Meet the Team

CO-FOUNDER, ADVISOR

Maggie is a sophomore at Rice University and co-founded Queens United in 2019. She has been playing competitive chess for the past 7 years and is currently the highest-rated female chess player of her age group in Illinois. Her most recent accomplishments include placing 1st in the ICA Youth Invitational 2022 Tournament for Girls K-12, where she represented Illinois at the Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions, as well as placing 5th at the All-Girls Nationals for Girls U18. Apart from working to increase girls' involvement in chess, she enjoys dance and studying foreign languages in her free time.

CO-FOUNDER, ADVISOR

Lizzy, a third-year at Harvard College, played seven years of competitive chess with her high school and middle school varsity chess teams. She was nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation in the Top 45 Girls Age 17. Outside of tackling the gender gap in chess, she is passionate about increasing access to business and financial education in her community. In high school, she led the Junior Economic Club of Chicago and On the Money Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys playing piano and hanging out with friends.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Anjali is a sophomore at Whitney Young and has been playing competitive chess for 7 years. She runs on her school’s varsity cross country/track & field and competes on the math team. She also serves as a Girl Up USA Youth Advisor and leads her school’s Girl Up club as well as the Breast Cancer Awareness club she co-founded. Beyond working to increase accessibility and gender equality in chess, Anjali is passionate about combating healthcare inequities by growing awareness and access to resources for underserved communities.

EXTERNAL VICE PRESIDENT

Mona is a senior at Salem High School, and she has been playing chess for 10 years. She is passionate about equalizing the gender divide in chess and has started many chess classes and clubs in Michigan to work towards this goal. In her free time, she likes listening to music, swimming, and hanging out with friends and family.

DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL PROGRAMS

Adwita is a sophomore at South Brunswick High School and has been playing chess since 4th grade. She has competed in many local, state, and national level tournaments. A few of her accomplishments include winning 6th place at the 66th Annual Maryland Open State Championship and winning 5th place at the NJ K-8 Scholastic State Championship. Outside of chess, she loves listening to music, playing with her dog, traveling. She is responsible for coordinating lessons at Queens United.

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Merrill Lee is a junior at Walter Payton College Prep. She has been playing chess competitively for 7 years, and is on her high school's varsity chess team which placed 2nd at state this year. Some of her accomplishments include being 1st at the K-8 State Championship in 2019, placing 3rd at the 30th Annual North American Open in 2020, and she is currently the 2nd highest rated player for girls her age in Illinois. Merrill came to Queens United because she wanted to help empower females, and inspire youth in the chess world. Outside of chess, she plays violin and is part of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. At school, she plays for the volleyball team, and is on the math, Science Olympiad, Economics, and Future Problem Solvers team.

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Shefali Gupta is a senior at Walter Payton College Prep. She has been playing chess competitively since sixth grade and has won many trophies like a first-place trophy in the intermediate section of a CCF tournament. Outside of chess, Shefali is her Badminton team’s captain and loves to bake in her free time. She also has a fascination for reading and dancing to Bollywood songs.

DIRECTOR OF PODCAST

Shivi is a junior at the Texas Academy of Math and Science. She has played chess for 9 years, and she is very passionate about increasing youth involvement in chess. Outside of chess, she is a part of orchestr and has been playing the double bass for 6 years. In her free time she enjoys reading and baking.

DIRECTOR OF AMBASSADOR ENGAGEMENT

Avika is a sophomore at the Edison Academy Magnet School in Edison, New Jersey. She has been playing chess since second grade and has played in various tournaments. She is passionate about bringing more girls into the game of chess and increasing its accessibility. For Queens United, Avika focuses on building a community for female chess players to be able to connect and be recognized for their achievements. Outside of chess, she likes to dance, watch movies, and spend time with her friends/family.

ASSISTANT MANAGER OF GIRLS CHESS CENTRAL

Nandini Prakash, a 9th grader at Independence High School, began playing chess in kindergarten. She represented the USA in Spain's World Cadet Championship in the u8 girls section, securing 8th place globally and 2nd in the US. She also won the 2019 Midwest Women's Championship and the 2024 KCF All-Girls National Chess Championship. Additionally, Nandini has qualified for the World Youth Chess Championship in 2024 and has been a five-time qualifier for the World Cadets Chess Championship in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. In addition to increasing girls' involvement in chess and bridging the gender gap at Queens United, her interests include watching movies, listening to music, Bollywood dancing, and playing the violin.

AMBASSADOR

Rosali is a senior at Northside College Prep. She has been playing chess for the last decade, and her favorite tournament is the All Girls National Chess Championships, which she attends each spring with her sister. She has been with Queens United for 3 years, and is the captain of her school's chess team. Outside of chess, she enjoys tennis, clarinet, climbing, and spending time with her 3 younger siblings.

AMBASSADOR

Jocelyn is a college freshman at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She started to play chess in 3rd grade and enjoyed playing against her classmates, she started to find her passion for chess once more and currently likes to teach chess to younger students. In her free time she loves to play violin, spend time with family and friends, play games, crochet, and draw.

AMBASSADOR

Megan is a junior at Jones College Prep. She’s a part of her school’s chess team and plays competitive chess regularly. Megan came to Queens United because she wants to equalize the gender divide in chess and encourage young women to play chess. Playing chess and teaching are two of her top passions. Outside of chess, Megan’s hobbies include kickboxing, math competitions, drawing, and working out.

AMBASSADOR

Angelina Zhen is an 8th grader currently attending Whitney Young Magnet High School. She has been playing chess for more than 3 years now. Besides playing chess, Angelina also enjoys playing the piano and binge watching TV shows.

AMBASSADOR

Aryaa Gupta is a sophomore at Whitney Young and has been playing chess since 4th grade. She is excited about joining the Queens United Chess team and helping out!

AMBASSADOR

Nysa is a sophomore at Illinois Math & Science Academy. She has been playing chess since third grade when she joined the Fox Valley Chess Club. Beginning with success in CCF tournaments, she's grown into a competitive rated player through local, state and national tournaments, often in the U.S. top 100 for girls of her age group. She appreciates the many things chess teaches such as time management skills, creativity, logical thinking, and patience. Outside of chess, Nysa enjoys playing the piano, singing, all types of art, and swimming.

AMBASSADOR

Sanvi is currently a junior at William Mason High School and has been playing chess for 6 years. She noticed a lack of girls in chess, and was excited to join Queen's United to support the cause. She is on her high school's chess team which was the Ohio state champion, placed 8th in the nation and with whom she has won two local titles consecutively. She is also Top 50 in the nation for girl chess players in her age group, placing Top 3 in her state for girls. Outside of this, she enjoys playing clarinet and debating.

AMBASSADOR

Nina is a 6th grader at Quest Academy in Palentine, IL. She has played chess for 6 years and loves the strategy that is involved in the game. She is very passionate about increasing youth involvement in chess and giving kids an opportunity to learn chess. Outside of chess, she participates in debate, math team, and tennis. In her free time she enjoys reading and baking.

AMBASSADOR

Sonali Kulkarni is an eighth grader at Mason Middle School. She has been playing chess for 5 years and loves empowering women. Outside of chess, she learns Japanese, browses MBTI memes, and makes endless craft projects.

AMBASSADOR

Rey is a 7th grader at Whitney young, she has been doing chess for 5 years, and has enjoyed every second of it! She is so excited to join Queens United because she loves teaching and working with a group of amazing people. Some other things she likes to do in her spare time include improv, reading, organizing, singing, and traveling.

AMBASSADOR

Suhana Sharad is a 8th grader at Scullen Middle School. She started playing chess at home when she was 5, and has participated in chess tournaments since she was in 1st grade. She placed in the top 10 in this year's Illinois State Championship in March and has been in the USA Top 100 for girls in her age group, both in regular chess and blitz since 2nd grade. Other than chess, Suhana is passionate about music and loves to sing, play the piano, guitar, and viola, and perform in musical theater. She is also an avid actor and dancer and loves the spotlight on stage! She enjoys swimming and all water activities a lot and is fond of doing art/crafts and biking/hiking in her leisure time.

JUNIOR AMBASSADOR

Sanjana Makkuni is a student at NTA. She is very passionate about chess and debate. She speaks a multitude of languages, from Hindi to English to Spanish. She is very excited to be part of the Queens United Chess team to help inspire more girls in chess!

CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

Maggie, who just graduated from Walter Payton College Prep, is an incoming freshman at Rice University and co-founded Queens United in 2019. She has been playing competitive chess for the past 7 years and is currently the highest-rated female chess player of her age group in Illinois. Her most recent accomplishments include placing 1st in the ICA Youth Invitational 2022 Tournament for Girls K-12, where she represented Illinois at the Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions, as well as placing 5th at the All-Girls Nationals for Girls U18. Apart from working to increase girls' involvement in chess, she enjoys dance and studying foreign languages in her free time.

CO-FOUNDER, ADVISOR

Lizzy, a third-year at Harvard College, played seven years of competitive chess with her high school and middle school varsity chess teams. She was nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation in the Top 45 Girls Age 17. Outside of tackling the gender gap in chess, she is passionate about increasing access to business and financial education in her community. In high school, she led the Junior Economic Club of Chicago and On the Money Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys playing piano and hanging out with friends.

ADVISOR

Layla is a sophomore at Saint Louis University started playing chess in second grade. She started playing chess in a club at her elementary school but soon she played in more competitive tournaments and began traveling for national tournaments. She has played in many states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and more. She is nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation in the Top 100 List for girls of age group. Other than wanting to motivate more girls to play chess, she aspires to continue to work with helping youth in the city, baking, and hanging out with her friends and family.

ADVISOR

Julia is a freshman at Harvard College and started competing in chess tournaments during second grade. She strives to use her chess experience to introduce chess to young students throughout the city. Outside of Queens United, she plays the violin, taking part in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, likes rock climbing, and loves to cook food from around the world.

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Lipika Mallick has been playing chess since 7th grade, wanting to promote more girls in chess since. She has played in her region's chess tournaments during the school year, consistently placing in the top 3 and is currently ranked in the Top 100 Girls Age 16. She also placed 3rd in the New York Girls State Chess Championship and participated in the All-Girls Chess Nationals for the first time. Aside from volunteering to teach young children to play chess, she enjoys playing tennis for her school's varsity team and participating in competitions such as Academic Decathlon, Science Bowl, and Ocean Bowl, for which her team qualified nationally.

AMBASSADOR

Christina has been playing chess since the age of 8 and is part of The Gambia's national team. She has also played in 2 online olympiads and has started a chess group with her brother, called Let's Play Chess encouraging people to get together and play chess. Outside of chess she is involved with lots of other activities and organizations in her community including YMCA The Gambia. She is a competitive swimmer, and loves reading, art, playing piano, and teaching kids.

VP OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Karen Campos is an experienced chess player starting in 4th grade! She loves writing, reading, and going out with friends. As a newly graduate from Back of the Yards College Prep, she hopes every little girl is inspired by the program to continue to pursue chess!

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Cindy attends Vanderbilt University and was a competitive chess player during middle school. She played multiple national, rated tournaments and still enjoys playing for fun. Outside of Queens United, she is a varsity swimmer and is involved in math team, science olympiad, and HOSA.

DIRECTOR OF GIRLS CLUB

Violet attends the University of Florida and has been playing tournament chess since the age of six. She has won her region for the past three years and is currently nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation as #22 in Top Girls Age 16. Outside of chess, she enjoys playing cello in her local youth orchestra, running cross country, and studying Spanish.

AMBASSADOR

Trinity Martinez attends Loyola University. Trinity has been playing chess since 7th grade and is Vice President for the chess team at Mather high. She has many hobbies which includes solving puzzles, learning new tricks, and playing video games. She works for a catering company; Hearty Boys as pantry/porter and sous chef.

AMBASSADOR

Rianne has been playing chess since she was in preschool. She competed in every World Youth/Cadet Championships from 2014-2018 while being the official representative twice. Her most notable accomplishments include earning her WCM title at U10 Girls Pan American in 2016, making history as the first girl to co-win the Elementary Nationals in Nashville in 2018, and qualifying for WFM after winning the NAYCC U14 Girls in 2019. She enjoys teaching chess and hopes to inspire more people to fall in love with the sport. Her hobbies include singing, dancing, golfing, and cooking.

AMBASSADOR

Ty began playing competitive chess in the seventh grade. She has won over ten trophies and even played as a one-woman-team for about two years! In her free time you can catch her on the wrestling mats, or leading Beginning/Intermediate hiking tours at your closest national park.