Chess is full of opportunities to learn from mistakes. There may be no take-backs in chess and also life for that matter. But as chess players, it is critically important to be honest with ourselves when we make mistakes so that we can improve both as a player and a person.
Yesterday I published an interview on the Daily Chess Musings Blog in which a young lady I am mentoring made an inaccuracy. Sofia Doroshenko described her greatest chess achievement as, “being the only female high school captain in Illinois.” At the time of the interview, she believed this to be the case.
In an email today, I received the names of two other female High School chess team Captains in Illinois. There names are Aria Hoesley of the Whitney Young chess team and Shreya Mangalam of the Barrington Community High chess team. Aria has an impressive USCF rating of 2091 and Shreya rating is a whopping 2132. Both young ladies are ranked in the top ten nationally and have bright futures ahead of them.
So, at this point we know of just a few female high school chess captains in Illinois. Obviously that number needs to grow and with talented young ladies such as Aria Hoesley, Shreya Mangalam and Sofia Doroshenko leading the way, I am sure we will see positive growth in Illinois women’s chess.
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