Happy Birthday Natalia Zhukova
"Today in Chess History" saw the birth of six Grandmasters:
- Vladimir Lazarev of France was born in 1964 and became a GM in 2000.
- Csaba Horváth of Hungary, born 1968, GM 1993.
- Tigran Nalbandian of Armenia, born 1975, GM 2004.
- Natalia Zhukova of the Ukraine, born 1979, GM 2010.
- Anton Shomoev of Russia, born 1981, GM 2002.
- Wouter Spoelman of the Netherlands, born 1990, GM 2009.
Natalia Oleksandrivna Zhukova became a Grandmaster in 2010, and was just 12 years old when she made her debut at the World Youth Championship level at Mamaia 1991. She won the European Youth Championship for Girls U14 atSzombathely1993 with 7½/9. She won the European Championship for Girls U16 atHerculane1994 with 7/9. She won the World Championship for Girls U16 atSzeged1994 with 7/9.
Zhukova was the youngest player in the field when she made her debut in 1996 at the Ukrainian women's level. She tied for 1st place in the championship with 6/10.
Zhukova's early results earned her a spot on the Ukrainian national women's team starting in 1996, and she represented Ukraine in six straight Olympiads, since 1998 on board one, most notably at Turin 2006, where she scored +5−0=5, winning team and board gold medals.
Zhukova tied for 1st place at Belgrade 1998 with 6/9. She won the Groningen Women's Festival in 1998 with 7/10. She won the 1999 EU Cup for Women at Nova Gorica with 5½/7.
She won the European Women's Championship twice, in 2000 and 2015.
