Meet the Team

CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

Maggie is a freshman at Rice University and co-founded Queens United in 2019. She has been playing competitive chess for the past 7 years and is currently the highest-rated female chess player of her age group in Illinois. Her most recent accomplishments include placing 1st in the ICA Youth Invitational 2022 Tournament for Girls K-12, where she represented Illinois at the Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions, as well as placing 5th at the All-Girls Nationals for Girls U18. Apart from working to increase girls' involvement in chess, she enjoys dance and studying foreign languages in her free time.

CO-FOUNDER, ADVISOR

Lizzy, a third-year at Harvard College, played seven years of competitive chess with her high school and middle school varsity chess teams. She was nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation in the Top 45 Girls Age 17. Outside of tackling the gender gap in chess, she is passionate about increasing access to business and financial education in her community. In high school, she led the Junior Economic Club of Chicago and On the Money Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys playing piano and hanging out with friends.

CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Julia is a senior at Walter Payton College Prep and started competing in chess tournaments during second grade. She strives to use her chess experience to introduce chess to young students throughout the city. Outside of Queens United, she plays the violin, taking part in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, likes rock climbing, and loves to cook food from around the world.

CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Anjali is a freshman at Whitney Young and she has been playing chess for 9 years. She has been playing competitively for 6 years and has played in various tournaments including local and national tournaments. Some of her accomplishments include placing 2nd at the 2022 & 2023 CCF All-Girls Chess Tournament and being the top placed in her grade at the 2020 CPS K-8 City Championships. Outside of Queens United, she leads her school’s Breast Cancer Awareness Club, competes on the Chess Team, Varsity Cross Country/Track & Field Team, as well as the Math Team.

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Lipika Mallick is a senior at W.B Ray High School and has been playing chess since 7th grade, wanting to promote more girls in chess since. She has played in her region's chess tournaments during the school year, consistently placing in the top 3 and is currently ranked in the Top 100 Girls Age 16. She also placed 3rd in the New York Girls State Chess Championship and participated in the All-Girls Chess Nationals for the first time. Aside from volunteering to teach young children to play chess, she enjoys playing tennis for her school's varsity team and participating in competitions such as Academic Decathlon, Science Bowl, and Ocean Bowl, for which her team qualified nationally.

DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Adwita is a freshman at South Brunswick High School and has been playing chess since 4th grade. She has competed in many local, state, and national level tournaments. A few of her accomplishments include winning 6th place at the 66th Annual Maryland Open State Championship and winning 5th place at the NJ K-8 Scholastic State Championship. Outside of chess, she loves listening to music, playing with her dog, traveling. She is responsible for coordinating lessons at Queens United.

CO-DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH

Mona is a junior at Salem High School. She has been playing chess for 8 years and is beginning to participate in more competitive chess tournaments. She is passionate about equalizing the gender divide in the chess community since she finds it difficult to find other girls passionate about chess in her area. She is a part of her school's debate team, plays volleyball, and likes to hang out with friends.

CO-DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH

Avika is a freshman at the Edison Academy Magnet School in Edison, New Jersey. She has been playing chess since second grade and has played in various tournaments. She is passionate about bringing more girls into the game of chess and increasing its accessibility. For Queens United, Avika focuses on building a community for female chess players to be able to connect and be recognized for their achievements. Outside of chess, she likes to dance, watch movies, and spend time with her friends/family.

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Merrill Lee is a sophomore at Walter Payton College Prep. She has been playing chess competitively for 7 years, and is on her high school's varsity chess team. Some of her accomplishments include being 1st at the K-8 State Championship in 2019, placing 3rd at the 30th Annual North American Open in 2020, and being the 2nd highest rated player for girls her age in Illinois. Merrill came to Queens United because she wanted to help empower females, and inspire youth in the chess world. Outside of chess, she plays violin and is part of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. At school, she plays for the volleyball team, and is on the math, Science Olympiad, and Future Problem Solvers team.

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Shefali Gupta is a junior at Walter Payton College Prep. She has been playing chess competitively since sixth grade and has won many trophies like a first place trophy in the intermediate section of a CCF tournament. Outside of chess, Shefali plays on her school's Basketball and Badminton team and loves to read in her free time. She also has a fascination for baking and dancing on Bollywood songs.

AMBASSADOR

Tomiris is a senior in the National School of Physics and Math. She has competed in every Asian and World Chess Championship from 2014-2018. She placed 6th in 2015 and divided 2nd-4th in 2017. She currently holds the AGM title (Arena Grand Master), where only 3 women in the world have the same title. Outside of chess she plays piano and loves solving math problems.

AMBASSADOR

Jocelyn is a senior at Kelly College Prep. She started to play chess in 3rd grade and enjoyed playing against her classmates, she started to find her passion for chess once more and currently likes to teach chess to younger students. She is also part of the Junior Economic Club of Chicago and of her school's orchestra. In her free time she loves to play violin, spend time with family and friends, play games, crochet, and draw.

AMBASSADOR

Christina is a home schooled senior. She has been playing chess since the age of 8 and is part of The Gambia's national team. She has also played in 2 online olympiads and has started a chess group with her brother, called Let's Play Chess encouraging people to get together and play chess. Outside of chess she is involved with lots of other activities and organizations in her community including YMCA The Gambia. She is a competitive swimmer, and loves reading, art, playing piano, and teaching kids.

AMBASSADOR

Rianne is a senior at St. Margaret's Episcopal School and has been playing chess since she was in preschool. She competed in every World Youth/Cadet Championships from 2014-2018 while being the official representative twice. Her most notable accomplishments include earning her WCM title at U10 Girls Pan American in 2016, making history as the first girl to co-win the Elementary Nationals in Nashville in 2018, and qualifying for WFM after winning the NAYCC U14 Girls in 2019. She enjoys teaching chess and hopes to inspire more people to fall in love with the sport. Her hobbies include singing, dancing, golfing, and cooking.

AMBASSADOR

Rosali is a junior at Northside College Prep in Chicago. She got into chess when she was 6 and has been playing ever since, never missing the chance to have fun at the All-Girls National Chess Championships with her sister each year. She enjoys the competition of chess, and especially loves puzzles and tactics. She plays for her school's tennis, chess, and math teams (what a nerd), and participates in her school's Women in Sports and Girls Who Code clubs. Outside of school she spends time playing with her three younger siblings.

AMBASSADOR

Megan is a rising junior at Jones College Prep. She’s a part of her school’s chess team and plays competitive chess regularly. Megan came to Queens United because she wants to equalize the gender divide in chess and encourage young women to play chess. Playing chess and teaching are two of her top passions. Outside of chess, Megan’s hobbies include kickboxing, math competitions, drawing, and working out.

AMBASSADOR

Sophia is a junior at Jones College Prep in Chicago, IL. She participates in the chess team at her school and has a passion for teaching and community outreach! Other than playing chess, she also enjoys reading, writing, playing tennis, and listening to music.

AMBASSADOR

Ty is a junior at Lane Tech College Prep and began playing competitive chess in the seventh grade. She has won over ten trophies and even played as a one-woman-team for about two years! In her free time you can catch her on the wrestling mats, or leading Beginning/Intermediate hiking tours at your closest national park.

AMBASSADOR

Shivi is a sophomore at Clark High School in Plano, Texas. She has played chess for 8 years and loves the strategy that is involved in the game. She is very passionate about increasing youth involvement in chess and giving kids an opportunity to learn chess. Outside of chess, she is a part of orchestra and has been playing the double bass for 5 years. In her free time she enjoys reading and baking.

AMBASSADOR

Francesca Schneider is a freshman at Highland Park High School and has been playing chess for 11 years. She has loves playing chess with her older sister and teaching chess to her two younger siblings. When not playing chess, she’s playing cello, piano, and tennis.

AMBASSADOR

Aryaa Gupta is a freshman at Whitney Young and has been playing chess since 4th grade. She is excited about joining the Queens United Chess team and helping out!

AMBASSADOR

Angelina Zhen is a 7th grader currently attending Whitney Young Magnet High School. She has been playing chess for more than 3 years now. Besides playing chess, Angelina also enjoys playing the piano and binge watching TV shows.

AMBASSADOR

Nandini Prakash, an 8th-grader at Wester Middle School in Frisco, TX, started playing chess in kindergarten. She represented the USA in Spain's U8 Girls World Cadet Championship, securing 8th place globally and 2nd in the US. She also won the 2019 Midwest Women’s Championship and was runner-up in the 2018 and 2019 KCF All-Girls National Chess Championship. Besides chess, she's active in NJHS, Academic Pentathlon, and her school's symphonic orchestra. She enjoys reading, writing, watching movies, listening to music, dancing, practicing martial arts, and playing violin and piano. Last year, she co-founded and led her school's chess club, fostering a community of over 30 kids. Currently, she handles an educational YouTube channel (Chess & Math).

JUNIOR AMBASSADOR

Nysa is an 8th grader at Still Middle School in Naperville, IL. She has been playing chess since third grade when she joined the Fox Valley Chess Club. Beginning with success in CCF tournaments, she's grown into a competitive rated player through local, state and national tournaments, often in the U.S. top 100 for girls of her age group. She appreciates the many things chess teaches such as time management skills, creativity, logical thinking, and patience. Outside of chess, Nysa enjoys playing the piano, singing, all types of art, and swimming.

JUNIOR AMBASSADOR

Mia is an 8th grader at Lincoln. She has played in a couple chess tournaments and won 4th place in her most recent one. She has been playing chess from very early on. In her school, she is the very first student representative on the LSC and she won awards for her school's debate team. She is very passionate about gender equality and enjoys reading, playing the violin and flute, and watching TV in her free time.

JUNIOR AMBASSADOR

Sanjana Makkuni is a student at NTA. She is very passionate about chess and debate. She speaks a multitude of languages, from Hindi to English to Spanish. She is very excited to be part of the Queens United Chess team to help inspire more girls in chess!

JUNIOR AMBASSADOR

Suhana Sharad is a 7th grader at Scullen Middle School. She started playing chess at home when she was 5, and has participated in chess tournaments since she was in 1st grade. She placed in the top 10 in this year's Illinois State Championship in March and has been in the USA Top 100 for girls in her age group, both in regular chess and blitz since 2nd grade. Other than chess, Suhana is passionate about music and loves to sing, play the piano, guitar, and viola, and perform in musical theater. She is also an avid actor and dancer and loves the spotlight on stage! She enjoys swimming and all water activities a lot and is fond of doing art/crafts and biking/hiking in her leisure time.

CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

Maggie, who just graduated from Walter Payton College Prep, is an incoming freshman at Rice University and co-founded Queens United in 2019. She has been playing competitive chess for the past 7 years and is currently the highest-rated female chess player of her age group in Illinois. Her most recent accomplishments include placing 1st in the ICA Youth Invitational 2022 Tournament for Girls K-12, where she represented Illinois at the Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions, as well as placing 5th at the All-Girls Nationals for Girls U18. Apart from working to increase girls' involvement in chess, she enjoys dance and studying foreign languages in her free time.

CO-FOUNDER, ADVISOR

Lizzy, a third-year at Harvard College, played seven years of competitive chess with her high school and middle school varsity chess teams. She was nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation in the Top 45 Girls Age 17. Outside of tackling the gender gap in chess, she is passionate about increasing access to business and financial education in her community. In high school, she led the Junior Economic Club of Chicago and On the Money Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys playing piano and hanging out with friends.

ADVISOR

Layla is a sophomore at Saint Louis University started playing chess in second grade. She started playing chess in a club at her elementary school but soon she played in more competitive tournaments and began traveling for national tournaments. She has played in many states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and more. She is nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation in the Top 100 List for girls of age group. Other than wanting to motivate more girls to play chess, she aspires to continue to work with helping youth in the city, baking, and hanging out with her friends and family.

VP OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Karen Campos is an experienced chess player starting in 4th grade! She loves writing, reading, and going out with friends. As a newly graduate from Back of the Yards College Prep, she hopes every little girl is inspired by the program to continue to pursue chess!

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Cindy is a freshman at Vanderbilt University and was a competitive chess player during middle school. She played multiple national, rated tournaments and still enjoys playing for fun. Outside of Queens United, she is a varsity swimmer and is involved in math team, science olympiad, and HOSA.

DIRECTOR OF GIRLS CLUB

Violet is a freshman at the University of Florida and has been playing tournament chess since the age of six. She has won her region for the past three years and is currently nationally ranked by the United States Chess Federation as #22 in Top Girls Age 16. Outside of chess, she enjoys playing cello in her local youth orchestra, running cross country, and studying Spanish.

AMBASSADOR

Trinity Martinez is currently a freshman at Loyola University. Trinity has been playing chess since 7th grade and is Vice President for the chess team at Mather high. She has many hobbies which includes solving puzzles, learning new tricks, and playing video games. She works for a catering company; Hearty Boys as pantry/porter and sous chef.