Vera Nebolsina

Nebolsina was born in Seversk near Tomsk in western Siberia to Chess Master Valery Nebolsin and Tatiana; the family also lived in Novosibirsk.^[2][1][3] Her mother began teaching her basic chess moves when Nebolsina was four and introduced her to other board games, such as draughts and Go.^[3] Her father coached her to further develop her chess skills and by age six, she was playing in formal tournaments, oftentimes in categories above her age group.^[3][4]

At age seven, Nebolsina won the Russian Girls Under 8 Championship and the World Youth Championship for girls under 10 in Oropesa del Mar at eight years old.^[3] By age twelve, she was playing the Russian Women's 1st League and in 2004 she earned the title Woman International Master.^[5][6] In 2007, when she was just seventeen, she won the World Junior Championship for Girls (under 20) at Yerevan, which qualified her for the title of Woman Grandmaster.^[7][8][1] The highest ranking of her career thus far came in January 2011, when she was ranked #2389 in the world,^[8] and her highest junior ranking was #12 among the world's top 20 girl players.^[9] Nebolsina describes herself as a positional player who can also be a tactician.^[10] In 2016, she won the U.S. Women's Open Chess Championship.^[11]

Nebolsina vs. Gromova, Sochi 2007

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Final position

Although the following game is not without errors, Nebolsina's play shows the importance of piece mobility over pawn moves, of which there are few. Despite spirited defence from her opponent, Nebolsina finds a pleasing queen sacrifice to conclude matters. The sample game below ably demonstrates her alertness to tactical possibilities.^[12]