Future Arctic

On Friday, August 25, 2023, Women’s Chess World Cup queen Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina held a public meeting with authorities and journalists for the sake of the students of the Polar Chess School named after Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov in Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. She didn’t shy away from answering the pupils’ questions such as “Why did you delete all your social media?”. Goryachkina answered that the Internet takes too much time, and excellence demands total dedication. She also shared her future plans, which are causing her some apprehension. Because of the fatigue, she said she will not play the Superfinal of the Russian Chess Championship next fall. Instead, she is now trying to urgently apply for a visa to England in order to participate in the 2023 FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss. Due to the well-known geopolitical situation, she is far from sure that she will get it in time. Finally, she plans to play in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships at the end of the year. Photo: Klara Galimzhanova/Gazeta Polyarnyy Krug (Gazzette Polar circle).