2 min learnMar 23, 2026 10:53 PM IST
A white knight chess piece was Anna Muzychuk’s first present, as she narrated how chess got here into her life in an interview with FIDE . The Ukrainian GM who changed Koneru Humpy within the Candidates, recalled how her grandfather visited her mom the day she was born and gifted her a white knight. “I used to be born with chess,” she mentioned. “My grandfather ensured that he received the piece to my mom in hospital.”
Her father was an beginner chess participant, and she or he was adopted by her sister into the game. “I don’t keep in mind it completely however they mentioned I knew all chess guidelines at age 3 and knew fort appropriately,” she mentioned in a mid-2025 interview. She ended up as a prize winner ‘a chess diploma’ in her first event at age 4, she recalled of the chess custom of a certificates dubbed ‘diploma’ in east European international locations. “I don’t keep in mind the video games however I completed second or third in opposition to a lot older opponents.
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Muzychuk would inform FIDE that she and her sister Mariya have one frequent folder on a pc which each can entry, however the GM who turned Ukrainian nationwide champ at 13, additionally ready independently. “It’s not like we’re hiding something from one another,” she mentioned.
Whereas making ready with out engines and computer systems is unthinkable, the 36-year-old mentioned she is perhaps the final technology to be taught chess from a “backpack filled with chess books and chess notes.”
Earlier, Koneru Humpy withdrew her spot from the Candidates citing security considerations. Muzychuk who’s contemporary off a freestyle title turns into a darkish horse, given how opponent-specific preparations are usually forward of the three weeks event of 14 rounds.
Muzychuk is a three-time world champion in shorter codecs. She claimed the World Speedy title in 2016 whereas additionally clinching the World Blitz title twice in 2014 and 2016. The Ukrainian can also be the runner-up of the 2017 Ladies’s World Championship and 2019 Candidates event the place she completed behind Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina.
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