EP 339- WGM Anna Zatonskih: The Four-Time US Women’s Champion Shares the Story Behind Earning Her First GM Norm at age 44!

Perpetual Chess Podcast

Perpetual Chess LLC

Sports, Leisure, Hobbies

4.8 • 678 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week’s guest is the four-time U.S. women's champion and perennial US National Team Member WGM Anna Zatonskih. Anna joined me the week after her inspiring victory at the 2023 Cairns Cup to reflect on her standout performance. As Anna recounts, as the second to lowest seed in the tournament, most people had modest expectations for her, but despite self-doubt and busy life, she nonetheless decided to prepare rigorously for the tournament and hoped to put her best foot forward. As it turned out, Anna not only won the tournament but unexpectedly secured her first Grandmaster norm at 44 years of age! Anna shares the advice that helped motivate her to double down on her study, how she went about studying, and she discusses how she plans to spend the $45,000 she won. We also discuss Anna’s emigration to the U.S. in 2002, her study regimen as a top youth player in Ukraine, and how she approaches teaching chess to her kids as a mom. I was so inspired by Anna’s story and I think that you will be as well! Timestamps of topics discussed can be found below: Recorded June 21, 2023 Thanks to our presenting chess education sponsors, Chessable.com. You can check out some of my recommended courses here: https://go.chessable.com/perpetual-chess-podcast/ 01:00- What was Anna’s mindset going into the Cairn’s Cup? How did she work on her game? Mentioned: Vladmirov’s 1000 Chess Studies, GM Daniel Fridman 28:00- Does Anna have family members in Ukraine? What rules should FIDE have place for Russian players competing from different countries? Mentioned: IM Irina Bulmaga’s Blog post 35:00- Patreon mailbag question: “How does Anna approach teaching chess to her own kids?” 38:00- How did Anna study chess as a child in the former Soviet Union? 40:00- How does Anna describe her first days in the US in 2002? 45:00- Anna discusses her upcoming chess plans and life in Germany. 47:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Should the “WGM” title have a different name?” Mentioned: Jen Shahade’s FAQ 52:00- What are Anna’s next chess plans? Mentioned: Recognizing Your Opponent’s Resources Thanks to Anna for sharing her story! If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/perpetualchess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:51.8	Hello, everyone, and welcome back to perpetual chess.
0:54.4	We are joined by an illustrious guest, where we will introduce momentarily.
0:57.5	But first, I wanted to give a shout out to our presenting chess education sponsor, chescible.com.
1:02.5	Our guest just played a notable tournament where she had openings, including the French defense, the NIMSO, the Catalan, the Queen's Gambit declined.
1:10.1	Guess what?
1:10.8	You can learn about all those openings and much more on Chesa Bowl.
1:13.8	They have so many courses that you can choose from.
1:16.8	You can check out some of my personal favorites.
1:18.6	I'll link to that in the show description.
1:20.8	But I'm super excited to introduce our guest this week. someone I've wanted to interview for a long time and now more than ever because she is coming off of an incredible performance in the 2003 Karen's Cup where she was the lowest rated player in the field but won the tournament with a round despair securing a grandmaster norm.
1:37.6	She's also a four-time U.S. women's champion, a former Ukrainian women's champion. She is originally from Ukraine.
1:50.1	She's a perennial U.S. national team member, and I am excited to welcome Anna Zatonski to the show.
	...

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