Anna Zatonskih

Anna has been a dominant force on the US Women’s chess scene since she emigrated from Ukraine in 2003.  Born in Mariupol, Ukraine (USSR) in 1978, she won the Ukrainian Women’s Championship in 2001. Since then, she has also added four US Women’s Championships to her title list.  Since her first victory in 2006, Zatonskih and Irina Krush dominated the Championships, passing the title back and forth until IM Nazi Paikidze took her first title in 2016. 2009 was a particularly notable year, where Anna blew the field away completely on her way to a score of 8.5/9.   

Zatonskih represented Ukraine in the 2000 and 2002 Olympiads, as well as in two European Team Championships, scoring a silver medal for her board in Batumi 1999.  She really helped bolster team USA since 2004, aiding their silver medal run in 2004. Her best performance was perhaps in 2008, scoring a gold medal for her board in Dresden 2008 to lead the team to a bronze medal.  She also won an individual silver medal for board 1 at the World Team Championships in 2017.

Anna currently resides in Germany with her husband, GM Daniel Fridman, as well as their two young children.  Since becoming a mother she has played noticeably less often, but is certainly no less dangerous, as she recently took out super GM Boris Gelfand at the 2017 Isle of Man.  It wouldn’t be surprising if she took a few more scalps at the Cairns Cup.