Kateryna Lahno

Who is Kateryna Lahno?

Kateryna Oleksandrivna Lahno is a Ukrainian chess player. She earned the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster 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. Born in Lviv, Lahno grew up in the industrial and chess-friendly town Kramatorsk. As of 2005, she lives in Donetsk.

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. In May 2008, Lahno won the European Individual Women Chess Championships again in Plovdiv, by one-half point in the 11-round open tournament.

On February 25, 2009 she married Robert Fontaine, French chess grandmaster and TV reporter. 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 became World Woman Blitz Champion. At the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul in 2012, she won the individual bronze medal for her performance on Board One.