US Chess Welcomes Dorsa Derakashani, IM and WGM

19-year-old IM and WGM Dorsa Derakashani, who was born in Iran in 1998, has switched federations and is now officially a US Chess player. Dorsa told US Chess, "It feels good and...peaceful to play for a federation where I am welcomed and supported." As covered by FM Mike Klein on NPR's "Only a Game", and also in the New York Times, the Iranian Chess Federation barred Dorsa for not wearing hijab during the Gibraltar Chess Festival this winter. At the time Dorsa was living in Barcelona. Two-time Chess Journalist of the Year FM Mike Klein delves into Dorsa's childhood, where she was a brilliant and precocious reader and student. He also asks her about the sudden punishment of Dorsa and her brother (who played against an Israeli player in Gibraltar), earlier this year. "(Dorsa) believes the action against her and her brother was a tactic to divert from other news. The announcement came in the middle of the Women’s World Chess Championship, which was being held in Tehran.

Several notable players, including the reigning U.S. women’s champion (Nazi Paikidze), boycotted the event because players were required to wear a headscarf. All three Iranian women competing had just been eliminated in the opening round. The federation was also on shaky financial ground with FIDE, the international governing body of chess.

"So in the middle of all this, they needed another distraction. And somebody tipped off the reporters to specially ask about my brother and I, which worked perfectly," Dorsa says. "Everybody started talking about us.”"

Since then, Dorsa has moved to Saint Louis and is a student at Saint Louis University. Derakashani was featured in coverage of the Sinquefield Cup and Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, where she worked on the production side of the Spanish language broadcast (episodes are all archived on the Saint Louis Chess Club channel). Join us in welcoming this inspiring talent to the US Chess Federation and enjoy a couple of Dorsa's recent victories!

[pgn]

[Event "Reykjavik op"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2017.04.20"]
[White "Derakhshani, Dorsa"]
[Black "Fehr, Axel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2351"]
[BlackElo "2102"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.03"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
Be6 9. Qd3 Nc6 10. Be3 Rc8 11. Rfd1 O-O 12. a3 Na5 13. Nxa5 Qxa5 14. Nd5 Nxd5
15. exd5 Bd7 16. b4 Qd8 17. c4 f5 18. f4 b5 19. c5 exf4 20. Bxf4 dxc5 21. d6
Bf6 22. Qd5+ Kh8 23. bxc5 Bxa1 24. Rxa1 Qf6 25. Be5 Qg6 26. Qd4 Bc6 27. Bf1
Rce8 28. Qf4 Re6 29. Re1 Rfe8 30. h3 Kg8 31. Re3 Qf7 32. Be2 h6 33. h4 Rg6 34.
Bf3 Qb7 35. Qxf5 Rge6 36. Bh5 Rf6 37. Qh3 Rxe5 38. Rxe5 g6 39. Re7 Qb8 40. Qg3
Qf8 41. Bxg6 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 15th"]
[Site "Caleta"]
[Date "2017.01.29"]
[White "Derakhshani, Dorsa"]
[Black "Baert, Andy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2370"]
[BlackElo "2210"]
[PlyCount "181"]
[EventDate "2017.01.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceDate "2017.02.08"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nf6 8.
Be2 Nbd7 9. Be3 e6 10. f4 Qc7 11. Bf3 e5 12. Nf5 g6 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Nh6 Bc5
15. Bg5 Bd4 16. Qd2 b5 17. Rf1 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Bb7 19. O-O-O Rf8 20. Qe3 Rc8 21.
Rd3 b4 22. Ng4 Ng8 23. Rfd1 Bc6 24. cxb4 Ba4 25. R1d2 f6 26. Bh4 Nb6 27. Qc5
Qxc5 28. bxc5 Rxc5 29. Rd8+ Ke7 30. Rxf8 Kxf8 31. Nxf6 Nxf6 32. Bxf6 Nc4 33.
Rd3 Kf7 34. Bd8 h5 35. Rc3 Rc8 36. Bh4 Bd7 37. Bg3 Kf6 38. Be2 Be6 39. Rb3 Ke7
40. Bh4+ Kd7 41. Rc3 a5 42. a4 Kd6 43. Be1 Rc5 44. Rg3 Bf7 45. Rf3 Ke7 46. Bh4+
Ke8 47. Rb3 Kd7 48. Rd3+ Nd6 49. Bf2 Rc6 50. Bg3 Bc4 51. Rd2 Ke6 52. Bxc4+ Rxc4
53. Rd5 Rxa4 54. Rxe5+ Kf6 55. Rd5 Nxe4 56. Bc7 Ra1+ 57. Kb2 Rg1 58. Re5 Nf2
59. Re2 Nd1+ 60. Ka3 Kf5 61. Bxa5 Rf1 62. Kb3 Nf2 63. Be1 Ne4 64. c4 Nc5+ 65.
Kc3 Rf4 66. Re8 Rg4 67. Re2 g5 68. Bd2 Ne4+ 69. Kb3 h4 70. Be3 h3 71. gxh3 Rh4
72. Kb4 Rxh3 73. Bb6 Rh4 74. Bc7 Rh7 75. Bb6 Rh4 76. Rc2 Nd6 77. Kc5 Nxc4 78.
Rxc4 Rxh2 79. Kd5 Re2 80. Rc8 g4 81. Rf8+ Kg6 82. Bd4 Kg5 83. Bf6+ Kh5 84. Be5
Re3 85. Rh8+ Kg5 86. Rg8+ Kf5 87. Rf8+ Kg6 88. Ke6 Rf3 89. Bf4 Kg7 90. Rf5 g3
91. Be5+ 1-0

[/pgn]