Irina Krush looks to defend title at 2021 US Chess Championships

Andy Cossins/iStock (NEW YORK) —  The 2021 U.S. Chess Championships are underway and Irina Krush is back to defend her title. Krush is an eight-time U.S. women’s champion and the only female American grandmaster. She told ABC Audio’s Perspective podcast that becoming a grandmaster is not easy. “People will become grandmasters by making things called norms, which is a certain performance, a certain high performance,” Krush said. [It’s] three sets of three tournaments where they’re playing against other grandmasters as well,” Krush said. “When you make those norms and you get your rating to a certain point, which is a threshold of