IM & WGM Irina Krush

Irina Krush looks forward to chess matches, but doesn’t spend much time contemplating her chess success or failures. “I’m more attached to my future accomplishments.” She says she enjoys the challenge of playing grandmasters most. “When you beat a strong GM, that's when you feel like you can play chess.” She faced GM players in her first 8 matches in the U.S. Chess Championship this year, also held at CCSCSL. She finished 20th, with 3.5 points, including 3 points against the grandmasters.

While Irina has a degree in international relations from NYU, Krush is currently concentrating on chess. In 2008 she received a Samford Chess Fellowship, allowing her to pursue chess full-time. Eventually, she figures she will make a career out of chess by playing, teaching and writing about it. Becoming a top-flight chess player takes a lot of time.

But Irina is far from one-dimensional. On top of tennis, reading, writing and yoga, she has recently sunk herself deeply into rap music, striking up a friendship with one Saint Louis rapper. “It’s a little bit unusual because people say, ‘That’s kind of a normal-looking girl, really straightlaced, and she likes rap music.’ They hear me rap, they’re really amazed.”