Atousa Pourkashiyan

Atousa Pourkashiyan (Persian: آتوسا پورکاشیان; Persian pronunciation: [ɒːtuːˈsɒː puːɾkɒːʃiˈjɒːn]; born 16 May 1988) is an Iranian-American chess player. She holds the title of Woman Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded her in 2009.^[1]

Atousa Pourkashiyan
Pourkashiyan in 2010
Country	Iran (until 2022) United States (since 2022)
Born	(1988-05-16) 16 May 1988 (age 36) Tehran, Iran
Spouse	Hikaru Nakamura ​ (m. 2023)​
Title	Woman Grandmaster (2009)
FIDE rating	2297 (March 2025)
Peak rating	2374 (May 2011)

Career

Pourkashiyan is seven-time Iranian women's champion (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014) and a record holder among Iranian women chess players.

She was born in Tehran.^[2] Pourkashiyan won the World Youth Chess Championship of 2000 in the Girls U12 category.

In April 2010, Pourkashiyan won the Asian Women's Chess Championship in Subic Bay.^[3] She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2017.

In team competitions, she has played for Iran at eight Women's Chess Olympiads (2000-2014), the Women's Asian Team Chess Championship, and the World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad.^[4]

In 2023, she won an individual silver medal on Board 5 in the FIDE Women's Team Championship, helping Team USA reach the semifinals.^[5]

In 2024, Pourkashiyan won the XV Americas Women’s Continental Chess Championship, qualifying her for the 2025 Women's Chess World Cup.^[6]

Personal life

Pourkashiyan married American grandmaster and five-time US Champion Hikaru Nakamura in 2023.^[7]

She was in the news alongside Sarasadat Khademalsharieh when she competed at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2022, without a hijab, amidst the Mahsa Amini protests.^[8] In December 2022, she changed her federation from Iran to the United States, where she currently resides.