Aleksandra Goryachkina

Born on 28 September 1998 in Orsk, Orenburg Region, Russia, into a chess family: her mother was a candidate master of sports, and her father, Yuri Goryachkin, was a FIDE master who coached at a chess school.

At first, she refused to play chess: "For her, chess pieces practically replaced children's toys," her mother recalled. She preferred dancing, tennis, and track and field.

Her father often picked her up from school and took her to his evening chess classes, where she watched attentively from the sidelines. "It turns out that Sasha wasn't taught chess; she mastered it all on her own," her mother said.

Gradually she became involved in the learning process and began attending chess school purposefully.

By age 9, she was already beating both of her parents.

At age 10, she won her first World Championship, and from then on began to study chess in depth.

In academics, she chose unconventionally for a chess player: she passed her state final exams prioritizing humanities over mathematics.

She continued her education while competing at the highest level, balancing chess with academic pursuits.

She joined her father's chess school as a librarian while continuing to train and compete.

World Rapid Chess Champion (2025) and winner of the 2023 Women's World Chess Cup.

Won the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament, earning the right to challenge for the Women's World Championship in 2020, where she lost to Ju Wenjun.

In July 2021, at age 22, she scored 5/5 with the white pieces to climb to 2610.5 on the live rating list and qualified for the Men's Russian Championship.

In 2023, she won the Women's World Chess Cup, defeating Nurgyul Salimova in the final.

Known for her Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD) opening with Black and her exceptional endgame technique.

In academics and chess, she has maintained a unique balance, stating: "I've never had any idols. I watch many games".

Her family moved from Orsk to Salekhard specifically to support her chess development, as there were not always means to take her to competitions from their previous home.

The region's leadership set her a goal: "Together with her father, we have set Alexandra the goal of bringing the chess crown back to Russia".

She tries to imitate Alexandra Kosteniuk's approach in knockout competitions: "I try to imitate Alexandra Kosteniuk in knockouts".

On winning the 2023 World Cup, she said: "My second dream came true and it was to win the World Chess Cup. One should be accompanied by luck here and everything should fall into place. Luck never depends on you. This time, luck was on my side".

"I've never had any idols. I watch many games."

"I always plan for the worst-case scenario, but it's fine if things develop otherwise."

"My second dream came true and it was to win the World Chess Cup. Luck was on my side."

Goryachkina has not authored a major instructional book, but her games have been collected in various volumes.