Chess queen Arianne Caoili’s next move

Chess queen Arianne Caoili’s next move
By Greg Stolz
June 22, 2009 12:00am

AFTER something of a chequered past, Gold Coast chess queen Arianne Caoili is now making all the right moves, according to her old coach.

The jetsetting glamour girl of international chess, home on the Gold Coast for a major tournament, appears to have settled down after controversies including a dance-floor fight for her affections between two of the world’s top male chess players.

Caoili, who once described her likes as “getting up to no good, fine food (and fine boys), Johnny Depp, vodka, red wine, Kahlua … and the odd Cuban cigar”, also had a major run-in with Dancing With The Stars judge Todd McKenney in 2006, when the then 19-year-old was forced to deny lying about never having had dance lessons.

Three years on, Caoili is doing an honours degree in international relations, finance and statistics at the Australian National University in Canberra and has her sights on a PhD “probably in Russian foreign policy”.

And she is still dating world No.6-ranked chess star Levon Aronian. The Armenian grand master made headlines at the 2006 World Chess Olympiad when he was punched on a Turin dance floor by English rival Danny Gormally in an apparently jealous clash over Caoili.

Gold Coast chess guru Graeme Gardiner, who coached Caoili as a six-year-old, said he was “very pleased to see Arianne settling down to some serious study”.

“I’m also happy she’s over all that Dancing With The Stars rubbish and is getting into some serious stuff,” Gardiner said.

Caoili said she was enjoying her studies but was also glad to be back home on the Gold Coast.

“Nothing beats the Gold Coast – the climate and the people are the best,” she said.

Once touted as having the potential to become Australia’s first female international grand master, Caoili said chess now took a back seat to her studies and travel.

Source: http://www.news.com.au