Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro British chess player
A.K.A. Ketevan Arakhamia
Is Chess player 
From United Kingdom 
Georgia 
Type Sports 
Gender female
Birth 19 July 1968, Ochamchire, Georgia
Age: 52 years
Star sign Cancer

Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (née Arakhamia) is a Georgian (former Soviet Union)-born Scottish Grandmaster of chess.

Chess career

In 1985, when she won the World Junior Chess Championship for Girls, held in Dobrna (and taking silver in Adelaide three years later). Very soon thereafter, she fulfilled the criteria for the Woman International Master title and this was awarded in 1986. Encouraged by these early successes, she quickly developed aspirations to become a Women’s World Championship contender and in the course of the qualification cycles of the late eighties and early nineties, proved that she had the ability to compete at the top level. Second place behind Nana Ioseliani in her first Interzonal at Tuzla 1987 was an inspirational start, but she won the 1993 event in Jakarta and the 1995 event in Kishinev. Her performances in the respective Candidates Tournaments ruled out an opportunity to play for the world title.

She won the Women’s Soviet Chess Championship in 1990.

Aside from world championship competitions, in 1990 she took first place at both the Biel Women’s Open and Geneva (IM), then followed up by winning the Doeberl Cup in Canberra, Australia in 1991; the first woman to do so. Her participation at the Hastings Premier in 1993/94, where she finished ahead of six male grandmasters and defeated three of them on her way to a share of third place. In respect of women competitors at Hastings, the result was second only to that of Judit Polgár.

In the nineties she participated in the Veterans vs Ladies dance-themed tournaments where she defeated Borislav Ivkov, Vlastimil Hort, Vasily Smyslov and Mark Taimanov.

In 1996, she married Jonathan Grant, also a chess player, and they settled in Edinburgh, later giving birth to daughter Elena.

In team chess, Arakhamia debuted at Chess Olympiad at Novi Sad in 1990, representing the USSR Ladies team as first reserve and registering a perfect 12/12 score. With the Soviet and then Georgian Ladies Teams, she has won nine Olympiad medals, and including two team and three individual gold medals. She has won medals at the European Team Chess Championships; a team gold at Pula in 1997 and team silver medals in 1992 and 2005.

Despite moving to the UK, Arakhamia continued to represent Georgia for many years, through membership of its national chess federation. She was the Georgian Ladies Champion in 1983, 1984 and 1990. In January 2008 however, she switched her registration to her adopted country.

Post-millennium, she has won a bronze medal at the Women’s European Individual Championship at Warsaw in 2001. She was Scottish champion jointly with Paul Motwani in 2003 (the first ever woman to achieve the honour) and has participated at the British Championship, taking the Ladies’ Champion titles of 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. In 2006, she finished just a half point behind overall Championship winner Jonathan Rowson. She concluded with a 4½/5 finish, including a win against Nick Pert in the last round. 2006 was also the year that her husband took first place in the Scottish Championship, making them the first ever husband–wife pair to win a full national championship. Also in 2006, at Batumi Georgia, she assisted the Australian squad by coaching their Under-10 Girls at the World Youth Chess Championship.

In 2007, she beat former U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura at Gibraltar Masters, in a 100-move first round encounter. Journalist John Saunders describes Arakhamia-Grant as the ideal role model: “her charming and dignified manner belies a tough, determined fighter at the board.” At Philadelphia, while visiting her sister, she played the World Open and finished top woman. As the tournament was a qualifier for the MonRoi Women’s Grand Prix, she earned a place in the Montreal finale, held just a few weeks later. There, she shared the lead after five rounds and finished in joint fourth place (Pia Cramling won). As part of the Liverpool European Capital of Culture festivities, she played in the United Kingdom vs China match and was top scorer for the UK with 4/6, although China won the match.

At the 2008 EU Individual Open Chess Championship in Liverpool, she shared the highest scoring woman prize with Jovanka Houska and Yelena Dembo. At the Olympiad in Dresden, she played for Scotland in the main event and completed her final grandmaster norm with victory in the final round. Having additionally met the 2500 Elo rating requirement in the January 2009 FIDE list, she was awarded the title in March 2009, making her Scotland’s sixth grandmaster. In August 2009 Arakhamia-Grant won the Baltic Queen round-robin tournament in Saint Petersburg.

In July 2011 she won the Scottish Championship outright, finishing with the score of 7/9.

In league chess, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant has played for OSC Baden-Baden in the Women’s Bundesliga and for Georgian team Interplast Tbilisi in the European Club Cup. For the 2008/9 season, she represents Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher 1 in the British 4NCL.

Notable games

  • Lidia Semenova vs. Arakhamia, Jakarta Interzonal, 1993; Torre Attack
    1.d4 d5 2. Bg5 Nd7 3.Nf3 Ngf6 4.Nbd2 g6 5.c3 Bg7 6.Qc2 0-0 7.e4 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4 Nf6 10. Bxf6? exf6! 11.0-0-0 Bh6+ 12.Nd2 Bf5! 13.Qxb7 c5! 14.dxc5 Re8 15.Bc4 Re7 16.Qb4 Rb8 17.Qa4 Reb7 18.b3 a5 19.Rhe1! Rb4 20.Re8+! Qxe8 21.Qxe8+ Rxe8 22.cxb4 axb4 23.c6 Ra8 24.c7 Bf4 25.Re1 Bxc7 25.Re7 Bf4 27.Rxf7 Kh8 28.g3 Be5 29.Kd1 Bc3 30.Nf1 Rxa2 31.Ne3 Be4 32.Rf8+ Kg7 33.Rg8+ Kh6 34.Ng4+ Kg5 35.h3 Ra1+ 36.Ke2 Re1# 0–1
  • Stuart Conquest vs. Arakhamia-Grant, British Ch. Edinburgh, 2003; Grünfeld Defence
    1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 0-0 8.Bb5!? Be6!? 9.Nf3 Nc4 10.Bxc4 Bxc4 11.h4 Nd7 12.h5 c5! 13.d5 f5! 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.Bh6?! Bxc3! 16.bxc3 fxe4! 17.Bxf8 exf3 18.Qxf3 Nxf8 19.Rd1 Qd6 20.Qe4 b5 21.f4 Rd8 22.Kf2 Bxd5 23.Qe3 Qe6! 24.Qg3 Rd6 25.Rhe1 Qf6 26.Kg1 Bxa2 27.f5 Bc4 28.fxg6 Nxg6 29.Qe3 Rxd1 30.Rxd1 Nf4 31.Rd8+ Kf7 32.Rd2 Nd5! 33.Qxc5 Qf1+ 34.Kh2 Qf4+ 0–1
  • Arakhamia-Grant vs. Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2nd Women’s European Ch., 2001; Sicilian Defense
    1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 h6 9.Be3 Be7 10.f4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 12.Qe3 Bb7 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Bd3 Qa5 15.Kb1 b4 16.Ne2 Qc5 17.Nd4 d5 18.Qe2 Kf8 19.Nb3 Qb6 20.exd5 Bxd5 21.Be4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Kg7 23.f5 Rad8 24.fxe6 fxe6 25.Nd4 Kf7 26.Nc6 Rc8 27.Ne5+ fxe5 28.Rhf1+ Kg7 29.Qg4+ Bg5 30.Rd7+ 1–0
You May Also Like

Courteney Cox’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Courteney Cox net worth and salary: Courteney Cox is an American actress and producer who has a net worth of $150 million. Courteney is perhaps best known for starring as Monica Geller on the hit television show “Friends”, but she has enjoyed a successful film and television career outside of that entertainment behemoth. Early Life: Courteney Cox was born June 15, 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama, to her father Richard Lewis Cox and mother Courteney Copeland. Her parents divorced when she was 10. Her mother eventually married a man named Hunter Copeland. Hunter’s nephews were Ian Copeland and Stewart Copeland. Stewart is the drummer for The Police and Ian managed the band. Cox graduated from Mountain Brook High School and went to Mount Vernon College in Washington, D.C. She didn’t complete her architecture degree in favor of her pursuit in a career in acting and modeling. Early Career: Courteney did not hit it big until moving to New York City and signing with the Ford Modeling Agency. After dabbling in modeling, Cox attended acting classes and landed a role on one episode of “As the World Turns” in 1984. Her first big break, however, was being cast by Brian De Palma in the infamous and iconic Bruce Springsteen video “Dancing in The Dark”. Soon after, she joined the cast of the highly successful sitcom, “Family Ties” in which she played Michael J. Fox’s girlfriend. Movie and TV Career: In 1994, Cox’s luck was at a high when she was cast in both Jim Carrey’s hit, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and as Monica Geller on the comedy hit “Friends.” Cox starred for ten years alongside Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc. She had originally been asked to audition for the part of Rachel on “Friends”, but was cast as Monica instead. This became her most famous role, which lasted for ten extremely successful seasons until its finale in 2004. Cox was also a part of Wes Craven’s highly successful trilogy, “Scream”, in which she played neurotic reporter, Gale Weathers. She reprised her role two more times in the sequels. During her 10 seasons on “Friends”, Courteney earned approximately $88 million in salary alone. In the first season, she was paid $22,500 per episode. In the final two seasons, she earned $1 million per episode. After “Friends”, she starred as Lucy Spiller in the television series “Dirt” from 2007 to 2008. Cox was a first choice for a starring role on “Desperate Housewives”, but due to her pregnancy, she was unavailable and the role went to Teri Hatcher. Cox then starred as Jules Cobb on the TV series “Cougar Town” from 2009 to 2015. This was her most successful work since Friends. Courteney also directed a few episodes of the show.  She has also starred in other films including “3000 Miles to Graceland”, “November”, “The Longest Yard”, “Zoom”, “Bedtime Stories”, and “Mothers and Daughters.” Other Ventures and Personal Life: Courteney owns the production company Coquette Productions after creating it with her ex-husband David Arquette. They met on the set of “Scream” and were married from 1999-2012. Their divorce was finalized in May 2013. They share a daughter, Coco, born in 2004. Before Arquette, she dated Michael Keaton, rock promoter Ian Copeland, and singer Adam Duritz. Cox has dated Snow Patrol band member Johnny McDaid since 2013. They were engaged in 2014, but in 2019 announced they had broken off their engagement, although they still remain in a serious relationship. Courteney Cox Real Estate: In 2007 Courteney spent $17.15 million to buy a home in Malibu, California. In the same year they listed a different home in Malibu, this one on the beach and designed by famous architect John Lautner for $33.5 million. They ultimately reduced the price to $20 million. She has spent around $5 million to buy two condos in a luxury Sunset Strip tower in Beverly Hills. In 2014, Courteney sold a Beverly Hills home to music producer Dr. Luke for $18 million. Courteney Cox “Friends” Salary and Royalties: For the first season of Friends, each cast member earned $22,500 per episode. That works out to $540,000 for the first season. Their salaries were boosted to $40,000 per episode in the second season. That works out to $960,000 for the second season. Ahead of the third season when their contracts were up, the cast banded together to negotiate as a group. They ended up with a deal that paid $75,000 per episode of season three ($1.875 million for the season), $85,000 for season 4 ($2.04 million), $100,000 for season 5 ($2.5 million) and $125,000 in season 6 ($3.125 million). Ahead of season 7 the cast negotiated for a massive raise. They each ended up earning $750,000 per episode in seasons 7 and 8 ($18 million per season). For seasons 9 and 10, each cast member earned $1 million per episode. That works out to $24 million for season 9 and $18 million for season 10. If you total it all up, each cast member of Friends earned around $90 million in base salary alone from the show before backend bonuses and on-going royalties. “Friends” Royalties: As part of their 2000 contract negotiations, the cast was able to demand backend points on the show which would allow them to earn royalties off the show’s sale into syndication. Up to that point, the only other TV stars who had ownership stakes in shows were Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby. “Friends” continues to generate north of $1 billion per year in syndication royalties and streaming deals. It has been reported that each cast member in some years can earn $10-20 million in royalties alone.
Read More

John-David Duggar’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

John-David Duggar net worth: John-David Duggar is an American reality television personality who has a net worth of $1 million. John-David Duggar was born in January 1990. He is best known for being a member of the Duggar family which has been featured on multiple reality TV series. John-David Duggar is the son of Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar and has several siblings. From 2008 to 2014 he starred on the reality TV series 17 Kids and Counting. From 2015 to 2018 John-David Duggar starred on the reality series Jill & Jessa Counting On. He has also appeared on the TV movies or TV documentaries 14 Children and Pregnant Again!, 16 Children and Moving In, Raising 16 Children, On the Road with 16 Children, K1 Discovery, Duggars’ Big Family Album, and Duggars Make a Movie.
Read More