Nava Starr
Encyclopedia
Nava Starr (born Riga
, Latvia
, April 4, 1949) is one of the top female chess
players in Canada. She is an eight-time Canadian Ladies' champion, and a Women's International Master (WIM). She has represented Canada 12 times in chess Olympiads, and six times in World Championships.
, Ontario
, Canada. She is married to Sasha Starr, and has one married daughter, Regina and two grandchildren, Mathew and Naomi. Sasha Starr is also a Master-strength player.
Starr's chess style is sharp, offensive and always looking for combinations. She favours sharp and unusual openings, such as the Grand Prix Attack (Sicilian
), b3 in the French
, f5 variation in the Ruy Lopez
, the Philidor Defence
as Black, and many others. She received the WIM title by winning her first Ladies' Canadian Chess Championship
in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia
. The best players she has defeated are: Pia Cramling
(Sweden), Milunka Lazarević
(Former Yugoslavia), Barbara Hund (Switzerland) and Roman Pelts
(Canada). Starr wrote an article in En Passant magazine dealing with the reasons "Why men are superior to women in chess".
Totals in Olympiad play for Canada: 141 games (all-time Canadian women's record), +71 =41 -29, for 64.9 per cent.
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, April 4, 1949) is one of the top female chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
players in Canada. She is an eight-time Canadian Ladies' champion, and a Women's International Master (WIM). She has represented Canada 12 times in chess Olympiads, and six times in World Championships.
Biography, chess achievements and style
Starr was born in Latvia and currently lives in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada. She is married to Sasha Starr, and has one married daughter, Regina and two grandchildren, Mathew and Naomi. Sasha Starr is also a Master-strength player.
Starr's chess style is sharp, offensive and always looking for combinations. She favours sharp and unusual openings, such as the Grand Prix Attack (Sicilian
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
), b3 in the French
French Defence
The French Defence is a chess opening. It is characterised by the moves:The French has a reputation for solidity and resilience, though it can result in a somewhat cramped game for Black in the early stages...
, f5 variation in the Ruy Lopez
Ruy Lopez
The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del...
, the Philidor Defence
Philidor Defence
The Philidor Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:It is named after the famous 18th-century player François-André Danican Philidor, who advocated it as an alternative to the common 2...Nc6...
as Black, and many others. She received the WIM title by winning her first Ladies' Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
. The best players she has defeated are: Pia Cramling
Pia Cramling
Pia Cramling is a Swedish chess grandmaster. Since the early 1980s, she has been one of the strongest female players in the world....
(Sweden), Milunka Lazarević
Milunka Lazarevic
Milunka Lazarević is a Serbian chess player and journalist. For many years, she was Yugoslavia's foremost woman player and became a contender for the Women's World Chess Championship.She was taught chess by her father at the age of fourteen and quickly became recognised as a talent in the game...
(Former Yugoslavia), Barbara Hund (Switzerland) and Roman Pelts
Roman Pelts
Roman Shlemovich Pelts a Ukrainian-Canadian chess master, born in Odessa.In 1959, he founded a chess school in Odessa. Seven of his early students became grandmasters: Lev Alburt, Sam Palatnik, Vladimir Tukmakov, Valery Beim, Konstantin Lerner, Leonid Yurtaev, and Boris Kantsler...
(Canada). Starr wrote an article in En Passant magazine dealing with the reasons "Why men are superior to women in chess".
Major tournament and match results
- WIM - 8 times Canadian Ladies' Champion
- Represented Canada at 12 Chess Olympiads, 10 times on first board
- HaifaHaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
1976, 2nd board, 9/10, +8 =2 -0, won the board GOLD MEDAL; - Buenos Aires 197823rd Chess OlympiadThe 23rd Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 25 and November 12, 1978, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-References:...
, 1st board, 10/14, +8 =4 -2; - Lucerne 198224th Chess OlympiadThe 24th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 20 and December 6, 1980, in La Valletta, Malta.-References:* OlimpBase...
, 1st board, 7.5/11, +5 =5 -1; - Valletta 198025th Chess OlympiadThe 25th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 29 and November 16, 1982, in Lucerne, Switzerland.-References:...
, 1st board, 9/12, +7 =4 -1, won the board BRONZE MEDAL; - Thessaloniki 198426th Chess OlympiadThe 26th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 18 and December 5, 1984, in Thessaloniki, Greece.-References:...
, 1st board, 8/12, +7 =2 -3; - Thessaloniki 198828th Chess OlympiadThe 28th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 12 and November 30, 1988, in Thessaloniki, Greece.-References:...
, 1st board, 5/12, +4 =2 -6; - Manila 199230th Chess OlympiadThe 30th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between June 7 and June 25, 1992, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines.-Individual...
, 1st board, 9/13, +7 =4 -2; - Moscow 199431st Chess OlympiadThe 31st Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, took place between November 30 and December 17, 1994, in Moscow, Russia.- Chess competition :...
, Russia, 8.5/12, +6 =5 -1; - Yerevan 199632nd Chess OlympiadThe 32nd Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, took place between September 15 and October 2, 1996, in Yerevan, Armenia.- Chess competition :...
, 1st board, 6/12, +3 =6 -3; - Bled 200235th Chess OlympiadThe 35th Chess Olympiad took place from October 25th to November 11th, 2002, in Bled, . In the men's tournament there were 136 teams, and in the women's, 92 teams...
1st board, 5.5/11, +5 =1 -5; - Calvià 200436th Chess OlympiadThe 36th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 14 and October 31, 2004, in Calvià on the Spanish island of Majorca.-Chess...
, 1st board, 8.5/12, +7 =3 -2;
- Haifa
- Turin 200637th Chess OlympiadThe 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs , took place between 20 May and 6 June 2006, in Turin, Italy.-Open tournament:...
, 2nd board, 5.5/10, +4 =3 -3.
Totals in Olympiad play for Canada: 141 games (all-time Canadian women's record), +71 =41 -29, for 64.9 per cent.
- 6-times participant in the individual Women's World Championships:
- 1978 - AlicanteAlicanteAlicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...
, Spain - 1982 - Bad KissingenBad KissingenBad Kissingen is a spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and is the seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is a world-famous health resort.- Town structure :...
, Germany - 1985 - HavanaHavanaHavana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city... - 1990 - Kuala LumpurKuala LumpurKuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia - 1993 - JakartaJakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an... - 2001 - MoscowWomen's World Chess Championship 2001The Women's World Chess Championship 2001 consisted of a tournament for the Women's World Chess Championship which took place from November 25 to December 14 2001 in Moscow, Russia...
- 1978 - Alicante
Notable chess games
- Arianne Caoili vs Nava Starr, Bled Olympiad (women) 2002, Benko Gambit (A58), 0-1 Starr transforms the game into the sharp Benko Gambit and scores a pretty thematic win.
- Dinara Khaziyeva vs Nava Starr, Canadian Championship, Toronto 2004, King's Indian Attack / Zukertort Opening (A04), 0-1 Khaziyeva was a young player who has to learn the ropes from a veteran like Starr.
- Nava Starr vs Angela Franco, Turin Olympiad (women) 2006, Four Knights' Game, Scotch Variation (C47), 1-0 Very nice endgame victory.