Anya Sun Corke (born 12 September 1990 in California, USA) is an American-born English chess player holding the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She played for Hong Kong, where she was the top ranked chess player, until 2009.[2]

Anya Corke
Anya Corke, Warsaw 2013
Full nameAnya Sun Corke
CountryHong Kong (until 2009)
England (since 2009)[1]
Born (1990-09-12) September 12, 1990 (age 33)
California, United States
TitleWoman Grandmaster (2004)
Peak rating2301 (October 2008)

Career edit

Corke earned the WGM title with her performance in the 36th Chess Olympiad, playing for the Hong Kong men's team.[3][4]

She was the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 Hong Kong National Champion (for men and women), one of the youngest national champions ever at the age of 13 years and 9 months.

She was the British Junior Under-11 Champion in 2002[5] and the Under-12 Champion in 2003,[6] the first girl to win either of these age groups. In 2004, she became joint British U-14 Champion.[7]

In December 2004, she won the Asian Youth Girls U-14 Championship in Singapore.[8]

In August 2005, she jointly won with Alisa Melekhina and Abby Marshall the second annual Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls under-19.[9]

Corke represented the England Women's team at the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey,[10][11] and the 2013 European Team Championship in Warsaw, Poland.[12]

Personal life and education edit

In 2013, Corke graduated from Wellesley College summa cum laude with a B.A. in Russian and Philosophy.[13][14]

In 2014, she started a Ph.D. program in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University.[15] She obtained an M.A. and M.Phil Slavic Languages and Literatures (specializing in Russian).[16]

In 2019, Corke started the J.D. program at Yale Law School.[17]

Corke is married and lives in the United States with her husband.[18]

Media edit

Her photograph was misappropriated by supporters of Barisan Nasional, the ruling political party of Malaysia, to depict the victim in a controversy alleging sexual misconduct by the son of Lim Guan Eng, who is one of the leaders of DAP, a Malaysian opposition party.[19] DAP and their supporters then contacted Anya Corke to obtain an official denial that she knows Lim Guan Eng's son; she confirmed that the allegations were false, and that the photo was used without her knowledge or consent.[20][21] The original photo used in this controversy was stolen from an article on the website ChessBase News, and had the chess board cropped out.[22]

References edit

  1. ^ "FIDE Player transfers".
  2. ^ Player transfers in 2009, FIDE
  3. ^ Article about the Susan Polgar National Invitation by ChessBase
  4. ^ Mihajlova, Diana (5 July 2009). "Anya Corke – a special talent from Hong Kong". ChessBase. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  5. ^ "British Champions 1904-present". EnglishChess.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  6. ^ "British Champions 1904-present". EnglishChess.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  7. ^ "British Champions 1904-present". EnglishChess.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  8. ^ Asian Youth Girls U-14, FIDE
  9. ^ "2005 Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls". Chessville News. Archived from the original on 31 August 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Wellesley Senior Among World's Top Chess Players". Wellesley.edu. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Wellesley College Champ Returns Home a Victor". Boston.com. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  12. ^ "England Women's Team". EnglishChess.org.edu. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  13. ^ "2009 Wellesley College Press Release". Wellesley.edu. 4 January 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Wellesley College 135th Annual Commencement" (PDF). Wellesley.edu. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  15. ^ "Yale Slavic Languages and Literatures". Slavic.Yale.edu. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  16. ^ "ABOUT". anyachess. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  17. ^ "Anya Corke Allen". LinkedIn.
  18. ^ "HOME". anyachess. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  19. ^ "Umno blogs used chess champion's picture to attack Guan Eng's son, says DAP". Malaysia-today.net. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  20. ^ "Anya Corke I don't know Guan Eng's son". The Malaysian Insider. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Everybody seems to have forgotten about the girl". helenang.wordpress.com. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  22. ^ "First International Carinthian Chess Festival". 10 July 2007.

External links edit