Cindy Tsai (born 9 July 1985) is an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player.

Biography

She was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois and grew up in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

. Her family is from Taiwan. At age 7, chess teacher George Pyne taught Tsai how to play chess. In later youth, her trainers were George Rottman, Arno Nolting, Tim Hartigan and grandmaster

Gabriel Schwartzman Gabriel Schwartzman (born 1975/1976) is a Romanian-born American chess Grandmaster. Originally from Bucharest, Romania Schwartzman moved to Florida, USA. He played in his first chess tournament at the age of 4, and by the age of 12, was FID ...

. At Stanford University in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the 2020 census. Stanford is an unincorporated area of ...

, she was awarded the Chapell-Lougee Scholarship for psychology research in France and Switzerland in 2007. After graduating, she became a customer care manager at smartphone company Peek in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. In 2009 to 2011, Tsai completed the

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accou ...

program at the

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

near

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois.

Chess career

The World Chess Federation

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

awarded Tsai lifetime title and

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 2002 when she was age 16. Tsai achieved 2 of three

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating an ...

(WGM) norms. As a professional chess player, she played 147 total games from 1995 to 2008 with 65 wins (44.2%). From 1995 to 2003, Tsai competed for the US team in annual World Youth and Pan-American Youth Chess Championships in Brazil, France, Spain, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador and India. At the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s, Tsai finished 5th place twice. In

Pan American Chess Championship The Pan American Chess Championship, also American continental Championship is an individual chess tournament organized since 1945. First pan American championships (1945 and 1954) The first Pan American Chess Championship was held in Hollywood ...

for female youth, Cindy Tsai won 5 titles: U14 in May 1998 in Florianópolis, U16 in June 2000 in

Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul Bento Gonçalves () is a municipality located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Created in 1875, it is one of the centers of the Italian Brazilian, Italian immigration in Brazil. It is also known as the 'wine capital of Brazil' due to its ...

, U16 in June 2001 in Guaymallén Department, U20 in June 2002 in

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bo ...

, and U20 in September 2004 in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

. In her early career, Tsai played for the Hidden Oak Elementary School in

. In the British Four Nations Chess League (4NCL), she played in 2005/06 two games for the Oxford team. Tsai was inactive since the 2005/06 until she played for the US women's national team at the

2008 World Mind Sports Games The first World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) were held in Beijing, China from October 3 to 18, 2008, about two months after the Olympic Games.

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsai, Cindy 1985 births Living people American female chess players Chess Woman International Masters American people of Taiwanese descent Kellogg School of Management alumni Sportspeople from Chicago People from Gainesville, Florida 21st-century American women