2 min readMar 23, 2026 10:53 PM IST
A white knight chess piece was Anna Muzychuk’s first gift, as she narrated how chess came into her life in an interview with FIDE . The Ukrainian GM who replaced Koneru Humpy in the Candidates, recalled how her grandfather visited her mother the day she was born and gifted her a white knight. “I was born with chess,” she said. “My grandfather ensured that he got the piece to my mother in hospital.”
Her father was an amateur chess player, and she was followed by her sister into the sport. “I don’t remember it perfectly but they said I knew all chess rules at age 3 and knew how to castle correctly,” she said in a mid-2025 interview. She ended up as a prize winner ‘a chess diploma’ in her first tournament at age 4, she recalled of the chess tradition of a certificate dubbed ‘diploma’ in east European countries. “I don’t remember the games but I finished second or third against much older opponents.
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Muzychuk would tell FIDE that she and her sister Mariya have one common folder on a computer which both can access, but the GM who became Ukrainian national champ at 13, also prepared independently. “It’s not like we are hiding anything from each other,” she said.
While preparing without engines and computers is unthinkable, the 36-year-old said she might be the last generation to learn chess from a “backpack full of chess books and chess notes.”
Earlier, Koneru Humpy withdrew her spot from the Candidates citing safety concerns. Muzychuk who is fresh off a freestyle title becomes a dark horse, given how opponent-specific preparations tend to be ahead of the three weeks tournament of 14 rounds.
Muzychuk is a three-time world champion in shorter formats. She claimed the World Rapid title in 2016 while also clinching the World Blitz title twice in 2014 and 2016. The Ukrainian is also the runner-up of the 2017 Women’s World Championship and 2019 Candidates tournament where she finished behind Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
