International Master Irina Krush keeps everyone guessing. She first shocked the American chess community in 1998, when she swept the U.S. Women's chess championship 8.5/9 to become the youngest ever U.S. champion. In 2001, she was the lowest rated player invited to the Mayor's Cup, an international round robin held in New York City. She won first place and also earned her first Grandmaster norm.

A well-rounded player, Irina wins in both technical endgames and with brilliant attacks. She is known to be stubborn both on and off the board. If she feels her opponent has violated a basic chess principle, she'll search ardently for punishment and often find it. Krush also has high standards of sportsmanship, and is disappointed when her chess peers don't adhere to them.

Irina aims to be a great chessplayer, not a great female chessplayer. That's why she prefers organizers to tout her as an IM among men, rather than a Women's Grandmaster, a title that she never actually applied for. (The IM title is harder to get than the WGM title.)

In 1999, Irina participated in the well-publicized Kasparov vs. the World match. Garry Kasparov, playing white competed versus a team of young chess masters. Irina was the team MVP, working tirelessly on her analysis and permanently changing theory with her novelty for the black side of the Bb5+ Sicilian. A mini scandal erupted when Irina's recommendation for the 58^th move of the game was not considered due to an Internet glitch- the team lost quickly, but might have drawn if Irina's choice was selected.

Irina has also been a valuable team member at the past two Olympiads, narrowly missing an individual board medal at the 2002 Bled Olympiad. In both the 2002 and 2004 Olympiads, she defeated the current World Women's Champion Xu Yuhua. These wins led to back-to-back American victories over the Chinese women's squad.

Irina moved to New York from Odessa, Ukraine when she was five years old. In May 2006, she graduated from NYU with a degree in International Relations. Outside chess Irina enjoys tennis, practicing French, photography, poker and writing. She is a frequent contributor to Chess Life Magazine.

In the 1999 Garry Kasparov vs. The World Match, Irina suggested the opening novelty 10...Qd7-e6! bamboozling the strongest player in history. The aggressive Queen move simultaneously attacks the c4 and e4 pawns. Although this move exposes the Queen to danger, it offers black counterplay in a line that is traditionally a dry waiting game for black.