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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Good bye Elena Tairova


Good bye, Lena, we will miss you!

Dear friends,

I just found out on chessmoscow.ru that the very talented 18-year old Elena Tairova passed away on the 16th of March.

Elena was one of the brightest young chess stars of Russia. In 2006 and 2007 Elena twice took silver medals in the Russian women's Superfinal and joined the Russian national team. Her FIDE rating was 2455. She had made fantastic progress between 2005 and 2007, going up 200 ELO points in 2 short years.

At the beginning of 2008 Elena got sick and missed a few important chess tournaments, but she came back to professional chess in 2009 winning the Women's Russian Higher League and taking silver in the Russian Championship among Girls U-20. I spoke with Elena last August and was sure she would have many nice victories in the years to come.

Saddened by this terrible news, let's thank Elena for the beautiful chess games she gave us and to the world, and let's pray for her family and friends.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion

8 comments:

  1. Alexandra, I am so sorry that Elena passed away <:(!!! I offer my deepest sympathy and condolences to her family and loved ones, to you Alexandra, and to everyone that knew her. She was so young and so talented!! Here is a game Elena won against against Xu Yuhua last year:

    [Event "CHN-RUS Summit (Women) 6th"]
    [Site "Sochi"]
    [Date "2009.08.18"]
    [Round "4"]
    [White "Tairova, Elena"]
    [Black "Xu Yuhua"]
    [Result "1-0"]
    [ECO "C10"]
    [WhiteElo "2450"]
    [BlackElo "2485"]
    [PlyCount "121"]
    [EventDate "2009.08.15"]
    [EventType "schev"]
    [EventRounds "5"]
    [EventCountry "RUS"]
    [Source "ChessBase"]
    [SourceDate "2009.09.03"]

    1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. c3 c5 8.
    Ne5 a6 9. Bd3 cxd4 10. Qa4+ Nd7 11. cxd4 Bd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Nf3 h6 14. Qd1 e5
    15. Bc2 exd4 16. Qxd4 Qb6 17. Qxb6 Nxb6 18. Be3 Nc4 19. Bd4 Bg4 20. Be4 Rad8
    21. Rfd1 b5 22. b3 Bxf3 23. Bxf3 Be5 24. Bxe5 Nxe5 25. Be4 Rfe8 26. f3 Kf8 27.
    Rac1 g6 28. h4 h5 29. Kh2 f5 30. Bb7 Nd3 31. Rc3 Nf4 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. Rc2 a5
    34. Ba6 b4 35. Bc4 Rd4 36. Kg3 Nd5 37. Bxd5 f4+ 38. Kf2 Rxd5 39. Ke2 g5 40.
    hxg5 Rxg5 41. Kd3 Re5 42. Rc4 Rd5+ 43. Rd4 Rg5 44. Rxf4+ Kg7 45. g4 h4 46. Rc4
    Rd5+ 47. Ke3 Rd1 48. Rc2 Rh1 49. Kf4 Kg6 50. Rd2 Kf6 51. g5+ Ke6 52. Re2+ Kf7
    53. Kf5 h3 54. f4 Rg1 55. Rc2 Rg2 56. Rc7+ Ke8 57. Rh7 h2 58. Kf6 Rxa2 59. g6
    Rg2 60. g7 a4 61. Rxh2 1-0

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  2. May God bless her soul ... This is a true loss for the chess world...

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  3. My heart goes out to the family of Elena. A very great tragedy.

    Joseph F

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  4. It is so sad to lose such a young and bright star.She seemed gentle and wise,it is indeed a great loss to all those who knew her and loved her.Our prayers and her missing in this world would certainly heard by her in good heavens.May grace smile up on her for ever.

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  5. My tribute for Elena http://mundoajedrez.com.pe/una-flor-brillante/

    She was a beautiful flower

    Robert Cuadros, Lima, Peru

    ReplyDelete

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