
Photo Jacob Okada
Jennifer Shahade is a chess player, writer and web-editor of
www.uschess.org. A two-time U.S. Women's champion, her first championship win
was in 2002, in the first year that the women and men were combined into the
same section. Her second was in 2004, where she placed first in the strongest
Round Robin women's field in U.S. chess history.
In 2004, Jennifer's first book, Chess
Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport was published. The
crisp writing, original interviews with players like Judit Polgar and Zhu Chen,
and controversial title gave her a lot of media attention, including coverage
in Reader's Digest, the New York Times, NPR radio, and Time Out New York.
Besides her numerous reports in Chess Life Magazine and Chess Life Online,
Jennifer's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the L.A. Times, New
in Chess, Foreword Magazine, and bookslut.com. Jennifer graduated in 2002 from
NYU, with a degree in comparative literature.
Jennifer's style and opening repertoire are aggressive. She excels in open and
attacking positions, but in quiet positions, she often plays impatiently.
Jennifer Shahade was born into a chess family. Her brother Greg is an IM, and
her father, Michael a three-time Pennsylvania State Champion. Greg organizes
the U.S. Chess League. Jennifer is
the manager of the New York Knights, last year's Eastern division champion.
Jennifer blogs on www.uschess.org, and writes most and photographs much of the
content for Chess Life
Online and the Top
Player Bios. She welcomes thoughts on the site and ideas for articles.
E-mail her at jshahade@uschess.org.
Here is a smooth victory Jennifer played in the 2003 U.S. Championship against
IM Stan Kriventsov.