Oregon’s first woman grandmaster in chess is just 16
Oregon’s first woman grandmaster in chess is 16-year-old Zoey Tang, a junior at Westview High School in Beaverton.
“Woman grandmaster” is the highest chess title restricted to women that is awarded by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, the international governing body over competitive chess.
To put Tang’s achievement into perspective, there are some 350,000 active FIDE-rated chess players across the globe. About 38,500 of those players are women, and fewer than 500 players are woman grandmasters.
According to the Portland Chess Club, Tang is the first Oregonian to receive the woman grandmaster title. Next on Tang’s list: achieve the open grandmaster title. “If I become grandmaster within the next four years, that would be amazing,” Tang said. “I’m just going to keep playing as much as I can and then hopefully, I’ll get there.”
Among the world’s approximately 2,000 chess grandmasters, only 42 have been women.
James Tarjan, Oregon’s only living grandmaster and one of only two in the state’s history, praised Tang’s chess game. “I think it is important to realize that most of the tournaments she plays in are ‘open’: in other words, all ages and genders compete together,” he wrote in email. “She is the Oregon State Champion, not just of the women and girls but the men as well, and she is routinely competing (successfully) with very strong chess masters in tournaments around the country.”
Tang started playing competitive chess in a school club at age 7.
“It was fun, and it was also challenging because it’s not like Candyland, where it’s just luck,” she said. “There’s actual strategy, and you can improve by just practicing.”
Tang has traveled across the country and internationally to compete in more than 250 tournaments over the course of her chess career. Tang’s advice for novice players is not to worry about losses and take each game as a learning experience. Chess rewards those with patience and resilience.