WGMNatalija Pogonina

Natalia Pogonina was born in Vladivostok in 1985. Her grandfather taught her chess at five, and she began formal study after winning a school checkers tournament. She won Russia's girls' under-fourteen championship in 1998. European youth gold medals followed at under-sixteen in 2000 and under-eighteen in 2003. She became a woman grandmaster in 2004. Her senior victories included the 2009 Moscow Open and Russian Women's Championships in 2012 and 2018. She helped Russia win European team gold in 2011 and Olympiad gold in 2012 and 2014. At the 2012 Olympiad she also won individual gold on the reserve board. In 2015 she reached the Women's World Championship final before losing to Mariya Muzychuk. Outside competition, she studied law at the Saratov State Academy of Law. She wrote chess columns and worked as a host and commentator for online chess events. She married Peter Zhdanov in 2009, and they had a son that year.