MOSCOW – Partly wrapped in a fur coat that leaves very little to the imagination, Maria Manakova smiles suggestively at the camera.

This 30-year-old woman grandmaster has caused a minor sensation in the otherwise stuffy world of chess with a series of raunchy photo shoots for glossy magazines.

Reporters have dubbed her the “Anna Kournikova of chess” since she posed nude for magazines and turned up at tournaments in a skimpy blouse and high heels.

“Women use their sexuality to promote all kinds of sports,” she said last week as she sipped a cup of Earl Grey tea at the fashionable Cafe des Artistes in central Moscow. “Why not chess?”

Her pictures and forthright views have caused a backlash from members of the somewhat staid chess establishment. She was ranked 20th among the world’s female players in the 1990s, but only recently began to exploit her looks. In the spring, she appeared on the cover of Russia’s Speed magazine, and this month’s edition of Pro Sport features “artistic” shots of her in designer underwear.

In a recent interview she poured scorn on female players in “dirty, baggy trousers,” urging them to wear miniskirts instead to attract sponsors. “Enough of begging for money from businessmen and politicians who happen to fall in love with chess to their own misfortune,” she argued. “It’s time to work for this money, if not with behavior then at least with appearance.”

One top player responded: “Have we turned into prostitutes?” However, Ms. Manakova claims that the same woman was later spotted in suspiciously sexier attire.

The deputy director of the Russian Chess Federation, Natalia Shustayeva, noted tartly: “If she manages to attract finance like that it’s wonderful, but I’m not sure it will come off.”

Although she was born and lives in Russia, Ms. Manakova is a member of the Serbian national team because she was formerly married to the Yugoslav grandmaster Miroslav Tosic.

She fell in love with her ex-husband when she played against him as a teenager. “I made a series of rash moves with my king and surrendered myself to him. He liked that.” She became individual women’s champion of Yugoslavia.

Russia has produced most of the world’s greatest chess players, including the current men’s no. 1 and three, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, and the women’s no. 4, Alexandra Kosteniuk,20,who was also groomed as a sex symbol but stopped short of anything risque. “She was always restrained by her parents and she was only a girl,” said Ms. Manakova. “I’m completely in control of my image. I’m the one in the lead, carrying the flag.

Born in 1974 in Kazan, she began playing chess at the age of 3 with her father, a composer. As a teenager she went to study in Moscow where she became city champion in the girls category.

Her world ranking dipped recently but she plans a comeback as her 10-year-old son, Borislav, gets older and needs less care. As for her playing style, it is “chaotic, in tune with my lifestyle,” although she keeps to a strict regime of jogging and calisthenics to keep in trim.

She has studied marketing and journalism and last month agreed a to deal with a Russian national television channel to host two shows about “the mysteries of chess.” “Chess is a sport but also a religion, full of signs and symbols,” she said.

She believes that charismatic male players can also attract more spectators. “Kasparov has charisma. He has an aura about him.”

The editor of 64-Chess Review, Alexander Roshal, said that the Russian chess establishment viewed Ms. Manakova with extreme skepticism.

“She crossed the line that separates chess from vulgarity,” he said.

One of Britain’s leading women chess players, Jovanka Houska, a law graduate, also criticized her for “cheapening” the image of the game.

“She could be a far better ambassador for chess than this,” she said between games at the British Chess Championships in Scarborough. “You shouldn’t need to take your clothes off to get publicity. It’s a cheap shot to grab attention.”

Ms. Houska, 24, who is tipped to become Britain’s first female grandmaster, said that she hoped to attract enough sponsorship to play chess fulltime. “But if I couldn’t get enough sponsorship I would never stoop to taking my clothes off.”

The director of women’s chess at the British Chess Federation, Claire Summerscale, accused Ms. Manakova of undermining efforts to attract more women to chess. “This kind of thing cheapens the game and sends all the wrong signals.”

There was support, however, from Nigel Short, the Commonwealth champion and The Daily Telegraph’s chess columnist, who said he believed that the game’s image needed a boost.

“The stereotypical image of a chess player is a nerdy guy, but Manakova reminds people that they are not all like that,” he said. “The chess world comprises all types, including some very attractive women. Whatever attracts people to the game must be good. Why should it be that chess is the only aspect of human life which doesn’t contain sex?”

Ms. Manakova is not the only woman adding glamour to the game. Carmen Kass, one of the world’s top 10 models, is a strong player and president of the Estonian Chess Federation. Last week, the 25-year-old was the star guest at the Chess Classic in Mainz, Germany, where she took on champions in blitz games.