Darya Tkachenko

Darya Tkachenko
	Darya Tkachenko, 2005
Personal information
Nationality	Ukrainian
Citizenship	refugee currently living in the Netherlands
Born	21 December 1983 (age 40); Torez, Ukrainian SSR
Sport
Country	Ukraine (until 2015); Russia (from 2016 until 2019)
Sport	International draughts
Club	Motor Sich Zaporizhzhia, Hijken DTC, WSDV, Wageningen
Team	second team
Achievements and titles
World finals	2005: Gold; 2006: Gold; 2008: Gold; 2011: Gold
Regional finals	Europe 2004: Gold; Europe 2006: Gold
National finals	female champion of Ukraine in 2021
Highest world ranking	FMJD rating: 2250 (July 1, 2007)

Darya Aleksandrovna Tkachenko (Russian: Дарья Александровна Ткаченко; born 21 December 1983) is a Russian (since 2016), formerly Ukrainian (until 2015), draughts player holding the FMJD titles of FMJD Master (MF) and Women's International Grandmaster (GMIF). She is four-time women's world champion (2005, 2006, 2008, 2011) and twice women's European champion (2004, 2006) in international draughts. In 2016, she also won the women's world championship of Turkish draughts.^[1]

Biography and career edit

Darya Tkachenko was born in Torez, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. She has finished high school in Snizhne, Donetsk Oblast, and then started her biology studies in Kyiv University. She graduated in 2004 and proceeded to post-graduate studies in the same university which she successfully finished in 2007. In 2008 she started working on her Doctoral thesis.

Darya started playing draughts when she was 10 years old. In November 1996, being less than 13 years old, she won a bronze medal at the Ukrainian Under 19 championships. In 1999 she became a European Under 19 champion. The next year she won this tournament again and also won a bronze medal at the World Under 19 championships. In 2001 she became a World Under 19 champion and won a seniors Ukrainian championship.

In 2003 she once again won the Ukrainian championships, in 2004 the senior European championships and in 2005 the World championships in Latronico. The next year she once again became a European and World champion, having won the World championship match again the Russian competitor Tamara Tansykkuzhina. She also won the European team cup with the "Pleso" team.

In 2007 Tkachenko lost her World title, letting Tansykkuzhina to the first place in the tournament held in Jakutsk, Russia, but the next year she was able to regain the championship after winning the match again her Russian counterpart. In 2007 and 2008, she won the European team cup twice more with the "Motor Sich" Zaporizhzhia. In 2010 Tkachenko lost both European and World championships, placing as low as 19th in Europe and 4th out of 6 participants in the World championship but in the next year returned the world title after defeating Zoja Golubeva in a three-set match.

World and European seniors championships record edit

Year	Competition	Place	Competition type	Result	Placed
2004	EC	Mlawa	Tournament	4+ 5= 0-	1
2005	WC	Latronico	Tournament	6+ 5= 0-	1
2006^[2]	EC	Bovec	Tournament	4+ 5= 0-	1
2006	WC	Jakutsk / Kyiv	Match against Tamara Tansykkuzhina	2:1 by sets	1
2007	WC	Jakutsk	Tournament	6+ 8= 1-	2
2008	WC	Ufa / Dniprodzerzhynsk	Match against Tamara Tansykkuzhina	3:0 by sets	1
2008^[3]	EC	Tallinn	Tournament	3+ 6= 0-	2
2010^[4]	EC	Sępólno Krajeńskie	Tournament	2+ 4= 3-	19
2010^[5]	WC	Ufa	Tournament	0+ 9= 1-	4
2011	WC	Dniprodzerzhynsk	Match against Zoja Golubeva	2:1 by sets	1
2011	WC	Rivne	Tournament	3+ 9= 1-	6
2012	EC	Emmen	Tournament	3+ 5= 1-	5
2013	WC	Ulaanbaatar	Tournament	7+ 7= 1-	2
2014	EC	Tallinn	Tournament	4+ 3= 2-	7
2016	EC	Izmir	Tournament	2+ 6= 1-	11
2021	WC	Tallinn	Tournament	4+ 7= 4-	10
2023	WC	Willemstad	Tournament	7+ 7= 1-	2