A review of 15-year-old Irina Krush’s chess victories and achievements would fill several pages. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, she became the youngest woman ever to compete in the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship at age 11, and won that event in 1998. A Chess Master at age 12, Irina is now the No. 1 woman chess player in the U.S., with FIDE rating 2375 and USCF 2448. She is the No. 1 Junior player under 18 in the U.S. and No. 2 Junior under 21. We are delighted to have Irina as one of our Chess Analysts in this event.

Irina was the Gold Medalist in the 1998 Pan-American Youth Championships in Brazil with a score of 7-0. Her other achievements last year included the Bronze Medal in the FIDE Girls World Championship in Calcutta and the top score in the FIDE Women’s Olympiad in Russia. In January 1999, she won first place in the New York City High School Championship. Irina is making her mark in every corner of the world.

This summer, Irina will play at the World Open in Philadelphia, Chess Superstore’s “Krush Challenge" in New Jersey, the Kingsport Fun Fest in Tennessee and the U.S. Junior Championship in San Francisco. September will find her at the Women’s World Championship in Moldavia. With relentless vigor, she tackles every opportunity she can cram into her schedule, and performs astoundingly well at all of them. Irina is clearly headed for a dominant role in the world of chess.

Irina’s influence on chess extends beyond the board. Her “Krushing Attacks" chess videos are widely acclaimed, and her articles appear in Chess Life and Atlantic Chess News. “Young children learn quickly via visual stimulation and this suggests to me that chess videos and software have particularly beneficial effects on a child’s chess studies," she said. Irina recommends the Disney Chess Guide for very young players. Irina trains with a Dell Pentium II 300 Notebook loaded with ChessBase, Fritz, Chess Informant, Rebel and HIARCS -- challenging herself to the limit.

"I am always glad that more and more young girls are playing chess," she says. Many little girls see her photo on the Web and become interested. “Lots of girls are taking up the game and there’s going to be many, many more!" Krush is a young chess dynamo and seems unstoppable. Five years from now, will the World Champion be able to hold off her assault?