Ladies Knight

I thought it was a great moment to re-broadcast one of my favorite episodes of Ladies Knight, with French chessplayer, composer and content creator Yosha Iglesias. We originally recorded this episode back in June 2022 but so much has happened since then.  First of all, just a month after this podcast originally dropped, the French...

On a special collaborative episode of Ladies Knight, Jennifer and Ben Johnson, host of the Perpetual Podcast, recap the recently concluded Women's World Chess Championship, which Ju Wenjun won in spectacular style over her compatriot Grandmaster, Lei Tingjie.  They touch on their favorite moves from the final game, the moment Jennifer realized there may not be a...

Jennifer welcomes Bernice Wambui Gikandi to Ladies Knight. Bernice, at just 12 years old, is a rising star on and off the board. She's the Global Youth ambassador for the Gift of Chess, a member of the Kenya Women's Olympic team and reigning 2022 Kenya National Youth Champion. She also won the Under 12 Open...

Jennifer invites a very special guest to Ladies Knight: International Memory Grandmaster, Yanjaa Wintersoul. Yanjaa, the first woman to become a Memory World Champion, talks about how memory tricks apply to games, life and feminism. Yanjaa and Jennifer have a broad-ranging discussion on creative memory, spaced repetition and pattern recognition. They also touch on memory techniques (see Greg Shahade's...

 Jennifer Shahade welcomes Megan Chen to Ladies Knight. Megan, a recent contributor to Chess Life Magazine, is currently on a great American quest to play US rated chess in every state. She's already ticked off 44, and plans to be the first female player ever to get to all 50. A passionate adult improver, software...

Ladies Knight host Jennifer Shahade had the opportunity this Winter to meet an epic guest: Holocaust Survivor and 1956 French Women's Chess Champion Isabelle Choko. We celebrate this occasion by rebroadcasting the episode and presenting two chess.com videos that Jennifer filmed in Paris, as well as a carousel of photos from Jennifer's game against Madame Choko herself. 

Our 50th Ladies Knight guest is Kalanithi “Kala” Kanapathy-Bagley, the founder of the Discovery Chess Academy and a member of US Chess Women's committee, and popular and friendly face at our National Girls Clubs. She organizes the Ohio Chess Girls Championships and is a vocal proponent for bringing the benefits of chess to everyone. One of...

Jennifer Shahade speaks to WFM Devina aka “Simply Devina” Devagharan about her streaming career, and her strong advocacy for mental health in the chess world and beyond. They discuss the psychological challenges and benefits of the game and Devina's positive approach to streaming and content.  Devina was a guest at our virtual girls club room,...

Jennifer Shahade brings Senior Tournament Director and four-time All Girls Nationals Team champ Maya Myers to Ladies Knight. In 2022, Myers became the first African American woman to earn the International Arbiter title.  Maya and Jennifer discuss her role and reaction to Brooklyn Castle, the acclaimed documentary film about IS 318, which she attended with...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes high-school sophomore Laurel Aronian to Ladies Knight. Laurel is a president of her high school chess team, St. Luke, and talks to Jennifer about how she maintains her interest in the game while juggling a busy high school academic and extracurricular schedule.  Laurel talks to Jennifer about keeping more girls in the...

Jennifer welcomes Women's International Master Luciana Morales to Ladies Knight. Luciana is a three-time Continental Champion, the first Peruvian woman to qualify for the Women's World Champs and an Olympian captain and player. Now hailing from Brownsville, Texas, Luciana works for chessable, where she was recently promoted to Classroom Manager. She  goes by “Mom's Gambit” on social...

Jennifer welcomes Tatia Skhirtladze to Ladies Knight. Skhirtladze is the director and producer of “Glory to the Queen”, a documentary film exploring the outstanding success of Georgian women in chess, focused on four legends of the game: Nona Gaprindashvili, Maia Chiburdanidze, Nana Ioselaini and Nana Alexandria. Jennifer and Tatia speak about highlights from her film,...

In a special episode of Ladies Knight, Jennifer Shahade takes on listener questions, ranging from a member of her girls chess club who struggles with closing winning positions, to previous guest Laura Smith on how Jennifer would approach a return to professional chess. She also answers a question from podcaster Daniel Lona who asks about...

Jennifer is joined by Yosha Iglesias, a multi-talented chess professional:  a FIDE Master, composer, coach and  YouTuber. She also works for chess24, and is  among the top ten female players in France, (ranked #9 in June 2022). Jennifer and Yosha speak about how the Eureka moment of solving a chess problem can be similar to...

Jennifer interviews author, chess coach as well as a longtime friend of Jen's, Jessica Era Martin, to Ladies Knight. Jessica is the founder of Over the ChessBoard, a coaching organization dedicated to bringing chess everyone. A published poet and frequent contributor to chesskid, she's also the author of several books, including two 2022 titles, Chess...

In this special episode of Ladies Knight, host Jennifer Shahade invites you to join her on the road, starting with her Chess Queens book launch in London, where she visited a girls school called Sarah Bonnell, a women's group called the “Trouble Club”, and our friends at the London Chess & Bridge Shop. She moves...

Jennifer welcomes Women's International Master and former Ukrainian Champion Anastasiya Rakhmangulova to Ladies Knight. Jennifer first heard about Anastasia, who goes by “Nastia”, in the 2020 Isolated Queens tournament, an online event that Jen hosted with Alexandra Botez at the start of the pandemic. Almost two years later, Nastia began to update her Instagram followers...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes a chess champion, friend and leader to Ladies Knight: Martha Fierro of Ecuador. Martha is a woman with many titles: she's a FIDE Vice President, an International Master, a Women's Grandmaster, International Organizer and a two-time Olympic medalist. She's also one of Jennifer's earliest inspirations: Jennifer first met Martha at a small...

US Chess expert and quant sports trader Ella Papanek joins Jennifer Shahade on Ladies Knight for a fascinating discussion. A recent graduate of Harvard University, Ella works at the Susquehana International Group (SIG), a global quantitative trading firm in the Philly area. Her interests span from chess to poker to sports, and of course- statistics, her major...

Jennifer welcomes International Master Rusudan Goletiani to Ladies Knight. Goletiani is a three-time World Youth Champion, a two-time Olympic medalist and a former US Women's Champion- she took Jennifer's title in 2005!   Rusudan recently gave a riveting presentation in the girls club at the K-12 Nationals in Orlando, Florida, about the struggles she encountered on...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes artist, sculptor and Fulbright Scholar Donna Dodson on to the GRID. In 2018, Dodson created an epic chess set for a show at the Boston Sculptors Gallery, “the Match of the Matriarchs,” and she invited Jennifer, Daniel Meirom and Kleida Spiro to collaborate with her. The centerpiece of the show was a chess set...

Jennifer speaks on Ladies Knight to Nadya Ortiz, a chess champion who now works as a senior software engineer at Apple. Born in Ibrague, Colombia, Nadya talks about growing up in a lower-income family that supported her chess career, which led her career and life to flourish. She speaks about classism, and the power of...

Our September Ladies Knight guest is NM Sarah Chiang, a graduate of Washington University in Saint Louis, a med student and an advocate for girls and women in chess.  She is one of a handful of female players who have played in both the US Women's Championship as well as the US Junior Championship. During...

Ladies Knight welcomes Holocaust Survivor, author and 1956 French Women's Chess champion, Isabelle Choko.  Born on September 18, 1928 in Lodz, Poland, Isabelle Choko was two weeks away from her 11th birthday when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Isabelle and her loving parents were among 160,000 sent to the Lodz ghetto. Her father...

Jennifer brings National Master and chess coach and streamer Laura Smith to Ladies Knight. Laura talks about her very early beginnings in the game and her current passion for chess in education and streaming. A mom of three, Laura gave birth to twins at the start of the pandemic and talks about the joys and struggles of...

In a special double-header, Jennifer interviews entrepreneur and organizer Judith Kiragu and chess patron Dr. Philip Mwashe on the origin story of the Lighthouse Chess Club in Mombasa, Kenya.  Kiragu and Mwashe speak about changing the landscape of chess in Kenya by founding the club in May 2017. Throughout its four year history, they advance education through...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes theoretical physicist, author and chess enthusiast Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein to Ladies Knight. Prescod-Weinstein’s new book, The Disordered Comsos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime & Dreams Deferred is our current Madwoman book club selection. The book is both an ode to her love for physics and astronomy, a tour of some high and lowlights...

This month’s Ladies Knight features IM Irene Kharisma Sukandar, the first WGM from Indonesia, a five-time Olympian and the fifth ranked player in her country of any gender.   Irene was recently featured in the most viewed chess match of all time, with 1.3 million peak viewers, shattering previous records many times over.   The...

Jennifer welcomes long-time friend Courtney Lauren Penn to Ladies Knight. Courtney is a producer and the founder of Renegade Entertainment. In addition to being a player in Hollywood, Courtney is also a chessplayer: she was ranked in the top fifty female players in the country for six years, and played in the very first SuperNationals. She is now partnered...

Women International Master, author and entrepreneur Sabrina Chevannes is our February guest on Ladies Knight. Sabrina talks about how she transitioned from chess to her current career leading a full service creative agency. She also gives Jen some advice on her own brand and the US Chess Women brand. They move on to discussing Sabrina’s books, “Chess for...

Jennifer Shahade invites a longtime friend on a very special episode of Ladies Knight: US Chess Creative Director Frankie Butler. The talented designer and art director talks to Jennifer about her expanding role at US Chess and her passion for design and graphics. Jennifer and Frankie even reveal how their own friendship predates their work...

In a bonus episode of Ladies Knight, William Horberg, the Executive Producer of The Queen’s Gambit, talks to Jennifer Shahade about the long road to creating the hit Netflix series. He also talks about his first chess project, “Searching for Bobby Fischer” which he described as a “cult classic.” Bill moves on to discussing some...

Award-winning author, New Yorker writer and psychology PHD Maria Konnikova joins Jennifer Shahade on Ladies Knight to talk about her first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. Maria is also the author of the recent bestseller, “The Biggest Bluff“, a chronicle of her poker journey, when she went from newbie to champion in a...

 In a special edition of Ladies Knight, Jennifer Shahade talks about the Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis. She starts by summarizing her thoughts on the series, and the experience of seeing chess all over the media, including a number of interviews Jen did on the show for Vanity Fair, the New York Times, PocketFives, Salon and the Mic.    She then...

Jennifer interviews Robin and Sarah Ramson for the October edition of Ladies Knight podcast. Robin Ramson is the founder of Chess Girls DC and the organizer of the upcoming Chess Empowerment Weekend (Nov 6-8), which will feature a series of chess tournaments and a star-studded line-up of guest speakers. Sarah Ramson is Robin’s daughter, and a chess player, golfer,...

The September edition of Ladies Knight features legendary Grandmaster and seven-time US Women’s Champion Irina Krush. Irina and Jennifer talk about Irina’s coaching philosophy and her recent learning experiences at camps with Kramnik and Polgar. They also touch on Irina’s battle with COVID-19, which was featured this Spring in the New York Times. Despite her struggles with...

On the August episode of Ladies Knight, Jennifer interviews author, chess teacher and speaker Lauren Goodkind. Goodkind is a popular Bay Area teacher and the author of “Poison Pieces” and “Queen for a Day: The Girl’s Guide to Chess Mastery.” In her latest book, Queen for a Day, readers work through an entire game with...

Our July Ladies Knight features 18-year-old IM Annie Wang, who captivated the chess world in 2018, when she nearly won the US Women’s Championship at just 15. Since that feat, Annie has continued to raise her playing level. In 2019, Annie won the Pan-American World Junior to earn her IM title and her first GM norm. A recent...

Jennifer Shahade welcomes singer, songwriter and former scholastic chess champion, Linda Diaz on Ladies Knight. We play a clip from “Magic” in the middle of the episode, a song you may have heard on twitch.tv/botezlive, where Linda’s music videos have played on breaks during our Saturday US Chess Women fundraisers.   Like twitch, Linda has been blowing up...

 Jennifer Shahade talks to 16-year-old International Master Carissa Yip on the newest episode of Ladies Knight. The popular two-time US Junior Girls Champ is a serial record breaker- the youngest female to defeat a GM at the age of ten, and the youngest American female in history to become an International Master. Jennifer and Carissa talk...

Our April edition of Ladies Knight features Grandmaster Humpy Koneru, the 2020 Cairns Cup Champion and our May 2020 Chess Life Magazine cover star. She is the reigning World Women’s Rapid Champion, and the second woman in history to break the 2600 barrier. She also defeated Judit Polgar’s record as the youngest woman to achieve...

Chilean singer, songwriter, chessplayer and artist Juga joins Jennifer Shahade for the March 2020 edition of Ladies Knight. Juga’s hit single, “Oh Capablanca” is the theme music for this podcast, and in her appearance, Juga talks to Jennifer about the inspiration for many of her hit songs, including Caruana Oh Na Na, which she wrote with IM...

World Chess Hall of Fame chief curator Shannon Bailey joins Jennifer Shahade on the latest episode of Ladies Knight. Shannon talks about some of her favorite exhibitions and chess sets over nine years of leading the intersections of history, chess and art at the WCHOF. They also delve deep into the 2015-2016 art show, Ladies Knight,...

In the first anniversary episode of Ladies Knight, Jen Shahade interviews the multi-talented FM, entrepreneur, gold medalist, author and lawyer Alisa Melekhina. Jennifer talks to Alisa live in Philadelphia, where  both grew up, about a wide range of topics, from Alisa’s corporate chess league, to lessons behind her first book, “Reality Check: What the Ancient Gameof...

WGM Sabina Foisor joins Jennifer Shahade on Ladies Knight to discuss her recent work coaching our youngest players in International competition, and how she balances kindness with her ferocious approach over the board. Sabina and Jennifer also relive Foisor’s emotional triumph at the 2017 US Women’s Championship, and how chess skills translate into life skills. Sabina...

The November episode of Ladies Knight features Carla Heredia Serrano, a Women’s Grandmaster from Ecuador, who now lives in California. A member of the Ecuadorian Olympic team, Carla recently graduated from Texas Tech with a Masters in Sports Management and a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Now Carla works with the Berkeley Chess School on many projects including...

It’s Podcast Tuesday on Chess Life Online, and since this month we have five Tuesdays, we have a Ladies Knight bonus clip for you. Jennifer Shahade talks to podcast host, author of 20 books, investor and blogger James Altucher about something his followers may know a little less about: James is also a US Chess master. He explains to Jennifer his swan song in chess...

In the October edition of Ladies Knight, Jennifer Shahade speaks to IM Dorsa Derakshani about her childhood in Iran, her TED talk and what surprised her most about living in the United States. Dorsa Derakshani is an International Master, Women Grandmaster, three time gold medalist at the Asian Youth Champs and a pre-med student at Saint Louis...

The September episode of Ladies Knight features International Master and commentator Daniel Rensch, known to many as the Chief Chess Officer at chess.com. Danny, the first male guest on Ladies Knight emphasizes the importance of men speaking up and advocating for women in our culture and sport. Jennifer and Danny also talk about gender ratio statistics...

The August episode of Ladies Knight features Maureen Grimaud, chair of the US Chess Women’s committee. Maureen is a vocal proponent and supporter of bringing more women and girls into chess, from her work with the girls club’ rooms and Regional women’s events. In a Sports Illustrated article about women in chess, Maureen said, “It’s a numbers...

Writer, army veteran, influencer and US Chess member Charlotte Clymer joins Jennifer Shahade on Ladies Knight live from Las Vegas, where Charlotte participated in her first women’s event, the US Women’s Open. Charlotte and Jennifer talk about Charlotte’s experience in the Armed Forces Championships, how to make chess more inclusive and why every chess game...