Jennifer Shahade is an American mind sportsperson who has achieved success in two major disciplines. On top of noteworthy sporting achievements, she has become a successful writer, podcast presenter, and dedicates a lot of time to encourage other women to follow in her footsteps.
Jennifer Shahade Bio/Wiki
- Birth name: Jennifer Shahade
- Age: 41 (as of 2022)
- Sun Sign / Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
- Birth Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Date of Birth: December 31, 1980
- Nationality: American
- Residence: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Home Town: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Hobbies: Chess, poker, writing
Relatives
- Mother’s name: Sally Solomon
- Father’s name: Mike Shahade
- Brother: Greg Shahade
- Sister: Unknown
Education
- College or University: New York University
- Educational Qualification: Comparative literature degree
- Profession: Chess player, poker player, brand ambassador, author, podcast producer and presenter
Height and Weight
- Height (Approx.): Unknown
- Weight (Approx.): Unknown
Jennifer Shahade Career
Jennifer Shahade began her career playing chess, following in the footsteps of her father, a FIDE Master, and her brother, a FIDE International Master. However, she’s outdone them both by reaching the title of FIDE Woman Grandmaster.
While she had been entering competitions before then, she won her first major tournament in 2002 aged just 21, becoming the US Women’s Chess Champion. A year later, Shahade secured her second FIDE International Master norm, and in 2004 she became the US Women’s Chess Champion for the second time.
After making waves at home, Shahade was selected to represent her country in the Chess Olympiad for three years.
Although she doesn’t take part in many of these competitions anymore, she does enjoy performing simultaneous chess exhibitions which involve her playing as many as 50 games at the same time. This party-trick has seen Shahade travel around the world, visiting countries like China, South Africa, and various US states.
Like many other celebrities, including Meghan Markle, Margot Robbie, Ricky Martin, Shahade has enjoyed a varied career. Not satisfied with success in one mind sport, Shahade began playing poker. In 2014, she won her first tournament playing Open Face High Roller Championship and then became a Mind Sports Ambassador for PokerStars, using the position to help encourage more women to get into the sport.
After enjoying plenty of success of her own, Shahade has also become a poker coach, teaching others about advanced strategies and how to implement them in their own games.
Jennifer Shahade’s Writing
Jennifer Shahade has also taken to writing about her games. Her work has appeared in a wide spectrum of outlets from poker and chess-specific publications like Cardplayer Magazine and Chess Life Magazine to mainstream newspapers like the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
She’s also had several books published. The first, titled Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport, went on sale in 2004 and contains stories of numerous female chess players and how they managed to succeed in the male-dominated game.
After enjoying blockbuster sales and a wealth of positive reviews, Shahade followed this up in 2011 with a book titled Play Like a Girl! which focused on the more technical aspects of chess, using successful female players as case studies for different approaches. The provocative title is designed to challenge the outdated derogatory term that links poor form to female players.
She’s recently penned another book that she’s titled Chess Queens.
Jennifer Shahade’s Podcasts
After selling her books by the truckload, Shahade explored a new medium to share her passions. She started her first podcast in January 2019 to shine a light on more female chess players. Called Ladies Knight, this podcast has provided Shahade the opportunity to chat with many successful players including Ella Papanek, Sarah Chiang, Nadya Ortiz, and Donna Dodson.
A few months later, Shahade created another podcast project called The Grid. Focusing on poker, this series systematically examines every single one of the 169 possible hands available in no-limit hold’em, using a 13×13 grid to demonstrate it.
Overall, Shahade has enjoyed a very varied career that has seen her go from the best chess player in the United States of America to a leading figure in the world of poker. Along the way, she’s committed to helping and inspiring others to replicate her success.
