Anna Ushenina could have easily gone her whole career without becoming a household name in chess circles. After all, the Ukrainian grandmaster was not among the strongest women’s chess players in the world heading into 2012. But in that year, she managed to win the Women’s World Chess Championship – a victory that would forever cement her place in chess history.

Early Life and Career

Anna Ushenina was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) on August 30, 1985.


At the age of seven, Ushenina was introduced to chess by her mother, who wanted to give her several outlets for her intellectual and creative talents.

Ushenina showed that she was a strong chess player in her teenage years. At the age of 15, she was able to win the Ukrainian Girls’ chess championship, which was open to all girls under the age of 20. From 2000 to 2002, she trained at the Kharkov Sports School.

In 2002, Ushenina helped Ukraine win the gold medal at the European Team Championship for Girls. That performance also earned her an individual silver medal on Board 1, and helped propel her towards the WGM title, which she was awarded in 2003.

National Champion

Ushenina was quickly becoming one of the premier names in Ukrainian women’s chess. In both 2003 and 2004, she finished in the top 6 of the Ukrainian Women’s Championship. She finally won the tournament in 2005 in a tournament held at Alushta, despite not being the top seed. These tournaments were particularly notable as the overall and Women’s championships of Ukraine were decided in the same tournament, in which women played both against each other and against men.

During these tournments, Ushenina proved she was capable of beating many male grandmasters, including well-known Ukrainian GMs like Oleg Romanishin. These successes led to Ushenina earning the title of “Honored Master of Sports.”

International Results

Ushenina had achieved some success in international tournaments, but her best results seemed to come when playing for her national team. This was particularly notable in 2006, when she was able to help Ukraine win the gold medals at the Women’s Olympiad in Turin. The team nearly repeated the feat in 2008, though they fell just short and took home the silver medals in Dresden. Ushenina also earned both individual and team bronze medals in the 2007 Women’s World Team Chess Championship.

However, Ushenina also saw some individual success in this time period. She earned the International Master title in 2007 after strong performances in Pardubice and Abu Dhabi, and also played well at the 2007 Aeroflot Open. Perhaps her greatest success in these years came in 2008, when she finished third at the Women’s European Individual Chess Championship.

World Champion

Ushenina may not have seemed a likely Women's World Champion, and she was not among the favorites heading into the 2012 Women’s World Chess Championship tournament. Ushenina came into the tournament as the 30th seed out of 64 players, and after defeating Deysi Cori in the fist round, proceeded to knock off a series of higher rated players, including three notable Russian opponents in a row – Anna Muzychuck, Natalia Pogonina and Nadezhda Kosintseva.

In the final, Ushenina faced Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova. After exchanging a win each in the main match, Ushenina won the title by winning one of the two rapid tiebreaker games and drawing the other. Along with the World Championship, Stefanova was also automatically granted the grandmaster title for her victory. Stefanova was the 14th Women’s World Chess Champion, and the first woman from Ukraine to win the title.

Ushenina’s World Championship reign would last only one year. In 2013, she was required to defend her title against China’s Hou Yifan in a ten-game match. Ushenina came into the match as a major underdog, and after just seven games, the match was over, with Hou Yifan having won four times on the way to a 5.5-1.5 victory.