Alina Kashlinskaya becomes WGM at 15!

the Russian chess prodigy achieves her third norm at the Moscow Open

Alina Kashlinskaya
photo by e3e5.com

Alina Kashlinskaya became WGM after achieving her last norm at the Moscow Open, informs the Russian website e3e5.com. This is her second top record achievement in a row. In 2007 Kashlinskaya became Europe’s youngest Women International Master, now in 2009 she is already Europe's youngest WGM.

The previous norms were achieved in August 2007 at a tournament in Croatia and in October 2008 at a tournament in the Ukraine.The Russian Chess Federation will send a request to FIDE’s next congress for the title of the chess prodigy.

Among the U16 female players Alina Kashlinskaya is ranked N2 in the world. Her only opposition for first place is Hou Yifan who also holds the record of the youngest WGM player (she was 14-years-old when she achieved the honour). Kashlinskaya is also among top 50 of all juniors U16 and is closing on the top 100 in the female top ranked list.

Alina puts it simple, “It has always been not only a sport but also a kind of art. I want to reach every high goal there is, to win every possible thing.”

The chess prodigy has been featured on several occasions on the Chessdom.com pages (Reykjavik Open 2008, X Open Internacional D'Escacs de Sants, and Moscow Open), however, she remained in the shadow of many strong players. Alina Kashlinskaya's first news appearance was at e3e5.com, where four years ago she commented a game.

Here is a recent game from the Moscow Open 2009, where Kashlinskaya defeated GM Kirill Bryzgalin (2537).