Kosteniuk, whose mottos have been “chess is cool” and “beauty and intelligence can go together”, won the Women’s World Chess Championship in 2008 and will defend her title in the championship in Turkey in December 2010. She has been promoting chess in the capacity of a fashion model and ambassador of chess in order to spark interest in the game around the world.
Kosteniuk is very pleased to be named Official Ambassador, she writes on her web site:
- I have been very impressed by the professionalism shown by Norwegians and am glad that the bid for the 2014 Olympiads has been granted $12 million by the Norwegian Department of Culture. That should make for a very successful event, which I look forward to supporting and to participating in it.
Support from chess players of this magnitude is vital for Tromsø’s bid for the Chess Olympiad, says President in the Norwegian Chess Federation Jøran Aulin-Jansson in a press release. - With two of the top players in the world on our team, our confidence is increasing, he adds.
19 year old Magnus Carlsen from Norway is the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world number one on the FIDE rating list.
