When Dorsa Derakhshani was 19 years old, she came to the United States with six suitcases and a passport. St. Louis University offered her a full ride scholarship if she played on the chess team for up to six years, and she knew she couldn't pass it up.

However, she is more than just a college student — she is the second Iranian woman in history to become a chess international master. She won the Asian Youth Chess Championship three times, her first win being at 14 years old. She was awarded the prestigious titles of woman grandmaster and international master in 2016, among the highest ranks awarded in chess by the International Chess Federation.

Her team at St. Louis University won silver in the 2017 Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, the highest-rated intercollegiate team competition in chess. She went on to finish third in the 2020 U.S. Women’s Championships.

Now, she plays on the chess team for the University of Missouri while in her second year of medical school. 

Many would consider Derakhshani a prodigy.

She was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. At 2 ½ years old, she could read a first grade-level book.

As a toddler, she enjoyed singing and dancing and was scouted by a television producer. She appeared regularly on television specials as a “baby television personality,” where she sang, danced and tried to inspire kids to read and write. 

Derakhshani discovered her love for chess at a young age. Her dad had a chess set at home, and she would play around with the pieces. One day, she and her mom discovered a chess class was being held right next to her painting class. Her mom thought it was interesting, so they checked it out.

She initially found the game interesting and thought of it as a hobby, but she ended up really enjoying it and wanted to go professional.

She says she enjoys chess because it’s a mind game — it’s a game of trying to trick and counteract the other player.

“I can dance with my pieces,” she said. 

She won her first national championship at seven years old and wore a pink princess gown with her own tiara in the closing ceremony. She said it was the first time that she ever won something big related to chess, and she felt like a “princess.”

She won gold medals at the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Asian Youth Championships while representing Iran’s national team and achieved every possible women’s chess title. 

She said Iranian culture is still active and present in her life. She speaks her native tongue, Farsi, with her mother. She named her cat Pishi, the Persian word for kitten. She enjoys Persian food and has found Persian friends in Missouri.  

Derakhshani said a big hope for the future is to make her mother more comfortable in the U.S. It’s been a challenge for her with the language barrier and new culture.

Her mother has a green card and currently lives with her. She said her mother was the biggest influence on her life because she focused much of her life on her chess career instead of thinking about herself.

“She barely did anything for herself. She lived through me. She wasn’t planning a vacation. She was planning tournaments for me,” she said.

Derakhshani expects to graduate in 2026, but for now, she wants to “survive med school and keep my sanity.”