kids encyclopedia robot

Vera Nebolsina facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Vera Nebolsina
Nebolsina,Vera 2019 Karlsruhe.jpg
Karlsruhe 2019
Country Russia (until 2022)
France (since 2022)
Born (1989-12-16) 16 December 1989 (age 35)
Seversk, Soviet Union
Title Woman Grandmaster (2007)
Peak rating 2389 (January 2011)

Vera Nebolsina was born on December 16, 1989, in Seversk, Russia. She is a professional chess player who became a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) when she was 17 years old in 2007. This is one of the highest titles a female chess player can earn!

Vera's Early Life and Chess Start

Vera Nebolsina grew up in Seversk, a city near Tomsk in Siberia. Her dad, Valery Nebolsin, was a Chess Master, and her mom, Tatiana, started teaching Vera how to play chess when she was only four years old. Her mom also introduced her to other fun board games like draughts and Go.

Vera's dad helped her get even better at chess. By the time she was six, she was already playing in official tournaments. She often played against older kids, which helped her improve her skills even faster!

Vera's Amazing Chess Career

Vera started winning big tournaments very early. When she was seven, she won the Russian Girls Under 8 Championship. The next year, at age eight, she won the World Youth Chess Championship for girls under 10 in Spain!

By the time she was twelve, Vera was playing in the Russian Women's 1st League. In 2004, she earned the title of Woman International Master, which is another important step in chess.

Her biggest win came in 2007, when she was just seventeen. She won the World Junior Chess Championship for Girls (under 20) in Armenia. This amazing win helped her earn the top title of Woman Grandmaster.

Vera reached her highest rating in January 2011, when she was ranked 2389 in the world. She describes her playing style as a "positional player," meaning she likes to control the board and plan ahead. But she can also be a "tactician," which means she's good at finding clever moves to win pieces or checkmate her opponent. In 2016, she won the U.S. Women's Open Chess Championship.

How Vera Plays Chess

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
Nebolsina vs. Gromova, Sochi 2007
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
8 {{{square}}} black rook {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black queen {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white queen 8
7 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black pawn {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king 7
6 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black pawn {{{square}}} black king 6
5 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white pawn {{{square}}} white rook {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black pawn 5
4 {{{square}}} black pawn {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white pawn 4
3 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black bishop {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white pawn {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king 3
2 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white bishop {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white pawn {{{square}}} black king 2
1 {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} black king {{{square}}} white king 1
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
Final position

Vera is known for making her chess pieces move freely around the board. This is called "piece mobility." She often looks for smart, surprising moves. For example, in one game in 2007, she made a clever move called a queen sacrifice. This means she gave up her most powerful piece (the queen) to set up a checkmate and win the game! This shows how alert she is to tactical chances.

Vera's Life Outside Chess

Vera Nebolsina is a vegetarian. She cares about animals and chooses not to eat meat.

As of 2020, Vera lives in France with her husband, Gata Kamsky, who is also a famous chess player. She is studying at a university there. Before that, she studied at Novosibirsk State Technical University and spent two years learning in China at Qingdao University. She also went to Moscow State University.

Vera is very good at languages! She speaks Chinese and French, and she is fluent in both Russian and English. In 2015, she even gave a talk at a TED (conference)#TEDx event in her hometown of Novosibirsk.

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Vera Nebolsina Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.