competing with the boys. In June, she tied for 2nd–3rd in the Women's Russian Championship Higher League. Thanks to this result she qualified for the first time for the Russian Women's Championship Superfinal. In this tournament she scored 4½/9 points. In December, she competed in the U18 open section of the World Youth Championships in Al Ain and scored 6½/11 points. She won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship in 2013 and in 2014.

In March 2014, she participated for the first time in the European Individual Chess Championship and scored 5/11. In September 2014, she tied for first place in the Satka Autumn women's open tournament, finishing fourth on tiebreak. In November of that year, she placed third in the Women's Superfinal scoring 5½/9.

In February 2015, Goryachkina competed in the European Individual Championship scoring 6½/11 with a rating performance of 2554. In the following month, she finished second in the women's tournament of the Moscow Open with 7/9. In April 2015, Goryachkina took part in the Women's World Chess Championship 2015 and reached the second round. Here she was knocked out by Anna Muzychuk.

In August 2015 she won the Russian Women's Championship Superfinal in Chita with 8/11 points. Goryachkina won for the second time the Women's Russian Cup in December 2015. In 2017, she won the silver medal in the European Individual Women's Championship in RigaIn December 2017, Goryachkina won the Russian Women's Superfinal for the second time after beating Natalia Pogonina in a rapid playoff.

In 2018 she was awarded the Grandmaster title.

In 2019, Goryachkina won the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament with 9.5/14 (6 wins,1 loss and 7 draws) and qualified for the Women's World Chess Championship 2020 match against the defending champion Ju Wenjun. In the match, which took place in January of 2020, the 12 games at classical time control were tied with 3 wins for each side and 6 draws. Four games of rapid chess were used as a tie-breaker; and Ju Wenjun retained the title with 1 win and 3 draws.

Team competitions

Goryachkina played on top board for Russia in the 2012 European Under-18 Girls Team Championship and scored 3/3, contributing to win team gold.

Goryachkina made her debut in the national women's team playing on reserve board at the 2013 Women's European Team Chess Championship. She scored 2.5/5 and helped the Russian team to win silver.

In December 2014, she helped the Russian team to win silver at the Under-16 Chess Olympiads in Győr, scoring 6/10 on second board. She also won a brilliancy prize for her game against Cemil Can Ali Marandi in the seventh round.

In April 2015, she helped Russia to win silver in the 2015 Women's World Team Chess Championship scoring 5/7. Thanks to this effort she also won individual silver on fourth board. In July of the same year, she took part in the 9th China-Russia Match in Ningbo, scoring 5/10 in the blitz games and 1.5/5 in the classical encounter. In the 2015 Women's European Team Championship in Reykjavík she won team gold and also the individual gold on board three.

Goryachkina played for Yamal team on the third board in the Russian Team Championship (open section): she scored 3/7 in 2013 with a performance rating of 2408, 3/6 in 2014 (performance 2535), 3.5/7 (performance 2638) in 2015.

In 2019, Goryachkina played the first board for the Yamal team in the Russian Team Championship (Higher League) and scored 6/8(performance 2670). This result helped her Yamal team qualify for the Russian Team Championship (Premier League) in 2020.

Goryachkina's father, Yuri, is a FIDE Master and her first coach. Her mother is a Candidate Master. Her sister, Oxana, has a rating of standard FIDE rating of 1454. Outside of playing in tournaments, Goryachkina is very involved in teaching. Her father is the president of a chess school in Salekhard where Goryachkina works as an assistant librarian and frequently gives masterclasses. She formerly taught online through Discord but now mostly teaches in person; nonetheless, she remains active on the platform in order to improve her English. She is a member of a server called "Lounge of Chess" that includes chess grandmasters such as Illya Nyzhnyk, Samuel Sevian and Andrew Tang. Goryachkina is passionate about cosmetology and classical music. She is a fan of Paris Saint-Germain F.C.