SLU Chess Team Player Profiles

Gabriela Antova

Junior, International Business
Title: Woman International Master and FIDE Master
Rating: 2320
Home Country: Bulgaria
Gabriela started playing chess at the age of six, and her passion for the game has stayed with her ever since. Growing up, she traveled the world competing in both prestigious youth events and open tournaments where she had the opportunity to show her talent. She achieved early success at the world and European championships, which inspired her to train and dedicate even more time to chess. Currently, Gabriela is pursuing her final woman grandmaster norm and aiming to further advance her position on the women’s rank list.
“For me, chess has always been more than just a game - I believe it is really a way of life and a chance to show what I am capable of," she said. "I am grateful to be part of one of the nation’s greatest chess teams and hope to achieve new career heights with SLU.”

Accomplishments

• Multiple Bulgarian National Champion
• Five-time medalist of the European Youth Chess championship
• Third place at the World Youth Chess Championship
• European Youth Team Champion (2019)
• Member of the Bulgarian national team for the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020
• Fifth place on Board 4, 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India

Benjamin Bok

Junior, Finance
Title: Grand Master 
Rating: 2615
Home Country: The Netherlands

Benjamin Bok is one of the best players of his home country, the Netherlands. He has won many international tournaments, his biggest tournament victory being the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2016, he made his debut for the Dutch Olympic team and he participated in the two most recent World Cups. In 2017, he reached the last 128 and in 2019, he reached the last 64. Benjamin has traveled to over 45 countries and competed against the very best in the world, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Blitz number 1, Hikaru Nakamura, whom Benjamin defeated at the 2016 Isle of Man International. Benjamin is currently ranked 56th (peak ranking 48th) in the world in speed chess and his goal is to keep pushing up the ranks.

Accomplishments

• Dutch Youth Champion U10, U12, U14
• Player on the Dutch Olympic Team since 2016
• Participation in the 2017 World Cup (Last 128) and the 2019 World Cup (Last 64)
• Three-time Dutch Online Champion

Thalia Cervantes

Sophomore, Sports Business
Title: Woman Grandmaster and FIDE Master
Rating: 2280
Home Country: Cuba
Thalia Cervantes was born in the chess-rich country of Cuba. Thalia has always been a leading junior player representing Cuba and continued winning tournaments after transferring to the U.S. Federation in 2014. Thalia is pursuing a degree in sports business, which ideally combines with her ambition in chess.

Accomplishments

• Second place, US Girls Junior Championship 2022
• Silver Medalist with Team USA in the 2021 Chess Olympiads
• First place, 2018 Pan-American Girls u20

Akshat Chandra

Graduate Student in Computer Science
Title: Grand Master 
Rating: 2505
Home Country: USA

Akshat was born in Livingston, New Jersey, and is the only American Grandmaster on the SLU team. He started playing chess when he was around 9 1/2 years old. In fewer than five years, he approached the Grandmaster rating and recorded one of the fastest rises in the world. He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 2016. Akshat was the 2015 US Junior Champion, 2015 U.S. National High School Champion, 2015 National High School Blitz Champion, and 2013 U.S. National K-9 Champion, all in his first appearances. Akshat also holds the distinction of being the only player to have achieved sole first in two of the top U.S. Collegiate Open tournaments - the University of Texas at Dallas Fall Fide Open and the Webster University SPICE Cup. Akshat finished high school when he was 16. Thereafter, he moved to St. Louis to pursue chess and, after two years, began his college studies at Saint Louis University, majoring in computer science and minoring in philosophy.

Accomplishments

• 2022 Collegiate National Champion with SLU
• 2019 SPICE CUP Champion
• 2018 UTD Fall Fide Open Champion
• 2015 U.S. Junior Champion
• 2015 National High School Champion
• 2015 National High School Blitz Champion
• 2013 K-9 SuperNationals Champion
• 2013 North American Youth U18 Champion

Karen Hoshino

Senior, Majors in Political Science and International Studies; Minors in French and Health Care Ethics
Title: Women Fide Master 
Rating: 1836
Home Country: Japan

Karen, originally from Japan, learned to play chess from her father at the age of four. It wasn’t until she began training with her coaches GM Mihajlo Stojanovic and IM James Mann de Toledo when her family moved to Brazil, that she started to play competitive chess at the national and international levels. She played in various school championships in Brazil and Japan, and eventually became one of the youngest members of the Japanese Olympic Chess Team. She participated in her first chess Olympiad at the age of 11 in Istanbul and has been part of the Olympic team ever since. Apart from chess, Karen loves to play golf, play the piano, and go for walks with her friends. She loves her studies at SLU and is a proud member of the SLU Chess Team.

Accomplishments

• Ranked #1 Women Chess player in Japan 
• Represented Japan in 4 Chess Olympiads 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018
• Represented Japan in the first Online Chess Olympiad 2020 
• Represented Japan in 7 World Youth Chess Championships 
•  Japanese Women Chess Champion 2017, runner-up 2015
• Twice Japanese Elementary Chess Champion 2013, 2010
• Brazilian Girls Chess Champion 2011, 2012, third place 2013
• Brazilian School Chess Champion 2011, 2012, 2013

Robby Kevlishvili 

Senior, Finance and Mathematics
Title: Grandmaster
Rating: 2532
Home Country: The Netherlands

Born in the Netherlands in a Georgian family, Robby Kevlishvili started playing chess at age four. His father taught him the rules and Robby joined a local chess club at age six. Soon after, he started competing in national championships, with many European and world youth championships to follow. Now at SLU, Robby is an undergraduate studying finance and mathematics.

Accomplishments

• World Blitz Champion U12 (2013)
• Dutch U20 Champion at age 16 (2017)
• Silver medalist European U18 Team Chess Championship with The Netherlands (2019)
• Winner of the Open Vandoeuvre tournament in France (2018)
• U7, U8, U9, U12, U14 Dutch champion
• Current World Rapid #3 U20 and current World Blitz #10 U20 (February 2021)
• 2022 Collegiate National Champion with SLU

Layla Rodriguez

Undeclared
Rating: 1330
Home City: Chicago
Layla is a freshman at Saint Louis University who started playing chess in second grade. She started playing chess in a club at her elementary school but soon played in more competitive tournaments and began traveling for national tournaments. She is part of the Queens United, an initiative to expand competitive female presence around elementary schools in Chicago. 

Nikolas Theodorou

Graduate Student, Physics
Title: Grandmaster
Rating: 2598
Home Country: Greece

Originally from Greece, Nikolas started playing chess at the age of seven. Soon after his parents showed him how to move the pieces, he became enchanted by the complexity and elegance of the game and has been competing ever since. Nikolas became an International Master at the age of 16 and was even briefly ranked #1 in Europe and #4 in the world in his age group. His greatest accomplishment came at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, where Nikolas obtained the Silver Medal on Board 2. Nikolas also enjoys playing speed chess online and reached #4 on the Chess.com World Blitz Rankings, scoring multiple victories against players such as Magnus Carlsen in one-minute chess and Hikaru Nakamura in three-minute chess. 

Accomplishments

• 2022 Collegiate National Champion with SLU
• Five-time winner of the Greek Youth Chess Championship
• Shared first place at the 2016 Anogia International Chess Tournament
• Member of the 2019 Pro Chess League Champions (Saint Louis Arch Bishops)
• Member of the Greek National Chess Team in the European Team Chess Championship 2017 and World Online Chess Olympiad 2020
• Silver Medal, Board 2, 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India
• Represented Greece in multiple European and World Youth Chess Championships

Stavroula Tsolakidou

Senior, Psychology
Title: Woman Grandmaster and International Master
Rating: 2379
Home Country: Greece

Stavroula Tsolakidou was born in 2000 in Kavala, Greece. She started playing chess at the age of eight; a year later, she won the Greek U10 championship in the girls’ section. She won the national women’s championship in 2017. Stavroula considers winning the world championship for girls U14, girls U16, and girls U18 in the years 2013, 2015 and 2016 respectively as her greatest achievements. She won the Woman Grandmaster title in 2016 and the International Master title in 2018. She currently has one GM norm.

Accomplishments

• World Youth Champion Girls U14, U16 and U18
• Ninth place European Women's Championship 2019
• Qualification to two Women's World Cups
• Member of the Greek women's national team since age 13, now first board
• Highest rated among Greek women chess players