State's GM Count Will Rise to Nine With Arrival of Texas Pair

 

Grandmasters Nadezhda Kosintseva and Leonid Kritz will soon augment an impressive lineup of grandmasters who call the Land of Lincoln home. The pair will join the likes of Gurevich, Shulman, Avrukh, Mitkov, Georgiev, Goldin, and Amanov, making Illinois one of the most popular home states for those with the prestigious title.

Recent graduates from the University of Texas at Dallas, Nadezhda and Leonid are relocating to the Chicago area next month with their two-year old daughter.

Nadezhda, 31, is the second female chess player in the US (along with Irina Krush) to hold a Grandmaster title. Her current FIDE rating is the highest among all female chess players in the US.

Ranked as high as the number three female chess player in a world, Nadezhda is a two-time Olympiad champion (2010 and 2012), two-time medalist in European individual championships, and a Russian national woman's champion. She is also a multiple gold medalist in both European and World team chess championships.

Leonid has held the Grandmaster title since 2003 and is a former top 100 player in a world. He's been the winner of more than 20 international chess championships, among them the first SPICE Cup in 2008. He was born in Moscow and relocated to Germany at age 12.

(Editor's addition: Neither has been active in US play, no doubt due to obligations of parenthood and school. In order to rank in the top 100 on US Chess lists, one has to have played a US event in the past twelve months. Currently, Illinois has five such players, as does Massachusetts. The only states with more top 100's are Missouri with 6, New Jersey with 8, California with 14, along with Texas and New York, both with 17. Illinois is the 5th most populous state with a headcount approximately equal to the combined census of Missouri and Massachusetts.)

Nadezhda and Leonid will have their first chess activity in Illinois on May 22 hosted by the Russian School of Mathematics in Naperville.

The event will include two hours of lectures, a chess olympiad for K-12 students, simultaneous games, and a blitz-off where both Grandmasters will play rapid games while analyzing them for the public!

More information about the event and registrations are on web site www.intecs-chess.org (under the tournament information).

Grandmasters Kosintseva and Kritz will offer regular chess classes in Naperville.

(Pictures supplied by Mikhail Korenman -- thanks!)