Player Bios

Irina Krush is hoping to secure her U.S. Women’s Champion title for the fifth time in a row this year against a field of familiar faces. She has won the Championship seven times as has been the reigning Champ from 2012 - 2015.

Krush has entrenched herself as the figurehead to elite American women’s chess play by earning the title of Grandmaster in October 2013. America's only active female GM says she doesn't spend much time contemplating her current chess success or failures -- "I'm more attached to my future accomplishments."

Born in Odessa, USSR (now Ukraine) in 1983, Irina learned to play chess at age five, emigrating with her parents to Brooklyn that same year. Krush attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, where she participated in one of the top high-school chess teams in the country. It has been a rapid climb for Irina since then, including exceptional showings in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Chess Olympiads, as well as a gold-medal performance in the 2013 Women’s World Team Championship -- a result Krush called the best of her career.

In addition to her chess studies, the 2008 Samford Chess Fellowship recipient enjoys tennis, reading, writing, yoga and music. Krush has a degree in international relations from NYU, though she is currently concentrating on chess. She said she enjoys the challenge of playing other Grandmasters most: "When you beat a strong GM, that's when you feel like you can play chess."

Katerina Nemcova has been a dangerous competitor in the U.S. Women’s Championship from the moment she changed her federation in 2013. This marks the third year in a row that she has played in the Championship and she has proven that she is capable of fighting for the title.

Last year, she led the field for most of the tournament but ultimately tied for second with Nazi Paikidze. She played Irina Krush in the final round and a win would have forced a playoff but they drew the game and Krush became the Champion.

Nemcova is a member of the prestigious Webster University chess team where she majored in public relations. Coached by Susan Polgar, Nemcova has shown rapid improvement in recent years and enters this year’s Championship nearly 50 points higher-rated than she was a year ago.

Nemcova is a Prague-born, Czech chess champion who learned to play at age four. She won her national youth championship in eight different age categories on her ascent, topping out in 2008 as the Czech Women’s Champion and earning the title again in 2010.

Nemcova is the product of a complete chess-playing family, the third of seven siblings, all of whom were taught chess and fueled by chess-playing parents.  Four Nemcova girls, including Katerina, have earned Czech youth champion titles.

“My father always had us all practice together, it was always a nice family moment - not just like ‘practice,’ but always a lot of fun with my siblings,” Nemcova said. “I’ve always had my best performances in team events - I just feel like more people is more fun, the collectiveness of the whole event. I’m used to fighting together with my siblings; I like people around.”

She has represented the Czech Republic in a team event every year from 2007 to 2012 and was a three-time Olympic (2008, 2010, 2012) player and a gold-medalist as the second board at the European Women's Team Championship in 2007 with a score of 7.5/9 points.

Individually, Nemcova found her international stride after a second-place showing in the 2007 World Youth Championship (Kemer-Antalya, Turkey), followed up with a win at the 2008 European Youth Chess Championship after entering as the highest-rated girl U18.

By the age of six, Sabina Foisor had started participating in chess tournaments and, by the time she was 18 she had already been finishing in top 3 at multiple National Romanian and European Junior Chess Championships. She says that aside from having earned her WGM title, her most memorable achievement was at the 2007 European Women’s Chess Championship where she shared 5th place qualifying for the 2008 World Women’s Chess Championship.

Foisor credits much of her early success in chess to the intense mentorship she received from her parents (both International Masters) as a child—each day devoting around five hours of studying chess. Like many U.S. Championship players, she has traveled the globe playing chess tournaments, and she has participated in each of the past seven U.S. Women's Championships (2009-2015). Additionally she has represented the U.S. at three Chess Olympiads and two World Women’s Team Chess Championships.

In 2008, after receiving a chess scholarship at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Foisor decided to focus on her studies. She graduated Cum Laude in Modern Languages and Linguistics and continued pursuing a Masters in Intercultural Communications. Upon finishing her Masters in 2014, Sabina moved to Lubbock, Texas, where she currently serves as a Unit Coordinator for the Cross-Cultural Academic Advancement Center at Texas Tech University where she strives to organize events that promote diversity and academic excellence on campus and in the community.

Foisor does not consider herself a professional chess player anymore. However, she states that chess will always be a part of her life and she loves promoting it to make a change. She has recently started a YouTube channel where she loves to share her knowledge. Additionally her love for cooking has given her the idea to create a chess cooking website. When not working, playing or training for chess, Sabina likes to travel, read books, watch movies, cooking and blogging.

A familiar face in the U.S. Women’s Championship, Alisa Melekhina is making her eighth appearance this year having had more time to study chess since graduating from law school in May of 2014.

Emigrating from Crimea, Ukraine, Melekhina's family spent her early childhood growing accustomed to their new life in the United States. It was during this time that Melekhina's father first taught her chess. By the time she was seven, she was already participating in her first tournaments.

Since then, Melekhina has been a regular competitor in both national and international events, placing third in the World Open U2400 Section and being crowned the first female Pennsylvania State Champion. Melekhina said, "My top chess accomplishment is winning the gold medal at the 2009 Women's World Team Championships in Ningbo, China."

Alisa Melekhina achieved her FIDE Master rating in 2011, the same year she began attending the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Even though it only took her two years to graduate, Melekhina admits that the undergrad workload paid its toll on her chess studies. While Melehkina continues to stay busy with her own entrepreneurial endeavors and a full-time position at a New York law firm, she has recommitted herself to chess. 

Entering the tournament as the number one highest-rated female chess player under 14 in the world, Akshita Gorti is hoping for a successful debut performance in the U.S. Women’s Championship this year.

Gorti has been successful in all female tournaments before: coming in second in the 2013 All-Girl National Championship U18 and the 2013 All-Girl National Blitz Championship U18, tying for first in the 2014 U.S. Junior Girls Invitational, and taking clear first in the Manchester November WGM Norm Tournament in 2015.

Since joining the USCF in 2009, Gorti’s rating has been on an up-and-down rollercoaster ride with massive rating changes in both directions and rarely see a dull moment. Her rating has increased dramatically each year with a large part of her success due to the fact that she averages over 30 tournaments a year.

Starting with a rating of about 400 in March of 2009, she more than doubled her rating and finished the year rated above 1000. By the close of 2010 she had improved her rating to 1476. Over the next two years her rating rose to above 1800. In May of 2013 she broke 2000 for the first time, becoming a chess Expert where her rating continued to skyrocket. Two year later, in May of 2015, Gorti broke 2200 and earned the title of National Master. Two months and four tournaments later, she broke 2300 for the first time in July of 2015.

Last year, she earned both the title of Woman International Master and FIDE Master. This year will be her first opportunity to showcase her strength on the national stage.

Ashritha Eswaran is a two-time competitor in the  U.S. Women’s Championship. Her first appearance saw her capture the prize for the Best Game of the Tournament despite being the youngest among the field. Eswaran is from San Jose, California where she learned to play at the age of 7. By 13 she became a national master under the training of Bulgarian Grandmaster Dejan Bojkov at the NorCal House of Chess, and currently holds the title of Women’s International Master.

In June 2015, Ashritha took first place in the U.S. Girls Junior Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She won with a 6.5/9 and qualified to play in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Championship. The very next day, she flew to Colombia for the 2015 Pan American Youth Chess Championship. In the U18 section she scored 7.5/9, sharing first place, but ended up getting the Bronze through a tie-break. This year in February, Ashritha played and came in an impressive third in the incredibly competitive American Continental Women's Championship in Lima, Peru.

Eswaran is also a part of the “Young Stars - Team USA” program which is sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Other accomplishments throughout her career: All-Girls National Champion U12 (2012) and again in 2013 in U14 section. She played in the World Youth Championships four times from 2012-2015. She is currently a sophomore at Notre Dame High School in San Jose.

Eswaran hopes to make another splash at the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in April.

The defending United States Champion has been the longtime U.S. No. 1 Grandmaster and the leading hopeful to become America’s first World Champion since Bobby Fischer. The chance for that world title creeps ever closer this year, Nakamura will play in his first Candidates’ Tournament this March in Moscow.

A child prodigy in every sense of the word, Nakamura made a fast impact on U.S. chess by knocking down nearly every age record on his way to the top. He was at one time the youngest American master in history (10 years, 79 days), the youngest American international master (13 years, 2 months) and eventually the youngest American Grandmaster (15 years, 79 days). This broke Fischer’s record by three months.

Nakamura has collected numerous titles and championships since the age of 13, when he first arrived onto the national scene by becoming the 2001 U.S. Junior Champion. He quickly confirmed his place as one of chess’ great elites, shocking the world with a sweet sixteen appearance in the 2004 FIDE World Cup.  Nakamura has had another excellent year in 2015, capturing his fourth U.S. Championship and winning the top prize at the 2015 Millionaire Chess Open in Las Vegas, Nevada.

His accomplishments do not end there. Among them, he was awarded the prestigious Samford Chess Fellowship. His honors include becoming the 2007 National Open champion and three time winner of the North American Open. He was an individual bronze medalist in the 2006 and 2008 World Olympiad, as well as the gold medalist on the first board of the 2010 World Team Championship, where the United States placed second.

Ever since FIDE began publishing Blitz ratings, Nakamura has graced the top of the list, demonstrating his skill and speed. Nakamura won bronze at the FIDE World Blitz Championship in June 2014, and he currently sits second on FIDE’s Blitz rating.

Gata Kamsky is a five-time U.S. Champion. Born in Siberia, Russia, Kamsky learned chess at the age of seven, won the USSR’s U15 Championship at the age of nine, then became back-to-back Junior Soviet Champion at 13.

Kamsky began his dominance of American chess shortly after immigrating to the U.S. in 1989 and spent nearly 20 years as the highest-rated American - losing that title to Nakamura in 2009. In 1990 he earned his GM, and soon after became the youngest player ever rated in the World’s top-ten. Kamsky won his first U.S. Championship in 1991, and the following year helped the USCF secure its first-ever gold medal in the World Team Chess Olympiad. Kamsky also became the youngest player to challenge for the FIDE World Title and the first American since Bobby Fischer, as the Candidate for the 1996 World Chess Championship.

Afterwards, Kamsky began an eight-year hiatus away from chess to focus on studies, first graduating in pre-med chemistry and then completing his law degree. His return to chess in 2004 began an extraordinary second chapter in his playing career. Within three years Kamsky had regained his elite form, qualifying for the 2007 Candidates Tournament and later winning the 2007 Chess World Cup, where he knocked off Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals. In 2010, Kamsky won his second U.S. Championship – 19 years removed from his first title. Since then he's earned three more.

Alexander Onischuk began playing chess when he was six years old and has ranked as one of the top 100 players in the world for the past two decades.

Onischuk earned his GM title as a Ukrainian 18-year-old in 1994, then later won the 2000 Ukrainian Championship before emigrating to the U.S. the following year. For five years, he played collegiate chess for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), leading the program to multiple national titles before graduating in 2006 with a degree in linguistics. He has been invited to every FIDE World Cup since 2005, winning more than 20 major tournaments along the way, including the 2006 U.S. Championship -- which he called the happiest moment of his career, having his name on a trophy alongside players such as Bobby Fischer and Paul Morphy.

Onischuk was key to America’s bronze medal finishes at the 2006 and 2008 Olympiads, and delivered a gold-medal performance on board two at the 2009 World Team Championship in Bursa, Turkey.

In 2012, Alexander Onischuk was named the head coach of Texas Tech University’s chess program, helping the squad return to the President’s Cup in 2014, finishing in a close second behind Webster University. He led the TTU program back to the Final Four of Collegiate Chess in 2015. National recognition again came in 2014 when Onischuk was named “Chess College of the Year” and was awarded “2014 Grandmaster of the Year” by the U.S. Chess Federation.

He has finished among the top three in the U.S. Championship seven times.

Jeffery Xiong of Coppell, Texas, has shown tenacity well beyond his years. At 15, he already has had an impressive list of results: the 2010 Under-10 North America Continental Champion, a silver medalist in the 2010 Under-10 World Youth Chess Championships, and the 2013 MVP of the entire United States Chess League for his undefeated play for the Dallas Destiny. But it is his creativity on the board and his maturity in defeat that has caught the eye of some of the most renowned chess grandmasters.

From a very young age, Xiong has seen his losses, though painful, as an opportunity to improve. While some of Xiong's older competitors have been known to display their frustration with difficult losses, he remains collected, analyzing where his play could have been stronger. This maturity has helped enlist legendary Grandmaster Garry Kasparov as a mentor in the Young Stars program, and it has led to numerous impressive victories and awards since.

Home-schooled now, Xiong already has been awarded a four-year scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas, with the chance to compete for their prestigious chess team. The school’s faith in him is well-founded, particularly since his play in this past spring’s UT Dallas vs. U.S.A. Junior All-Stars event helped his team, the Junior All-Stars, achieve victory over that same UT Dallas university program he may one day attend.

Jeffery Xiong’s impressive play in 2015 has confirmed his status as one of the most promising junior players in America. He competes for the first time in this year’s U.S. Championship.

The weather was so harsh in the years that youngster Varuzhan Akobian spent in Mongolia, his father forbade "Var" and his sister from playing outside. Instead, he taught them chess -- a perfect indoor distraction.

"From the very beginning, I was different from other chess kids,” Akobian recalls. “It was never just a game for me. I always wanted to be a Grandmaster, and I knew that I would do what it takes."

Later as a teenager in Yerevan, Armenia, Akobian spent many of his days playing chess and soccer -- all with his teacher’s permission.

"This is one way in which Armenia is very different from the United States. If I went to high school here, I never could have spent so much energy on chess."

Akobian immigrated to the U.S. in 2001, and it didn’t take him long to make an impact on the American chess community. Within his first three years, Akobian had been awarded the prestigious Samford Chess Fellowship, tied for first in the 2002 World Open, won the Irme Koenig GM Invitational, and dominated the 2003 U.S. Junior Closed Championship after winning his first seven games. He was officially awarded the GM title in June 2004, after which he won the World Open again, clinching it with a sparkling win against Alexander Shabalov.

Akobian is a popular rotation in the Resident Grandmaster position at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, and he continues to be a force in U.S. chess tournaments. He returns this year hoping to capture America’s chess crown.