From Pawns to Queens Gala | March 2025

You’re Invited

Join us for a special fundraising gala on March 21st, 2025, dedicated to supporting and empowering girls in chess. This elegant evening will include a gourmet dinner, complimentary parking, and the Mercer Island High School orchestra to make the night truly memorable. The auction will feature Metropolitan Market gift cards, Victoria Secret baskets, wine selections, stunning paintings, chess lesson vouchers and more.

Schools are encouraged to join the cause by purchasing tickets to support their students and promote the importance of girls in chess. This gala is not just an event, but a celebration of the potential and talent of young female chess players. By attending, you'll be contributing to scholarships, training, and resources that help girls thrive in the game, building confidence and skill in a traditionally male-dominated field.

Date: March 21st, 2025
Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Tickets: $125 (18+ Only)
Location: Hilton Bellevue Hotel
300 112th Avenue SE | Bellevue, WA 98004

Bartender Open for Drink Purchases: 7:00pm-8:00pm

Private Lessons with Chouchan Airapetian

Private Lessons

Coach Chouchan has coached young chess players for over 20 years. She brings global experience as a US and FIDE Certified Instructor, the Director of Women and Girls Chess Programs, and Secretary of Washington Chess Federation. Coach Chouchan is an active professional chess player known worldwide, while winning WA Women’s Championship’s Premier and Invitational sections.

She coaches Beginner to Advanced competitive levels while creating enjoyable chess lessons and guiding students to master chess. Her pupils constantly win awards, and their parents praise her open-minded approach to multi-level learning including group settings. Coach Chouchan supports all her students in chess tournaments.

Lesson Settings:

If you notice that your child is struggling or would like to achieve results quickly, then private coaching is a helpful option. It is important for learners to practice outside of chess club and leverage techniques to grasp the concept and master the skill by executing in their games. Each child has their own pace of learning and focused attention. For students who are quick learners and want to explore more complex themes, private chess lessons are recommended to support. They learn how to set goals and what strategies to use to take their chess knowledge further.

Coach Chouchan’s approach is to help students learn chess and identify techniques to use in their games. These students commit to self-regulated study at home and bring questions for explanation by Coach Chouchan.

Chess Club at St. Monica Catholic School

Join us this season at St. Monica Catholic School

Instructed by Coach Chouchan (pronounced Shooshan), who is an accomplished coach, has been coaching for over 21 years. Her goal is to develop enthusiastic chess players and a competing team in the scholastic events. She teaches students to enjoy playing the Royal game. Chess improves academics and social interactions, according to intensive research.

Chess Club for All Ages: Newcastle Library

Dates: Wednesdays | August 21st, September 25th, October 23rd, November 13th and December 11th

Time: 5:45pm

Ages: 9 and Older

Place: Newcastle Library
12901 Newcastle Way
Newcastle, WA 98056

Cost: FREE!

Join us for chess with Coach Chouchan Airapetian at the library! Dive into the world of chess with hands-on learning experiences as Coach Chouchan covers everything from fundamental rules to sophisticated strategies.

Enjoy interactive sessions, practice matches and 15-30 minute instructions to enhance your skills. Connect with a community of chess enthusiasts and share your passion!

The Hidden Gender Bias in Chess

Imagine two people sit on opposite sides of a table — the only thing separating them is a small, checkered black and white board. Each of them intently stares at the board, contemplating what their next move is– to go for an attack? Or no, to defend? The weight of the game rests upon this moment, and each player understands that it is going to be a close match. 

I bet you imagined two men sitting across from each other, with their backs hunched over the board. So, why do you immediately only imagine men? Well, if you’re unfamiliar with the game of chess and have only seen a few of the big, flashy names — Magnus Carlson or Garry Kasparov — you may have realized that nearly none of the “popular” players are women. 

There is an overwhelming majority of male players, especially competitively – it’s a fact. Aliya Saldanha Suri ’27, a competitive chess player and member of the chess club, said, “I don’t remember the last time I played a girl who wasn’t at an all-girls tournament.” 

Chess’s Gender Bias: Parents & Mentors Shortchange Girls’ Potential

The miniseries The Queen’s Gambit depicted the life of fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who consistently faced being underestimated in male-dominated competitions. Now, a team of New York University psychology researchers has uncovered some real-world evidence of the challenges Harmon faced as a young player: parents and coaches of youth chess players tend to rate the highest potential of girls lower than that of boys.

The study, which included co-author Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess champion, also revealed that coaches who believe “brilliance” is essential for success in chess are more likely to assume their female mentees will quit due to lack of ability compared to their male mentees. Yet, despite these biases, both coaches and parents don’t perceive that girls face a less supportive environment than boys, nor do they believe girls are more likely to quit due to external factors.

"While it’s inspiring to see a fictional woman triumph in a male-dominated space, women in the real world remain significantly underrepresented in chess,” says Sophie Arnold, NYU doctoral student and lead author of the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. “This research highlights a contributing factor: bias from parents and coaches against the female youth players in their own lives.”

Does Gender Make Chess Skill?

In October 2020, Netflix released The Queen’s Gambit, the hit show about a fictional chess prodigy named Beth Harmon. Despite an acute drug addiction and an unsettling history in an orphanage, Harmon defeats many of the best male players of her time and quickly rises to global prominence. As of March 2021, the series has been exalted by critics and enjoyed by 62 million people. The show came at the perfect time. In the past few years, chess has skyrocketed in popularity, the pandemic acting as its greatest benefactor. Grandmasters and amateur streamers alike propagated the game to an international audience. 

It’s no wonder, then, that The Queen’s Gambit has done so well. But, as with any blockbuster show, its success has not made it impervious to criticism. In particular, experienced chess players have pointed out what seems to be a major flaw––that Harmon, the young prodigy in question, is female. At the root of this critique and the creative liberty behind the show is the age-old question of gender in the sport: Are men better chess players than women?

Some of the best players in history have always given a one-sided answer. In a 1962 interview, American Grandmaster and eleventh World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer said that women are “terrible chess players” and that “they’re just not so smart.” In a 1987 interview, Russian Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who was undisputed World Chess Champion for 23 years, said that “there is real chess and women’s chess.” 

Such thinking is not a thing of the past, either. The vice president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), British Grandmaster Nigel Short, claimed in 2015 that men are “hardwired” to be better chess players than women. Even a few female players have agreed to this sentiment. As recently as 2020, Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy said in an interview that men are the superior players, and women would just “have to accept it.”

However tempted we may be to dismiss these comments as baseless speculation, though, the numbers only support them. Compare, for instance, Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, the current World Chess Champion and considered by many to be the greatest of all time, with Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar, generally thought to be his counterpart as the strongest female player. 

The Gender Gap in Competitive Chess: Commanding Queens in Command Economies

Currently, the World Chess Federation lists 1,643 male Grandmasters compared to only 37 female Grandmasters, highlighting a well-known disparity in competitive chess achievement between genders. However, a lesser-known fact is that the gender gap in competitive chess varies significantly across different countries.

For example, for every 100 male players at the Candidate Master level, there are approximately 48 female players in Vietnam, 47 in Georgia, 38 in China, 4 in the U.S. (Japan), 3 in France (Sweden), and just 2 in Denmark (Finland). These stark gender discrepancies lead this paper to examine the factors contributing to these gaps through a cross-country analysis. By controlling for key economic development indicators and various measures of gender equality, the study finds that a country’s legacy of a command economy is the most significant predictor of a smaller gender gap in competitive chess.

Featured in Northwest Chess Magazine | December 2017

A record 23 players took part in the 2017 Washington State Women’s Championship, a five-round Swiss held at the Seattle Chess Club September 15-17, 2017. The tournament, which was dual US Chess and FIDE rated, attracted players from throughout the Northwest States including Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. The chief organizer of the event was WCF President Josh Sinanan and it was directed by Fred Kleist, a US Chess Senior TD and FIDE National Arbiter.

WFM Chouchanik Airapetian won the 2017 Washingon Women’s Championship with 4.5/5, taking home the $300 first place prize along with the title of 2017 Washington State Women’s Champion! For her victory, Chouchan will be seeded into the Premier Section of the 2018 Washington State Championship. Other winners include:

• 2nd Place: Andrea Botez, $200

• 3rd Place/U1800: Minda Chen, Sophie Tien & Anne-Marie Velea, $60 each

• 1st Place/U1600: Melina Li & Sophie Szeto, $40 each

• 1st Place/U1400/U1200: Kate Jiang & Felicity Wang, $80 each

• 1st Place/U1000/Unr: Angela Agaian & Angela Chen, $40 each

Congratulations to all of the winners!

-Written by Josh Sinanan

2015 Washington State Women’s Championship | Featured in Northwest Chess Magazine

The 2015 Washington State Women’s Championship was held December 12-13 at the Seattle Chess Club. Seven players took part in one open section:

• Women’s FIDE Master Chouchanik Airapetian (2080 US Chess, 2086 FIDE, Armenia)

• Badamkhand Norovsambuu (2038 US Chess, 2017 FIDE, Mongolia)

• Women’s Candidate Master Naomi Bashkansky (1976 US Chess, 1695 FIDE, United States)

• Kerry Van Veen (1548 US Chess, United States)

• Minda Chen (1337 US Chess, 1522 NWSRS, United States)

• Karen Schmidt (813 US Chess, United States)

• Developmental Instructor Anjali Walsh (680 US Chess, 1311 NWSRS, Ireland)

The tournament was co-organized by WCF Member-at-Large Chouchanik Airapetian and WCF President Josh Sinanan. Carol Kleist directed the event.

Congratulations to WFM Chouchanik Airapetian for winning the tournament with 3.5/4 points! “Chouchan” is originally from Armenia and has played in several U.S. Women’s Championships over the course of her chess career. She now lives in Mercer Island with her husband and two children, where she teaches and promotes chess full time through education. For her victory, Chouchan is seeded into the Invitational section of the 2016 Washington State Championship.

-Written by Josh Sinanan

Women Can Compete

The US Championship has long had a tradition of inviting a few amateurs, usually the winners of the US Junior Championship and the US Open. This year with a historically large prize fund of $250,000, the America's Foundation for Chess also expanded the field to 64 players, many of whom could qualify by a strong performance at one of several "national heritage" events.

Airapetian scored 5 out of 7 at the 2004 Chicago Open, qualifying her for a US Championship invitation that was open to either a man or a woman. (By the way, other players with 5 in the Chicago event included soon to be US Champion GM Nakamura and the winner of the Larsen Prize, GM Alex Fishbein.)

How did she do at the Championship itself? Just fine! She started out ranked 60th out of 64, and finished in 54th place, ahead of two men and eight women. Five of these players, including both of the men, were rated higher than Airapetian at the start of the event…