Anna Muzychuk's dedication towards chess can be testified by a look at her busy calendar. After a remarkable win at the prestigious Nicosia Women's Grand Prix in March, the Ukrainian Grandmaster shifted her focus completely towards the Austria Grand Prix, currently underway. While it would be her final Grand Prix of the ongoing cycle, the 35-year-old would travel a week later for the highly anticipated 2025 edition of Norway Women&rsquo;s Chess to compete against some of the top talents of the sport.
"It's great to have successes, but you always have to go forward and focus on the next tournaments and next goals," <a href="https://www.wionews.com/tags/anna-muzychuk">Anna</a> said.
With reigning World Champion Ju Wenjin, Indian legend Koneru Humpy, along with Lei Tingjie, Vaishali R and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh in the fray, Anna, who finished as the runner-up last year in the inaugural edition of Norway Chess Women's tournament, expects a strong and unpredictable competition this year.
"I think it's the strongest women's event if we are looking at the ratings. It will be super tough. Each participant has a real chance to win it. I think it will be exciting, and I am really looking forward to it," she further added.
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Anna's persistence and relentless passion for the sport came from her upbringing. With her sister Mariya also a <a href="https://www.wionews.com/tags/chess">chess</a> player, and her parents being coaches, she began making her moves on the board at an exceptionally young age while growing up in Western part of Ukraine.
With Chess being immensely popular, Anna and her sister, Mariya, who is also a grandmaster now, and is also competing at the Austria Grand Prix, had to spend a lot of hours training to keep up with the competition.
"I was born in 1990 when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. It became an independent country a year later, but still all chess traditions were quite developed in our area. We had coaches, tournaments and chess was quite popular. There were so many players from our time from where I grew up and we competed together in various tournaments. Many of us went on to become grandmasters, hence our generation was really strong," Anna said.
<h2>'We can see young players becoming Grandmasters at age of 12'</h2>
But the pursuit of excellence always comes with sacrifices and hard choices, especially in sports. Anna explains the challenges that come with a life in Chess. "In Chess, we can see young players becoming <a href="https://www.wionews.com/tags/grandmaster">grandmasters</a> at the age of 12. To achieve that, you have to work a lot," Anna said.
"Nowadays, you cannot start too late if you want to be a top level player. Every time, you have to think if you are ready to sacrifice your childhood. Whether you want to be a part of fun activities with other children or work on chess and try to achieve more. It depends on the child and also a lot on the parents because they have to be supportive," she further added.
The Ukrainian international has already achieved every milestone in her career, with multiple world titles in Blitz and Rapid Chess tournaments, and the Grandmaster title among them. But she continues to hope to one day complete the set by winning the Women's World title in classical chess, a title she narrowly missed out in 2017. With her focus on her sporting goal, is Anna now able to find a balance between personal and professional life?
"It's always difficult. We see that some players manage both parts of life. But even if you are not at the very top, it's still hard. Right now, I am not married and do not have kids. So when I do have them, then I will be able to better tell how I am managing both," she said.
In her free time, whatever little she could find, Anna prefers to be with her friends and family, or attend some musical concerts. She also has a keen interest in learning foreign languages, programming, and also recently found a keen interest in hairstyles. "If not for a chess player, maybe I was doing something in the hairstyle industry," she said with a laugh.
Anna has also been quite vocal on equal rights for women over the years and also has been an advocate for growth of female players in chess. With Norway Chess providing equal pay for men and women, Anna feels it will motivate more female players to pick up the sport.
"All the participants are really thankful to the organizers of the Norway Chess for making equal price fund for both men and women. It will give additional motivation to all the girls around the world," she signed off.

World, Sports: Anna, who finished as the runner-up last year in first edition of Norway Chess Women's tournament, expects a strong and unpredictable competition this year

Anna Muzychuk's dedication towards chess can be testified by a look at her busy calendar. After a remarkable win at the prestigious Nicosia Women's Grand Prix in March, the Ukrainian Grandmaster shifted her focus completely towards the Austria Grand Prix, currently underway. While it would be her final Grand Prix of the ongoing cycle, the 35-year-old would travel a week later for the highly anticipated 2025 edition of Norway Women’s Chess to compete against some of the top talents of the sport. "It's great to have successes, but you always have to go forward and focus on the next tournaments and next goals," Anna said. With reigning World Champion Ju Wenjin, Indian legend Koneru Humpy, along with Lei Tingjie, Vaishali R and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh in the fray, Anna, who finished as the runner-up last year in the inaugural edition of Norway Chess Women's tournament, expects a strong and unpredictable competition this year. "I think it's the strongest women's event if we are looking at the ratings. It will be super tough. Each participant has a real chance to win it. I think it will be exciting, and I am really looking forward to it," she further added. Also Read: Iceland Cricket's viral 'Scammers XI' dig targets pricey IPL stars, Rishabh Pant named captain Anna's persistence and relentless passion for the sport came from her upbringing. With her sister Mariya also a chess player, and her parents being coaches, she began making her moves on the board at an exceptionally young age while growing up in Western part of Ukraine. With Chess being immensely popular, Anna and her sister, Mariya, who is also a grandmaster now, and is also competing at the Austria Grand Prix, had to spend a lot of hours training to keep up with the competition. "I was born in 1990 when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. It became an independent country a year later, but still all chess traditions were quite developed in our area. We had coaches, tournaments and chess was quite popular. There were so many players from our time from where I grew up and we competed together in various tournaments. Many of us went on to become grandmasters, hence our generation was really strong," Anna said. 'We can see young players becoming Grandmasters at age of 12' But the pursuit of excellence always comes with sacrifices and hard choices, especially in sports. Anna explains the challenges that come with a life in Chess. "In Chess, we can see young players becoming grandmasters at the age of 12. To achieve that, you have to work a lot," Anna said. "Nowadays, you cannot start too late if you want to be a top level player. Every time, you have to think if you are ready to sacrifice your childhood. Whether you want to be a part of fun activities with other children or work on chess and try to achieve more. It depends on the child and also a lot on the parents because they have to be supportive," she further added. The Ukrainian international has already achieved every milestone in her career, with multiple world titles in Blitz and Rapid Chess tournaments, and the Grandmaster title among them. But she continues to hope to one day complete the set by winning the Women's World title in classical chess, a title she narrowly missed out in 2017. With her focus on her sporting goal, is Anna now able to find a balance between personal and professional life? "It's always difficult. We see that some players manage both parts of life. But even if you are not at the very top, it's still hard. Right now, I am not married and do not have kids. So when I do have them, then I will be able to better tell how I am managing both," she said. In her free time, whatever little she could find, Anna prefers to be with her friends and family, or attend some musical concerts. She also has a keen interest in learning foreign languages, programming, and also recently found a keen interest in hairstyles. "If not for a chess player, maybe I was doing something in the hairstyle industry," she said with a laugh. Anna has also been quite vocal on equal rights for women over the years and also has been an advocate for growth of female players in chess. With Norway Chess providing equal pay for men and women, Anna feels it will motivate more female players to pick up the sport. "All the participants are really thankful to the organizers of the Norway Chess for making equal price fund for both men and women. It will give additional motivation to all the girls around the world," she signed off.

'You have to be ready to sacrifice your childhood', Ukrainian chess GM Anna Muzychuk on price of success

World Chess Championship 2017 is again in the middle of controversies with a Ukrainian chess grandmaster, Anna Muzychuk, declaring to boycott the world event on the issue of women&#39;s rights.&nbsp;

Anna announced in November that she would boycott the tournament because of forced dress rules in the country.&nbsp;

She has now taken to her Facebook profile to vent that the boycott would ultimately lead to her losing both the World Championship titles.&nbsp;

She writes:&nbsp;&ldquo;In a few days I am going to lose two World Champion titles &ndash; one by one. Just because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia. Not to play by someone&rsquo;s rules, not to wear abaya , not to be accompanied getting outside, and altogether not to feel myself a secondary creature. Exactly one year ago I won these two titles and was about the happiest person in the chess world, but this time I feel really bad. I am ready to stand for my principles and skip the event, where in five days I was expected to earn more than I do in a dozen of events combined.&rdquo;

<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="708" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fanna.muzychuk.9%2Fposts%2F1664124963648529&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe>

This comes after authorities announced that all women competitors would be required to wear &quot;high-necked white blouses with black or blue trousers&quot;.

The earlier mandate was for women to wear a &#39;hijab&#39;&nbsp;or &#39;abaya&#39;&nbsp;while playing in the hosting nation. It was later announced to the relief of many by World Chess organising body FIDE that there would be &quot;no need to wear a hijab or abaya&rdquo; during the 2017 World Chess Championship being held in Saudi Arabia, &ldquo;a first for any sporting event&rdquo; in the country.

Anna is skipping the tournament along with her sister and fellow chess grandmaster Mariya who have been raising their voice against this rule for months.&nbsp;

She continued in her post about countries with such oppressive and misogynistic&nbsp;rules and said,&nbsp;&ldquo;First Iran, then Saudi Arabia.. wondering where the next Women&rsquo;s World Championships will be organized&quot; before adding &ldquo;Everything has its limits and headscarves in Iran was more than enough.&rdquo;

Saudi Arabia&nbsp;reportedly paid $1.5 million to host the tournament. According to FIDE, that includes a 350% increase in prize funds. The winner of the Open which is open to both genders but dominated by men will net $250,000. The women&rsquo;s tournament winner will take home $80,000.

Saudi Arabia is hosting the World Chess Championship with an aim to show how the nation is opening up under the rule of crown prince&nbsp;Mohammad bin Salman.&nbsp;

The Championship recently came under the scanner for refusing the Israeli team to compete by not giving them visas.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Ukrainian chess grandmaster decided to boycott World Chess Championship 2017 to be held in Saudi Arabia over women's rights

World Chess Championship 2017 is again in the middle of controversies with a Ukrainian chess grandmaster, Anna Muzychuk, declaring to boycott the world event on the issue of women's rights. Anna announced in November that she would boycott the tournament because of forced dress rules in the country. She has now taken to her Facebook profile to vent that the boycott would ultimately lead to her losing both the World Championship titles. She writes: “In a few days I am going to lose two World Champion titles – one by one. Just because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia. Not to play by someone’s rules, not to wear abaya , not to be accompanied getting outside, and altogether not to feel myself a secondary creature. Exactly one year ago I won these two titles and was about the happiest person in the chess world, but this time I feel really bad. I am ready to stand for my principles and skip the event, where in five days I was expected to earn more than I do in a dozen of events combined.” This comes after authorities announced that all women competitors would be required to wear "high-necked white blouses with black or blue trousers". The earlier mandate was for women to wear a 'hijab' or 'abaya' while playing in the hosting nation. It was later announced to the relief of many by World Chess organising body FIDE that there would be "no need to wear a hijab or abaya” during the 2017 World Chess Championship being held in Saudi Arabia, “a first for any sporting event” in the country. Anna is skipping the tournament along with her sister and fellow chess grandmaster Mariya who have been raising their voice against this rule for months. She continued in her post about countries with such oppressive and misogynistic rules and said, “First Iran, then Saudi Arabia.. wondering where the next Women’s World Championships will be organized" before adding “Everything has its limits and headscarves in Iran was more than enough.” Saudi Arabia reportedly paid $1.5 million to host the tournament. According to FIDE, that includes a 350% increase in prize funds. The winner of the Open which is open to both genders but dominated by men will net $250,000. The women’s tournament winner will take home $80,000. Saudi Arabia is hosting the World Chess Championship with an aim to show how the nation is opening up under the rule of crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. The Championship recently came under the scanner for refusing the Israeli team to compete by not giving them visas.

Ukraine chess champion says 'will lose two World Champion titles' for 'not going to Saudi Arabia'

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'You have to be ready to sacrifice your childhood', Ukrainian chess GM Anna Muzychuk on price of success

Ukraine chess champion says 'will lose two World Champion titles' for 'not going to Saudi Arabia'