Kashlinskaya Alina

Born: October 28, 1993 | Federation: Russia | Rating: 2491

Alina Kashlinskaya was born in Moscow. She began playing chess when she was 7, in a group trained by grandmaster Lyudmila Zaitseva. In just a year, she evolved from a beginner to a first-category chess player. Shortly after, she started to train under the mentorship of international master Valerii Tsaturian, but her real breakthrough she owes to the guidance of renowned specialist Vladimir Vulfson. The young FIDE master became the champion of Russia and a two-time vice-champion of Europe in her age category.

One of the most promising young chess players in Russia was admitted to a sports school, where she worked with grandmasters Valery Chekhov and Sergey Arkhipov. Since 2008, she has been trained by the former Russian men's team coach Sergey Dolmatov. Kashlinskaya qualified for all the women's international grandmaster standards in 2009. Furthermore, the two-time Soviet champion Lev Psakhis greatly contributed to the development of one of the Russia's strongest female grandmasters.

In 2010, Kashlinskaya debuted for the Russian national team in a friendly match against China, which resulted in a victory of Russia. At the 2010 Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Alina played for the junior national team and won a silver medal at her board. She was a champion of Russia as a member of SHSM-RSSU team in 2011 and a prize-winner at the European Cup. She also won the 2011 Russian women's blitz championship.

Alina Kashlinskaya won a silver medal at the 2012 students' world championship. She was also the Russian junior champion in 2013 and debuted at the Superfinal of the Russian championship in the same year.

In 2013, Alina performed notably in the match between "Snowdrops" and "Oldhands": she scored 5/8 points (it was the top score of the whole event), helping her team to win. In March 2015, Kashlinskaya competed in the Women's World Chess Championship for the first time. Two months later, Kashlinskaya took bronze at the Women's European Individual Championship.

At the Superfinal of 2018 Russian championship, Alina Kashlinskaya scored between 3rd and 4th places, but was given fourth place based on additional criteria.

In October 2018, Alina scored best among women at the famous Isle of Man open chess tournament, where the first place was awarded to her husband, polish grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek. In April 2019, Alina Kashlinskaya won Women's European Individual Championship.

Alina graduated from the faculty of psychology at the Russian Social State University. She has written several poems and articles on her favorite sport. She was awarded the Anton Chekhov medal for her poem titled "A Girl and Sportswoman". She holds clear philosophical views, runs her own website and gives multiple interviews where she discusses ideas that might influence the lives of chess players.