Grandmaster Irina Krush is awesome. She is an eight-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, and the current reigning champion. She won her first championship in 1998 at the ripe old age of 14 and is the first American woman to become a grandmaster. 

Irina has played  for the U.S. national team in the Women’s Chess Olympiad since 1998, and helped lead the team to a silver medal in 2004 and a bronze metal in 2008. Irina graduated from Edward R. Murrow high school in Brooklyn (but does not speak with a Brooklyn accent).

She earned a BA in International Relations from New York University, though she has yet to be appointed as a diplomat (but we expect to build The Diplomat Event around her when that happens). Most importantly, Irina is really fun, personable, and down to earth and a pleasure to get to know.