Nana Alexandria’s ideas were drawn from her vast experience as an outstanding
chess player. Born on October 13, 1949 in Poti, Georgia (USSR), Nana learned
chess at the age of four from her father, a mathematician. At ten she started
formal lessons in the famous Georgian chess school of V. Karseladze. Within
six months she became the girls’ champion of Tbilisi. She reached master
strength at fifteen. By the age of twenty, Nana had won the USSR Women’s
Championship for the third time, an achievement that was never equaled.

The year 1975 was very significant for Nana. This was when she suffered a heartbreaking
loss to Nona Gaprindashvili, 8½-3½, on her first attempt to win
the world women’s title. In the ninth game where she had a tremendous
advantage, she blundered away a piece and lost. Psychologically beaten, she
was not able to recover and lost three games in succession. In 1981, she got
another crack at the world title, this time against Maya Chiburdanidze. She
lacked self-confidence and did not expect to win the match when suddenly she
found the title within her grasp.

From 1969 through1986, Nana played for the USSR in six Olympiads, invariably
contributing significantly to the effort of winning the gold medal every time.
She participated in three more Olympiads from 1992 to1996 as Captain of the
victorious Georgian Women’s Team. Moreover, Nana was a three-time Champion
of Georgia, a three-time USSR Women’s Champion, and the first placer in
about 20 important international tournaments.