Lagno Disputes 'Politically Biased' Beauty Award, Withdraws From Women's Grand Prix

GM Kateryna Lagno has withdrawn from the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix India in Pune, India, which is part of the women’s world championship cycle. FIDE published that Lagno, as well as IM Sara Khadem, withdrew from the tournament that's set to start on April 14 “due to personal reasons,” but the Russian grandmaster clarified her reason publicly in an open letter addressed to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich.

The letter was published on Facebook on March 26, via her friend IM Lilit Mkrtchian's account. There, Lagno described the “shock and disappointment” that she did not win the prize for the most beautiful game in the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Monaco and accused the voting jury of discriminating against her because she is Russian.

Lagno wrote:

Much to my shock and disappointment it was awarded to the game Kosteniuk-Tan Zhongyi. I believe I have enough chess competence to evaluate both my game and the award winner game. Yes, Aleksandra played fine, but it was spectacular only in a sense that black (Tan Zhongyi) made a completely unsound sacrifice, and white had a number of winning possibilities on each move.

She called the decision “politically biased” and specifically called out two of the three jury members who decided the vote: GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili and WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola. She concluded, "I find that decision insulting and humiliating and in view of that I refuse to play my final Grand-Prix stage in India."

She believed her game in round four against GM Elisabeth Paehtz was the most deserving and described this as “one of the best games of my career” and you can see it below, with annotations by Colin McGourty. 

But the committee instead awarded the prize to the game GM Alexandra Kosteniuk vs. GM Tan Zhongyi from round three, also with annotations by McGourty. It ended with the pretty queen sacrifice for an underpromotion to a knight. 

The beauty prize also came with a Cartier luxury watch. The cheapest model currently priced at $3,700.

Paehtz, who lost to Lagno, responded on Facebook writing that "It's my favorite loss 😂 But to understand the whole story, people should know the details."

She pointed out that the watch was bought by the official sponsor of the event, Inna Bazhenova, who is herself Russian. She also suggested potential favoritism for Kosteniuk, but disagreed that it's about nationality. She wrote:

What here may be interesting as facts itself, is, that Lagno has no ties to Monaco. Kosteniuk is not only a member of the Monaco chess club; but won many events in Monaco. She is the glory of Monaco chess for decades. Yet to me it looks still like a quick random choice of two games. I am sure it's not political, but rather typical ignorance for details. Besides the organizer of Monaco voted for Katja!!!

Asked to comment, Kosteniuk wrote to Chess.com that she is sad to see an example of a good intention, an additional beauty prize, leading to painful consequences. She wrote that one cannot expect a jury's decision to be "as objective as an engine's evaluation of a chess game." But she was also surprised when her game against Tan received the prize—and would have voted for Lagno's.

 If I had been voting, my choice would have been the Lagno-Paehtz game. While it wasn’t perfect, in my view, it was the most spectacular one. Nevertheless, I see no political background in the jury’s decision. I’m ready to publicly discuss such serious accusations only if any evidence is provided.

She concluded, "I have great respect for Kateryna as a player, and I understand how deeply it must hurt that what she considers one of the best games of her career did not receive the beauty prize. I hope we will see many more brilliant games from her, receiving the recognition they deserve."

It should be noted that Lagno most likely wouldn't have qualified for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates through the Grand Prix series anyway. So, by withdrawing, it is not like she is giving up this opportunity. You can see the Grand Prix standings below.

FIDE Women's Grand Prix Standings After Nicosia

Public disputes over beauty prizes in chess are exceptionally rare. The most notable, and memorable, precedent was in Linares 2003 when GM Garry Kasparov protested the award going to then 15-year-old GM Teimour Radjabov. The teenager defeated Kasparov, but only because the latter blundered in a winning position. The argument back then, however, was not about discrimination or politics; it was about chess and what constitutes a beautiful game.

Lagno responded to a request for comment, writing: "As I said, I made it public because FIDE declared my withdrawal 'for personal reasons'. Otherwise, I wouldn't go public with it."

Chess.com has reached out to Azmaiparashvili, and Reizniece-Ozola for comment. This is a developing story and we will add more perspectives when we receive responses.