As Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina line up for the Candidates 2026 in the women’s section, they will attempt to reclaim the crown a Russian last win in 2008-10 through Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Two Ukrainians and three Chinese have taken the world title cycles since then, including Hou Yifan thrice. Vladimir Kramnik was the last Russian in open events to win twenty years ago in 2006-7.
Aleksandra Goryachkina however is the world Rapid champion from 2025.
Goryachkina had just about started liking chess at that point, but the 2019 Candidates winner has not managed to get the breakthrough that the old powerhouse restlessly desires, going down to Ju Wenjun.
Sasha’s mother Larisa Matvienko had told Krasny Sever back then that the family’s move to Karpov’s Polar Chess academy had been strongly driven by the country’s keen to turn one of its prodigies into a world beater.
Goryachkina was born into a chess family – her mother, a candidate master of sports, her father a FIDE master who coached at chess school.
“Sasha enjoyed dancing at the art school, playing tennis, and attending track and field training. As for chess, she stubbornly ignored it: for her, chess pieces practically replaced children’s toys,” mother Larisa Matvienko, told Novosti News, adding TT was her sport of interest.
Her father, Yuri Goryachkin, often picked her up from school, and they would go to his work for evening classes, where Alexandra watched attentively from the sidelines.
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“It turns out that Sasha wasn’t taught chess; she mastered it all on her own,” Larisa Viktorovna recalled to the website. “At first, she refused to play chess, but gradually she became involved in the learning process and began attending chess school purposefully.”
The family moved from Orsk in the Orenburg Region to Salekhard for her chess for where the family lived before, there wasn’t always the means to take her to competitions. According to Alexander Potapov, the Yamal athlete was tasked with the great responsibility. “Together with her father, we have set Alexandra the goal of bringing the chess crown back to Russia, and we will work towards that goal,” he told Elena Tregub of Sever-Press news agency.
In academics, too, the chess pro known for her Queen’s Gambit Declined (QGD) opening with Black, chose unconventionally. She would pass her state final exams prioritizing humanities over mathematics, which was unusual for chess players.
In July 21, the then 22-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina, scored 5/5 with white pieces, to climb to 2610.5 on the live rating list & qualified for the Men’s” Russian Championship.
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She continued to coach over Dischord to improve her Rnhlish, she told s publication last year, while she joined as a librarian at her father’s chess school.
She is paired with Kateryna Lagno in Round 1, while Indians Divya Deshmukh starts against Anna Muzychuk, and Vaishali Rameshbabu against Bibisara Assaubayeva.
