My Top 5 Favorite Female Chess Players
Hey, dear readers! Here I am again!
In this article, I would like to go back to the roots of my blog, when I used to write more about my personal opinions on different aspects of chess. The aim today is to let you know who my top 5 favorite female chess players are.
I have noticed that lately, my texts have become either too informative or too entertaining, but for a long time, I have not been writing much about what really made me grow and reach such a large audience, which was to give my own point of view on some topics related to chess.
If you have been following me from the very beginning, or if you have ever been curious enough to look back on my page, you will probably remember the blog "My Top 5 Favorite Chess Players". If not, feel free to click on the link and check it out! I apologize in advance for the poor formatting it had, but I guess I was still learning how to write decent articles.
As you can read there, one of them is Judit Polgár, the best woman who has ever played chess, and probably the favorite female player of many fans worldwide, not only mine. Therefore, in order not to repeat information, she will not be included in this text, as she is far above all others on my list. Maybe we can even call it the "Judit Polgár Trophy" of my favorite chess lady. 😊
But this time, just to add a bit of suspense, let's do something slightly different. Rather than simply mentioning their names and biographies, I will first state some basic facts about them without revealing who I am talking about. There is no real need to do this, I just thought it might be fun and maybe make you try to guess, inspired by the classic “Who’s that Pokémon?”. After that, I reveal who they are, along with my reasons for putting them in their respective positions.
So, without further ado, here is the list:
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
#5: THE STREAMING STAR
#4: FROM MY FAVORITE COUNTRY
#3: A COURAGEOUS ACTIVIST
#2: THE RECORD-BREAKING PRODIGY
#1: THE BEST COMMENTATOR
CONCLUSION AND HONORABLE MENTIONS
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#5
So, my fifth favorite chess player (actually sixth, as already explained, but I will not keep reminding you about it, relax) was born on September 24, 1995, in Dallas, Texas. However, despite being born in the USA and having Romanian roots, she competes under the Canadian flag. Besides chess, she is also a poker player, an online streamer, and a YouTuber.
Raised in Vancouver, Canada, she began playing chess as a child and won the first of her five Canadian Girls National Championships when she was only 8 years old. Her family later moved back to the United States, where she also won the U.S. Girls Nationals at the age of 15. Today, this player holds the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) with a peak rating of 2092, achieved in April 2016. She has represented Canada at three Women's Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
But what really makes her very famous in the chess world are her Twitch and YouTube channels, which she runs together with her younger sister. They have over 1 million followers on each platform and are one of the biggest chess channels in the world.
An easy guess to start with, right?
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Alexandra Botez
I hope you guessed correctly because that was probably the easiest one! Alexandra Botez opens my list, and there are many reasons for that.
The first one is the amazing job she does to promote chess online in an entertaining way. I always find it very positive when our beloved game is shown not only as a stereotypical monotonous thing, but that it can also be a fun hobby to play, watch, and follow. Alex, together with her sister Andrea, are certainly very successful in this task.
I also like the fact that she is very modest with her viewers, engaging them in playful banter and not taking chess too seriously, but still being educational for beginners and intermediate-level players. However, when playing in an OTB tournament, Alex always shows respect for the game and gives her best.
Personally, I try to follow her games as much as possible and always root for her, although professional chess is no longer her main source of income. As for their streams and videos, it has been hard for me to follow them closely lately, but they were certainly one of the things that motivated me to play chess again a few years ago.
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#4
Fourth place on this list is a Brazilian chess player, born in São Paulo on January 12, 1997, who has been awarded the titles of Woman International Master (WIM) and FIDE Master (FM), both in 2022. She is the 2021 Brazilian Women's Chess Champion and has represented her country in four Women's Chess Olympiads, in 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024.
Like almost every professional player, she learned the game at a very young age and won her first Brazilian School Championship in 2007 at the age of 10. Two years later, she won this same title again. Other notable achievements include being a two-time Brazilian U-20 Champion in 2015 and 2017, and Brazilian University Champion in 2017.
She played for Brazil in four South American Championships between 2012 and 2014, winning the silver medal twice, and was the first Brazilian to participate in the Women's Chess World Cup, in 2021, although she was knocked out in the first round.
Her YouTube channel, where she analyzes some of her online and OTB games, has almost fifty thousand subscribers. Another curious fact is that she once drew against the Armenian super GM Levon Aronian in a simultaneous match he hosted in 2021.
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Julia Alboredo
Well, if you're not Brazilian, this one might have been hard to guess. But if you are, I’m pretty sure you got it instantly, right? I say that because Julia Alboredo is one of the strongest players in Brazil. Along with Juliana Terao and Kathiê Librelato, she is firmly established among the top 3 women in the country.
As you all probably know, Brazil is one of my favorite countries, where I spent two great years of my life, so I felt the need to have a player representing it, and Julinha, as she is affectionately called, was a great choice.
Unfortunately, she was not so well known during the time I lived there, and I only heard about her for the first time when I was already back in New Zealand. However, many of my Brazilian friends always mention her among their favorite players, so I started to follow her career.
Today, besides playing professionally, she also runs a chess academy together with her boyfriend Luis Paulo Supi. If you don't know him and his amazing sacrifice against Magnus Carlsen, you can check it out here: Chess Where I Lived - Ep. 3: Brazil. A rising rocket towards the goal.
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#3
Welcome to the top 3! The bronze medal goes to a player born on March 10, 1997, in Tehran, Iran. She holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Although Iranian by birth, she now lives in Spain and represents the country. She played for Iran at the Women's Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, and 2016, and for Spain in 2024.
In her childhood, she enjoyed various sports such as tennis and basketball, but after being introduced to chess at the age of eight, she fell in love with the game. Some of her most notable achievements include winning the U-12 Girls' World Championship in 2009, the Iranian Women's Championship in 2015, and the Spanish Women's Championship in 2023.
The main reason for her move from Iran to Spain was her decision not to wear a hijab during the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in December 2022, as a protest against the Iranian government. A month later, Iran issued a warrant for her arrest.
To escape the regime, she bought a house in southern Spain and planned to move there with her family. In July 2023, she was granted Spanish citizenship and switched her chess federation.
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Sara Khadem
The percentage of correct guesses for her is probably somewhere between the last two ones. Sara Khadem is the #3 on my list, and I think the summary given above would already be enough to explain it.
One of the things I appreciate most about famous people is when they use their influence to try to make the world a better place, and Sara is a very good example of that. Her protest, challenging not only the chess federation but also the laws of the country in favor of human rights, is commendable and deserves all my respect.
Therefore, I was very happy with her amazing performance at the last Chess Olympiad, where she won an individual silver medal on board 1 and helped Spain to a historic fourth place. I also hope that she gets a GM title soon, which would not only be well deserved but also inspire even more the girls who have her as an idol.
I don't plan to go into too much detail about each player, but if you want to learn more about her, a friend of mine has written a blog dedicated exclusively to this amazing woman: Sara Khadem: The Real Queen of Chess.
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#2
The Silver Medalist is a Chinese woman born in Xinghua on February 27, 1994. She is a Grandmaster, a four-time Women's World Chess Champion, and the second-highest-rated female player of all time. However, she has been semi-retired from competitive tournaments since 2018.
Her passion for chess began when she was only three years old, and it soon became clear that she was a true prodigy. In 2006, at the age of 12, she became the youngest player ever to participate in the Women's World Championship and the Chess Olympiad. A year later, she became the youngest Chinese Women's Champion.
In August 2008, at the age of 14, she was awarded the title of Grandmaster, being the youngest woman ever to receive this title. Two years later, in 2010, she also became the youngest woman to be crowned World Champion, at the age of 16. A real record breaker, eh?
The next three World Championships (2011, 2013, and 2016) were also won by her, against three different opponents. Today, despite relinquishing the crown, she is widely regarded as the best active female chess player, far ahead of her opponents, and has been the number-one ranked woman in the world since September 2015.
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Hou Yifan
I hope you knew that I was talking about Hou Yifan, one of my idols in elite chess, and whose games also enchanted me back in 2018. In her case, there is no particular personal reason why she is among my favorites, other than her exceptional level of play. And she is not only a great chess player.
That's right, in addition to her talent on the board, Hou Yifan is a professor at the University of Shenzhen. And guess what? When she started this career in 2020, she was also the youngest professor there, at the age of 26. A true record-breaking machine.
She has a peak rating of 2686, which placed her as the 59th best player in the world at the time. Although she never broke the 2700 barrier, Hou Yifan has already defeated many super GMs, including the famous Dutch player Anish Giri.
Of course, my selfish wish would be for her to return to competitive chess. But at the same time, I am happy that she is pursuing her dreams and enjoying life the way she prefers. As Hou said in 2018: "I want to be the best, but you also have to have a life."
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#1
And finally, the first place on this list is occupied by an Argentine chess player, born in Buenos Aires on November 12, 1991. She holds the title of Woman International Master (WIM) since 2013 and is a five-time Argentine Women's Chess Champion, having won it in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018, and 2022. This player has also represented Argentina in five Women’s Chess Olympiads between 2010 and 2018.
Today she has an ELO rating of 2160, but her peak rating was 2234, which was reached in May 2014. Besides the five championship titles, she also finished third in the National Women's Chess Championship in 2011 and second in 2014.
Some other notable results in her career include a third-place finish at the 2018 American Women's Continental Championship and winning the 2013 Brazilian Open, held in the city of João Pessoa, where she defeated two International Masters and finished with an impressive 5.5 / 6.0 score.
Although she has not officially retired from professional chess, tournaments are no longer her main source of income. She works as a commentator for Chess.com and broadcasts some of the main events on the platform, as well as the most important international OTB tournaments.
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Maria Florencia Fernández
Ok, maybe people outside of South America might not have heard too much about her, but luckily you are now reading my blog and getting to know more about this amazing player and person. And believe me when I say that Maria Florencia, affectionately known as Flor (flower in Spanish), is quite well known there.
My reason for putting her first on this list is that she has become one of the faces I see most often lately. As you know, I like to look at chess content in other idioms to try to keep my foreign language skills sharp. Some examples are Rey Enigma, Rafael Leitão, The Big Greek, and others.
Together with Brazilian GM Krikor Mekhitarian, Flor is the main commentator of the Chess.com YouTube channel in Portuguese, where I watched the last Candidates Tournament, the Chess Olympiad, and will certainly do so for the World Championship next month.
You didn't read it wrong, despite being Argentine, she speaks good Portuguese (well, I mean it's better than mine) and hosts the tournaments' live streams with a good sense of humor, always being nice to the viewers, but without forgetting to be technical and precise in the analysis of the games.
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CONCLUSION
I hope you enjoyed reading this text and discovering who my favorite women in chess are. Of course, I cannot finish the blog without giving some honorable mentions, just as I did in my original text.
Some players I could easily add to this list are the Ukrainian sisters Anna Muzychuk and Mariya Muzychuk; Pia Cramling and her daughter Anna Cramling; Indian legend Koneru Humpy; Alexandra's younger sister Andrea Botez; Chinese World Champion Ju Wenjun; and Kiwi representative Layla Timergazi.
But as I said at the beginning of the text, the real first place, far above all the others, will always be Queen Judit Polgár. Therefore, since I could not think of any other picture to illustrate the concluding section, I will add a symbolic one of her, given that she is the player who has the biggest room in my heart.
What about you? Please tell me in the comments who your favorite chess lady is and why. I always love to hear your thoughts, but especially your reasons for choosing them. In a sport that is still so male-dominated, they are surely all a great inspiration, a reminder that chess is a game for everyone, and that with passion and dedication, we can always fight for our place.
Thanks for reading and see you again in 15 days!
