Jennifer Shahade (born December 31, 1980) is an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player, poker player, commentator and writer. She is a two-time United States Women's Champion and has the FIDE title of

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. Shahade is the author of the books ''Chess Bitch'', ''Play Like a Girl'', and most recently, ''Chess Queens'', and co-author of ''

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

: The Art of Chess''. She is the Women's Program Director at US Chess, MindSports Ambassador for

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the l ...

and a board member of the

World Chess Hall of Fame The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) is a nonprofit, collecting institution situated in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It features chess exhibits, engages in educational outreach, and maintains a list of ...

in Saint Louis.

Early life

Shahade was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She is the daughter of

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

Mike Shahade and Drexel University chemistry professor and author Sally Solomon. Her father is Christian Lebanese and her mother is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Her older brother,

Greg Shahade Gregory Shahade (born December 22, 1978) is an International Master of chess. He founded the New York Masters and the U.S. Chess League. He is a former member of the executive board of the United States Chess Federation, to which his younger s ...

, is an International Master.

Career

In 1998, she became the first female winner of the U.S. Junior Open. In 2002, she won the U.S. Women's Chess Championship in Seattle, Washington. At the next U.S. Women's Championship she earned her second International Master norm, and in 2004, she won her 2nd U.S. Women's Chess Championship. Shahade lives in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and has earned a degree in

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. Her writing has appeared in the '' LA Times'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...

'', '' New In Chess'', and ''Games Magazine''. Her first book, ''Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport'' (Siles Press, ) was published in October 2005. Shahade is the former web editor-in-chief of the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

website. In 2007 Shahade co-founded a chess non-profit called 9 Queens. Shahade is also a poker player. In 2014, she became the MindSports Ambassador for PokerStars. On December 9, 2014, Shahade won the first TonyBet Open Face Chinese Poker Live World Championship High Roller Event taking home €100,000. She is also a former coach for the training website Run It Once. Shahade is the host of the poker podcast the GRID, which she produces with her husband Daniel Meirom. In 2019, the GRID won the Global Poker Award for Podcast of the Year. She also hosts the chess podcast ''Ladies Knight''. Shahade is a board member of the

, and directs the US Chess Women Program at US Chess, which brings chess programming to thousands of girls all over the country.

Works and publications

* * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shahade, Jennifer 1980 births Living people American chess writers American female chess players American non-fiction writers American people of Lebanese descent Chess woman grandmasters American women non-fiction writers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish chess players American poker players Female poker players Sportspeople from Philadelphia 21st-century American Jews Sportspeople of Lebanese descent 21st-century American women