Nona Gaprindashvili is a Soviet Georgian chess Grandmaster. She was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 she was the first woman ever to be awarded the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Noted for her aggressive play style, Gaprindashvili has been recognized with entry into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Presidential Order of Excellence in 2015.
Levi Benima was a Dutch chess master who twice won the Dutch Championship, in 1881 in The Hague and in 1883 in Rotterdam.
JonkheerArnold Engelinus van Foreest was a Dutch chess master. The younger brother of Dirk van Foreest, he thrice won Dutch Championship in 1889, 1893, and 1902. He is the great-great grandfather of the siblings Jorden van Foreest, the 2016 Dutch Champion, Lucas van Foreest, the 2019 Dutch Champion, and Machteld van Foreest, the 2022 Dutch Women's Champion.
Van Foreest is the name of an aristocratic family that most probably originates from the region of Aachen, Germany, but is already found in the County of Holland in the 13th century. The family was already noble from earliest times ("Uradel"). In the early modern period, the family played a role in the city councils of Haarlem, Delft and Alkmaar. Members of the family are jonkheer.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the grandmaster title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. Giri is a five-time Dutch champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at six Chess Olympiads. He has also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open, 2023 Tata Steel Chess, and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters.
Robin van Kampen is a Dutch chess grandmaster. At the age of 14, he won the Dutch U20 Championship. He achieved his grandmaster (GM) title at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days. Van Kampen has represented the Netherlands at the 2013 European Team Chess Championship, and at the 41st and 42nd Chess Olympiad. Van Kampen is a research analyst at Caption Partners in New York as of July 2020.
Sopiko Guramishvili is a Georgian and Dutch chess player, author, and commentator who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Having represented Georgia for the bulk of her playing career, she has been an under-16 girls' World Youth Champion and an under-18 girls' Georgian national champion. She has a peak FIDE rating of 2441 and has been ranked as high as No. 42 in the world among women.
Jhr. Jorden van Foreest is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He was Dutch Chess Champion in 2016, and won the Tata Steel Masters in 2021. As of September 2023, Van Foreest is the No. 2 ranked Dutch player behind Anish Giri.
Anna-Maja Kazarian is a Dutch chess player and Twitch live streamer who holds the titles of FIDE Master (FM) and Woman International Master (WIM). She was the 2020 Dutch Women's Internet Chess Champion and has also been an under-16 girls' European Youth Champion. Kazarian has a peak FIDE rating of 2320, which she achieved in 2016. She has represented the Netherlands at the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship.
Alexandra Valeria Botez is an American-Canadian chess player and commentator, poker player, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. In chess, she holds the FIDE title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) and has a peak FIDE rating of 2092. She is a five-time Canadian girls' national champion and one-time U.S. girls' national champion. Botez has represented Canada at three Women's Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Alexandra and her younger sister Andrea Botez host the BotezLive Twitch and YouTube channels, which each have over 1 million followers and are one of the largest chess channels on each platform.
Jhr. Lucas van Foreest is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He won the Dutch Chess Championship in 2019.
The Queen's Gambit is a 2020 American coming-of-age period drama television miniseries based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis. The title refers to the "Queen's Gambit", a chess opening. The series was written and directed by Scott Frank, who created it with Allan Scott, who owns the rights to the book. Beginning in the mid-1950s and proceeding into the 1960s, the story follows the life of Beth Harmon, a fictional American chess prodigy on her rise to the top of the chess world while struggling with drug and alcohol dependency.
Sandra Đukić is a Serbian chess player who holds the title of Woman International Master. She won the Serbian Women's Chess Championship in 2009.
Elsa Majimbo is a Kenyan comedian from Nairobi. Her satirical monologues usually feature her eating potato chips, leaning back to a pillow and using a pair of tiny 1990's sunglasses as a prop.
Women represent a small minority of chess players at all ages and levels. Female chess players today generally compete in a mix of open tournaments and women's tournaments, the latter of which are most prominent at or near the top level of women's chess and at youth levels. Modern top-level women's tournaments help provide a means for some participants to be full-time professional chess players. The majority of these tournaments are organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and revolve around the World Championship cycle, which culminates in a match to decide the Women's World Chess Champion. Beyond those events, among the most prominent women's tournaments are women's and girls' national and continental championships.
Max Warmerdam is a Dutch chess grandmaster.
Elizabeth "Beth" Harmon is a fictional American character and the main protagonist in the Walter Tevis novel The Queen's Gambit and the Netflix drama miniseries of the same name, in which she is portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy. Taylor-Joy's performance as Beth was critically acclaimed. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. She also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
Anna Yolanda Cramling Bellón is a Spanish-Swedish chess player, Twitch live streamer, and YouTuber who holds the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM). She had a peak FIDE rating of 2175 in March 2018. Cramling represented Sweden in the 2016 and 2022 Chess Olympiad as well as two European Team Chess Championships.
Eline Roebers is a Dutch chess International Master. She is the reigning Dutch Women's Champion and was the 2022 Dutch Youth Champion in the open division. Roebers was the 2020 online World Youth Champion in the under-14 girls' division, and was the first Dutch player to win a World Youth Championship in any category. Roebers began playing chess at age seven and she has been coached by Dutch International Master Robert Ris. Her father Jan is a FIDE Master (FM). She won an individual bronze medal on the second board at the European Women's Team Championship in 2021.
Candela Belén Francisco Guecamburu is an Argentinian chess player who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is the 2023 World Junior Girls' Champion.
