2019 Cairns Cup

France has had its share of strong players, but few made as big a splash as when a young Marie Sebag burst onto the seen.  Born in Paris in 1986, Sebag won the European Youth Championships three times, one each for Girl’s U12, U14, and U16. She also shared first place at the World Youth in Girl’s U18.  Marie truly made headlines, however, at the Grand Prix de Sénat rapid event in 2003. The upstart 16-year-old defeated 2600+ GM Laurent Fresinet 2-0 in the semis, and came close to defeating GM Anatoly Vaisser in the finals, though regrettably came up short.  

Sebag played in several Women’s World Championship knockout events, her best result coming in 2006 when she made the quarterfinals.  She has also manned board 1 for the French Women’s team in many international competitions. Another milestone in Marie’s career came at the Hogeschool Zeeland tournament in 2007, where she not only achieved her second GM norm, but beat former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.  Few players can claim to have defeated a former World Champion, never mind doing so at age 21. Marie is the only woman to secure the GM title from her country, and is currently their #1 female player by a wide margin. It will be interesting to see how the French star fares at the Cairns Cup.

Anna has been a dominant force on the US Women’s chess scene since she emigrated from Ukraine in 2003.  Born in Mariupol, Ukraine (USSR) in 1978, she won the Ukrainian Women’s Championship in 2001. Since then, she has also added four US Women’s Championships to her title list.  Since her first victory in 2006, Zatonskih and Irina Krush dominated the Championships, passing the title back and forth until IM Nazi Paikidze took her first title in 2016. 2009 was a particularly notable year, where Anna blew the field away completely on her way to a score of 8.5/9.   

Zatonskih represented Ukraine in the 2000 and 2002 Olympiads, as well as in two European Team Championships, scoring a silver medal for her board in Batumi 1999.  She really helped bolster team USA since 2004, aiding their silver medal run in 2004. Her best performance was perhaps in 2008, scoring a gold medal for her board in Dresden 2008 to lead the team to a bronze medal.  She also won an individual silver medal for board 1 at the World Team Championships in 2017.

Anna currently resides in Germany with her husband, GM Daniel Fridman, as well as their two young children.  Since becoming a mother she has played noticeably less often, but is certainly no less dangerous, as she recently took out super GM Boris Gelfand at the 2017 Isle of Man.  It wouldn’t be surprising if she took a few more scalps at the Cairns Cup.

If you had to pick one player among women that has been the face of American chess in the past 10-15 years, it would most likely be GM Irina Krush.  The Brooklyn native was born in Odessa, Ukraine (USSR) in 1983 and emigrated to the US in 1989. While an extremely talented junior prospect, she truly took the chess world by storm when she dominated the field of the 1998 US Women’s Championship with a score of 8.5/9.  This would become a staple event for her, and she has been crowned US Women’s Champion an additional six times. Her most impressive streak was between 2012-2015, when she captured the crown four years in a row.

Irina has also represented her country well in team competition, playing her first olympiad in 1998.  She helped lead the team to a silver medal in 2004 and a bronze in 2008. At the 2018 Olympiad in Batumi, Krush scored an impressive 7.5/10, securing a silver medal on board 2.  Despite her continued success in women’s events, Irina most enjoys taking on and defeating strong grandmasters. She secured the title herself in 2013 after many years spent on the cusp.  

Outside of chess, Krush graduated from NYU in 2006 with a degree in International Relations.  Irina also enjoys tennis, yoga, writing, and practicing her French. She made a TV appearance on Steve Harvey, where Hillary Clinton was tasked with telling Irina apart from two imposters.  The real Irina will be in St. Louis this month, hoping to add the Cairns Cup to her already extensive trophy collection.

The Kazakh IM might be just 19 years old, but she already has a chess resume that would satisfy a player twice that age.  Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Zhansaya won the GIrl’s U8 section in both the Asian Youth and World Youth Championships in 2008.  2011 was an especially big year for her, as she not only won the Worth Youth Girl’s U12, but also snagged her WIM title by tying for first in the Girl’s U20 ASEAN+ Age Group Championships.  This was quite the accomplishment for the 11-year-old, and she certainly didn’t slow down from there.

Abdumalik has represented Kazakhstan on the international stage, and between her and fellow IM Dinara Saduakassova, they have turned the nation into quite the dangerous team.  At the 2016 Asian Nation’s Cup, team Kazakhstan won the bronze medal, and Zhansaya secure a silver medal for her board two performance. Her open tournament resume is also quite impressive, as she won the 2013 Brno Open in the Czech Republic with 7.5/9. In 2017 she made a big splash on US soil, trying for second at the World Open with a score of 7/9 and securing her first GM Norm.  Abdumalik secured her next two GM norms in short order, and only needs to boost her rating to get the title. If she manages a strong performance at the Cairns Cup, the younger superstar could do just that.