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Irina Krush

Irina Krush at the 2003 U.S. Chess Championships in Seattle, Washington
Full name Irina Krush
Country Soviet Union (until 1989)
United States (since 1989)
Born December 24, 1983
Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Title Grandmaster (2013)
Peak rating 2502 (October 2013)

Irina Krush (Ukrainian: Ірина Круш, Russian: Ири́на Круш; born December 24, 1983) is an American chess International Grandmaster (GM) who has won the U.S. Women's Chess Championship in 1998, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. On the March 2015 FIDE rating list for women, Krush has a FIDE rating of 2477, 27th best among active female players, and second among active American female players.

Career

Krush was born in Odessa, USSR (now Ukraine). She learned to play chess at age five, emigrating with her parents to Brooklyn that same year (1989). Krush attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, whose chess team is considered by many to be one of the top high school teams in the U.S.

At age 14 Krush won the 1998 U.S. Women's Chess Championship to become the youngest U.S. Women's Champion ever. She has won the U.S. Championship on six other occasions, in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Krush became widely known for her series of chess training videos, the "Krushing Attacks" series.

Krush gained an additional measure of fame both inside and outside chess circles during the well-publicized "Kasparov versus the World" chess competition in 1999. Garry Kasparov played the white pieces and the Internet public, via a Microsoft host website, voted on moves for the black pieces, guided by the recommendations of Krush and three of her contemporaries, Étienne Bacrot, Elisabeth Pähtz and Florin Felecan. On the tenth move, Krush suggested a novelty, for which the World Team voted. Kasparov said later that he lost control of the game at that point, and wasn't sure whether he was winning or losing.

Krush in 2015 played for the Manhattan Applesauce in the U.S. Chess League, and from 2005-2011, 2013 played for the New York Knights. Krush and her ex-husband Canadian Grandmaster Pascal Charbonneau have played in the United Kingdom league for Guildford-ADC. In 2006 they were students in Paris.

She played first board on the U.S. Women's team in the 38th Chess Olympiad, 2008, when the U.S. team scored a bronze medal.

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