2023 American Cup

Atousa Pourkashiyan is an Iranian-American Women’s Grandmaster and former Girls Under 12 World Youth Champion. She is also a four-time Asian Youth Champion and seven-time Iranian Champion. Her other achievements include winning the 2010 Asian Women’s Championship as well as representing Iran in nine Women’s Chess Olympiads from 2000-2016.

Nazi Paikidze is a two-time U.S. Women’s Champion, four-time European Youth Champion, and two-time World Youth Champion (Girls U14 & U16) originally from Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2006, Paikidze moved to Moscow where she earned a number of excellent results, including winning the Moscow Women’s Open, Moscow Women’s Championship, and Russian Women’s Higher League all in 2010. Paikidze then moved to the U.S. in 2012, attending the University of Maryland Baltimore County and representing their chess team in the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Championships.

Katerina Nemcova is a Czech-American Women’s Grandmaster and former European Youth Chess Champion. She is also a two-time Czech Women’s Champion, three-time Olympiad teammate, and an individual gold medalist in the 2007 European Women's Team Championship. After switching to the U.S. federation in 2013, Nemcova graduated from Webster University in 2016, and is currently working on a PhD from the University of Arizona.

Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (aka “Begim”) is a Women’s Grandmaster and former Asian Girls Champion U20. Originally from Uzbekistan, Tokhirjonova currently attends the University of Missouri, where she plays for the chess team. In 2021 Begim finished second in the U.S. Women’s Championship, while in 2022 she placed fourth in the Women’s American Cup. Last year Begim also made her debut appearance as a member of the U.S. Women’s National team, which ended up finishing fourth in the 2022 Chess Olympiad.

Tatev Abrahamyan is an Armenian-American Women’s Grandmaster and longtime member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. In 2006, she won the Girls Under 18 section of the Pan American Youth Chess Festival with a perfect 9/9 score. Tatev has come close to winning the U.S. Women’s Championship multiple times, including second place finishes in 2004, 2010, and 2011.

Anna Zatonskih is a 4-time U.S. Women’s Champion and former Ukrainian Women’s Champion. She represented Ukraine in two Olympiads before switching to the United States in 2004, winning team silver for the U.S. in the 2004 Chess Olympiad, team bronze in 2006, and an individual gold medal for the first board in the 2008 Chess Olympiad. Zatonskih is currently married to Grandmaster Daniel Fridman.

Irina Krush is an eight-time U.S. Women’s Champion and last year’s winner of the inaugural 2022 Women’s American Cup. Originally from Ukraine, Krush immigrated to the United States at the age of five in 1989, and has represented the U.S. Women’s National Team since 1998, winning team silver in the 2004 Chess Olympiad and team bronze in 2006. In 2013, Krush became the first and only American woman to earn the Grandmaster title.