April Wonder of the Month: Jennifer Shahade

Recap of our third podcast episode! 

Listen to the official Queens United Chess podcast episodes on Spotify and YouTube.

Episode 3: Featuring 2 time US Women's Chess Champion: Jennifer Shahade

Jennifer Shahade:

WGM Jennifer Shahade is one of the most inspiring female chess players of our time. Throughout her career, Shahade has achieved admirable successes, and has used her platform to advocate the importance of gender inequality in a male dominated game. Shahade is a force against inequality, creating a more inclusive and empowering environment for females in both chess and poker!

Shahade’s Career:

Jennifer Shahade has had an amazing chess career, making her an icon. After winning the U.S. Junior Open in 1998, she went on to become a 2-time Women’s Chess Champion, and won silver at the Chess Olympiads! She is currently ranked as a WGM (Women Grandmaster) and considers one of her greatest accomplishments winning championship titles. She has written several books about chess- specifically girls in chess. She has contributed to the chess community in several ways: as a web editor in chief for the U.S. Chess Federation, by hosting a monthly chess podcast, and being the women’s programming director for the U.S. Chess Federation. She is also famous for her success in Poker- she has won numerous tournaments and hosts GRID, a podcast that won the Global Poker Award for Podcast of the Year in 2019!

Advocacy/Initiatives:

Jennifer Shahade has made a huge impact towards the chess community for all young women, by creating an environment for girls to feel empowered and safe while playing chess!  During her time in NYU, she became a chess coach and taught chess after school and on the weekends. Jennifer found her love for art and combined her passions for chess and art together with her husband by making chess pieces relating to gender dynamics such as misogynistic comments towards women chess champions on every square on a chess board as an act of awareness. (Not a Particularly Beautiful Art piece, but an astonishing piece that raises awareness). Furthermore, Jennifer has traveled around the country to host “Girl’s Club” rooms in national-level tournaments to gather all female-players together to build bonds with each other and feel more confident in tournaments. In the future, Jennifer wishes to make Titles in chess gender-neutral to stop the negativity surrounding the titles for female players.

Shahade’s Impact:

Jennifer Shahade has impacted many communities from different places especially towards the chess community. During her time studying chess and playing against other women, she understood many perspectives from women chess players which sparked the discussion of feminism. She has written inspirational books mentioning many female chess masters and their accomplishments during their own chess journeys.  Till this day, Jennifer Shahade looks forward to making chess more inclusive to everyone especially towards young women in the chess community!

Want to learn more about Jennifer Shahade and her incredible journey? Tune in to 

the full interview on our Spotify and YouTube!