Chess
The daughter of a Ukrainian father and an Armenian mother, both pedagogues and chess coaches, Skripchenko started playing chess when she was 6 years old.
In 1991, Moldova became independent from the Soviet Union. This meant that Skripchenko could take part for the first time in the World Youth Chess Championships. She was soon crowned champion at Under-16 level (1992, Duisburg, Germany) and in 1993, took the bronze at Under-18.
She married French Grandmaster Joël Lautier in 1997 and consequently moved to live in France. Despite separating from Lautier in 2003, she became a French citizen in 2001 and continued to make France her home. Skripchenko then married French Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet and in January 2007, gave birth to a daughter.
In 2001, at 25 years old, she celebrated her biggest success ever, winning the individual ladies European championship. She was at this time chosen "best sportsperson in 2001 in Moldova" and decorated with the Order of National Merit in her native country.
In 2004 she won the North Urals Cup, the second international super-tournament for female chess players. Held in Krasnoturinsk, the nine-round single round-robin tournament featured ten of the strongest female players in the world. Skripchenko finished a half point ahead of Maia Chiburdanidze, the former Women's World Champion, and also defeated her in their individual encounter. She also won Biel's Accentus Ladies Tournament in 2005. She reached the quarter-finals during the Women's World Chess Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2010.
Living in Paris and representing France in tournaments since 2002, Skripchenko has become a noted ambassador for the game in Europe. She competed in the Men's French Individual Championship (2002, 2003). In 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012 she won the Ladies' French Chess Championship. In team play, she won the French National Chess League with NAO Chess Club (2003 and 2004) and with Clichy Echecs ( 2007, 2008 and 2012 )and the German Chess Bundesliga with Werder Bremen (2005). Her career victories also include three Nationale ladies titles which she earned with Baden-Oos in 2003, 2004, and 2005 and four European Club Cup victories with Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
Almira Skripchenko has taken part in several Chess Olympiads (with Moldova, then with France), each time playing on her team's top board. She is also a member of the ACP Board (Association of Chess Professionals).
Read more about this topic: Almira Skripchenko
Famous quotes containing the word chess:
“What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of mighty rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces, if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before? To call such activity progress is utter delusion. We may succeed in altering the face of the earth until it is unrecognizable even to the Creator, but if we are unaffected wherein lies the meaning?”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“An actress reading a part for the first time tries many ways to say the same line before she settles into the one she believes suits the character and situation best. There’s an aspect of the rehearsing actress about the girl on the verge of her teens. Playfully, she is starting to try out ways to be a grown-up person.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)
“Today’s fathers and mothers—with only the American dream for guidance—extend and overextend themselves, physically, emotionally, and financially, during the best years of their lives to ensure that their children will grow up prepared to do better and go further than they did.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)