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Dorsa Derakhshani

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Dorsa Derakhshani
Derakhshani in 2017
CountryIran (until 2017)
United States (since 2017)
Born (1998-04-15) 15 April 1998 (age 26)
Tehran, Iran
TitleInternational Master (2016)
Woman Grandmaster (2016)
Peak rating2405 (July 2016)

Dorsa Derakhshani (Persian: درسا درخشانی; born 1998) is an Iranian-American chess player.[1] She was awarded the titles Woman Grandmaster and International Master in 2016.

Chess career

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Derakhshani won three gold medals at the Asian Youth Chess Championships in 2012 (in the Girls U14 division),[2] 2013 and 2014 (in the Girls U16).[3] She played for the Iranian National team in the women's division of the Asian Nations Cup in 2012[4] and 2014.[5]

Derakhshani also qualified for the title of FIDE Trainer in 2016[6] and is an accredited FIDE journalist.

Derakhshani spoke at TedxTalk in Munich, Germany, in July 2019. In her talk she advised the audience to "Take their freedom of choice seriously."[7]

Conflict with Iranian Chess Federation

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In February 2017,[8] the Iranian Chess Federation[9] banned Derakhshani from playing for the Iran national team or playing in any tournaments in Iran on the grounds of "national interests" after she played in the 2017 Gibraltar Chess Festival (when she was already a temporary resident of Spain) without wearing a hijab. Her 15-year-old brother Borna, who is a FIDE Master, was also banned for playing Israeli grandmaster Alexander Huzman in the first round of the same tournament. Derakhshani had previously played in several tournaments without a hijab.[10][11] Derakhshani gave only one interview in response to the media attention, to Chess.com.[11] She also wrote a piece for The New York Times at the end of 2017.[12]

Career in the United States

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Following the ban, Derakhshani was accepted as a student at Saint Louis University to study biology on a pre-med track, winning a scholarship to play on the Saint Louis University Chess Team and taking up the role of SLU Woman Team Captain (2019–2022).[13] Because of this, Derakhshani began to play for the United States of America in 2017. The Saint Louis chess team won silver in the 2017 Pan American intercollegiate chess championship.[14] She played in the 2018 US Women's Chess Championship and finished last.[15] In 2019, she accompanied her team to achieve bronze in the World Prestigious University Chess Invitational in Tianjin, China,[16] and she individually achieved the first runner-up on board three in the tournament. She finished third in the 2020 US Women's Championship.[17]

Derakhshani's peak rating was 2405 in July 2016.[6]

Education

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Derakhshani graduated summa cum laude from St. Louis University in 2022, majoring in biology and clinical health science.[18][19] She is currently a medical student at University of Missouri School of Medicine and intends to continue playing and teaching chess while training to be a surgeon.[20][21]

References

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  1. ^ Player transfers in 2017. FIDE.
  2. ^ "Asian Youth Chess Championship 2012 Under 14 Girls". www.chess-results.com. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  3. ^ Banjan, Priyadarshan (2014-11-24). "Asian Youth Championship". Chess News. ChessBase. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  4. ^ "Asian Nations Chess Cup 2012 – Complete Lineups". Chessdom. 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  5. ^ "Chinese men crush Vietnam, Indian women beat Iran-B" (PDF). Asian Nations Cup Bulletin. 5. 2014-05-24.
  6. ^ a b Dorsa Derakhshani's FIDE card
  7. ^ Take your freedom of choice seriously | Dorsa Derakhshani | TEDxYouth@München, retrieved 2019-08-25
  8. ^ Chess prodigy moves west to play hijab-free, The Australian, October 10, 2017
  9. ^ Iranian Chess Federation
  10. ^ Iran bans teenage chessplayers for "harming national interests", ChessBase, 21 February 2017
  11. ^ a b Klein, Mike (28 February 2017). "Ousted Iranian Player: 'My Wardrobe Should Not Be Anyone's Business!'". Chess.com. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  12. ^ Derakhshani, Dorsa (2017-12-29). "Why I Left Iran to Play Chess in America". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  13. ^ "Saint Louis University Chess". Saint Louis University. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  14. ^ "Results in at Pan-Ams: Webster Wins Sixth Title". US Chess. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2019.[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ Saint Louis Chess Club, Pairings & Results - 2018 Women's Championship, uschesschamps.com, April 2018
  16. ^ "提示". Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  17. ^ U.S Chess Champs 2020 - official site
  18. ^ Macauley Peterson (8 March 2020). "Dorsa Derakhshani: From Iran to the USA (part 1)". ChessBase. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  19. ^ Dorsa Derakhshani (4 April 2024). "WGM/IM Dorsa Derakhshani". Saint Louis Chess Club. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  20. ^ Amy Garland (28 July 2021). "Chess Queen". Universitas (SLU Alumni Magazine). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  21. ^ Hadjimohammadi, Aryana (24 December 2023). "Real life 'Queen's Gambit': From chess grandmaster to med school". Columbia Missourian. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
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