Dorsa Derakhshani

Dorsa Derakhshani is an Iranian-born Woman Grandmaster and International Master in chess, published author, chess coach, TEDx speaker, and medical student in the United States. A three-time Asian Youth Chess Champion, she gained international recognition as a teenager after being banned and exiled from Iran’s national chess team in 2017 for taking a stand against the Iranian regime. In the same year, she authored a widely read opinion piece in The New York Times and was featured in a local St. Louis Dispatch interview as well as another feature on chess.com titled "My Wardrobe Should Not Be Anyone's Business!" Her visibility grew through her TEDx talk in 2019 and as a keynote speaker at a local Women in STEM event for high schoolers in St. Louis in spring 2018. In 2020, with the bloom of chess through the TV show "Queens Gambit," Derakhshani once again found herself in the center of media attention.

Derakhshani actively contributes to the St. Louis Chess Club outreach, authored a chess book in 2021, and was celebrated by Saint Louis University with a feature titled "The Chess Queen" in 2022 before her graduation. She performed simultaneous chess exhibitions at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in 2022 and the World Chess Hall of Fame’s World Travelers Club event and a chess camp in Memphis in 2023. That year, she also gave an interview for the Columbian newsletter in Missouri. In 2024, Derakhshani expanded her content creation to share her medical journey through humor and storytelling. Most recently, in 2025, she spoke to Rogue Media and NPR on issues including the Taliban’s impact on women.

Derakhshani's expertise spans leadership, resilience, empowerment, and cross-cultural dialogue, inspiring audiences globally through motivational talks that blend chess, medicine, and advocacy.