Kateryna Lahno (born December 27, 1989) is a
Ukrainian chess player and two-times European Champion.
She earned the FIDE title
of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at the age of 12 years and 4 months, breaking Judit
Polgár's record to become the youngest ever to earn this title. She is now a full
Grandmaster (GM). Born in Lviv, Lahno grew up in the industrial and
chess-friendly town Kramatorsk.
Since 2009 she lives in France with her husband GM and TV reporter Robert
Fontaine.
Lahno was
the fifth seed for the 64-player knockout 2004 Women's World Chess
Championship. At the age of 15 she won the 2005 European Individual Women's
Championship, held in June in Chişinău,
Moldova. Tied
with Russian IM Nadezhda Kosintseva at the end of the 12th round with 9 points
each,
Lahno won both games of a two-game rapid-play tie-break playoff to win
the championship. She won IV Women's 'North Urals Cup - 2006', attaining a full
grandmaster norm in the process.
The same year, she became Russian Team champion with
the club of Spartak, and then won the European Team championship in Ohrid. In
August 2010, Kateryna won World Woman Blitz Championship.
|