Valentine’s treat: Couples who are great players

THE world’s best chess players, both men and women, are a closely-knit community, so it’s not surprising that they end up with each other.

Tomorrow being Valentine’s day, I am featuring married couples who are both highly-rated. They must be presently married (no girlfriends or ex-wives).

Alexander Grischuk is a Russian grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009. He has won two team gold medals and one individual bronze medal at the Olympiad. He has a rating of 2810 (No.3 in the world) and is married to Ukrainian GM Natalia Zhukova (2482). Natalia played Board 1 on the champion Ukrainian team at the 2006 Turin Olympiad . In May 2010, she reached the 2500 rating and achieved the title of GM.

Laurent Fressinet is a French GM who won the French Chess Championship in 2010. In 2012 he finished second in the European Individual Championship in Plovdiv. He was twice runner-up at the European Blitz Championship in 2006 and 2007 and was the French Rapid Chess Champion in 2009 and 2011. He has a rating of 2706 and is married to Almira Skripchenko, also a French player who has achieved the Fide IM and WGM titles. She won the second Ladies European Individual Championship in 2001 and has a rating of 2421.

Bartosz So ko is a Polish Grandmaster who played for Poland at six Chess Olympiads (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010) and at six European Team Chess Championships (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009). His rating is 2611 and is married to Monika So ko ,a GM who won the Polish Women’s championship six times (1995, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014). Her rating is 2452.

Peng Xiaomin in 1997 became China’s sixth GM. He was a World Top 100 Chess Player from July 2000 to October 2002, while also at the same time, was the thirdranked Chinese player. He has a rating of 2591 and is married to WGM Qin Kanying, who won the Chinese Chess Championship five times in 1988, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2004. She is presently rated at 2466.

Mohammed Ahmed Al-Modiahki is the only player in Qatar to earn the title of grandmaster, and is the country’s best player. He was awarded the trophy of the Player of the Century within the Arab Countries. He has a rating of 2550 and is married to Chinese GM Zhu Chen. In 2001, she became China’s second wom- en’s world chess champion after Xie Jun, and China’s 13th Grandmaster. In 2006, she obtained a Qatari citizenship and today plays for Qatar and is rated 2414.

Wu Shaobin is a Singaporean GM but is formerly from China. He won the national Singaporean Championship in 2003 and 2005. He is married to former Women’s World Champion Xie Jun. He has a rating of 2447, while his wife has a higher rating of 2547.

Oleg Korneev is a Spanish GM with a rating of 2597 and is married to WGM Tatiana Kononenko of Ukraine rated 2355.

Sergei Movsesian is an Armenian -born GM who played for the Czech Republic for most of his career. Later, he represented Slovakia for better conditions and citizenship certification there, but in late 2010, he announced that he would play for his home country of Armenia. He has a rating of 2663 and is married to WGM Júlia Ko etková, who is from Slovakia with a rating of 2298.

Zhang Zhong is a Chinese GM who now plays for Singapore. He won the 2005 Asian Championship to qualify for the Fide World Cup held that year and in 2008, won the Asean tournament in Tarakan. He has a rating of 2614 and is married to WGM Li Roufan. She holds the titles of IM and WGM and is rated 2394.

The ratings posted are as of February 2015.There are more on the list which is taken from the websites of WGM Natalia Pogonina, Bill Wall and chess.com.