WIM Viktorija Ni

Bio: Viktorija Ni learned chess at the age of 7 from her mother, Polina, who is an Expert. She earned the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) in 2007 and the Woman International Master (WIM) title in 2010, earning her final norm at the 19th Chicago Open. Viktorija represented Latvia twice at the Chess Olympiad (2008, 2010) on the women's team. She recently switched her federation form Latvia to the United States, and will be competing in her first-ever U.S. Women's Championship. Viktorija is a formidable competitor, coming into the tournament ranked 5th in the country by rating for Women. She is the spouse of 2012 U.S. Championship competitor GM Yury Shulman, and they both live just outside of Chicago with their son Gabriel. Their son was born during last year's U.S. Championship, in which Yury finished second.