Jennifer Shahade
Jennifer Shahade is a chess champion, poker professional and keynote speaker who turns strategic thinking into smarter decisions.
Why you should book Jennifer Shahade for your next event
- Learn to make sharper decisions under pressure with insights drawn from Jennifer Shahade’s elite experience in chess and poker.
- Discover how chess and poker thinking can strengthen strategy, adaptability and decision-making in business and everyday life.
- Book an accomplished speaker, author and champion who brings compelling perspectives on strategy, competition and gender equality.
Non-binding request for Jennifer Shahade
Chess champion, poker professional and expert on strategic decision-making
Jennifer Shahade is a three-time National Chess Champion, PokerStars Ambassador, author and keynote speaker who brings the worlds of chess and poker into conversations about strategy and decision-making. A two-time Global Poker Award winner and chess Olympic medalist, she was the first female winner of the US Junior Open and has claimed two U.S. Women’s Championship titles.
Through her keynotes, Jennifer shows audiences how thinking like a chess player and poker player can lead to better decisions, especially when the stakes are high and the outcome is uncertain. She has spoken to audiences around the world, including Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, Harvard, Yale and MIT. With experience competing at the highest levels, writing acclaimed books and advocating for gender equality in chess, Jennifer Shahade delivers a distinctive perspective on strategy, risk and performance.
Jennifer Shahade: Strategy across chess and poker
Jennifer Shahade has built a career around games where every decision matters. A three-time National Chess Champion, PokerStars Ambassador, two-time Global Poker Award winner and chess Olympic medalist, she combines exceptional competitive experience with an ability to translate strategic concepts into useful ideas for audiences far beyond the game table.
Jennifer made history as the first female to win the US Junior Open and went on to claim two U.S. Women’s Championship titles. Her achievements in poker are equally international. She has won poker tournaments around the world, from Prague and London to Las Vegas, giving her firsthand experience of making difficult decisions in environments defined by pressure, incomplete information and changing circumstances.
These two disciplines give Jennifer an unusual foundation for exploring how people think, compete and choose. Chess rewards calculation, preparation and the ability to anticipate what comes next. Poker adds uncertainty, risk and the challenge of making strong choices without having all the information. Together, they form the basis of Jennifer’s engaging approach to decision-making.
Better decisions under pressure
Book Jennifer Shahade for your event to give audiences a fresh way of looking at strategy and decision-making. Drawing on lessons from chess and poker, Jennifer helps people examine how they approach uncertainty, evaluate possibilities and make choices when the stakes rise.
She is known for helping students and clients make better decisions through chess and poker thinking. Rather than treating strategy as an abstract business concept, Jennifer can connect it to situations she has experienced throughout a remarkable competitive career.
Her keynotes explore themes including:
- Strategic thinking inspired by chess and poker
- Making better decisions when information is incomplete
- Navigating pressure, uncertainty and competition
- Learning to think differently about risk and opportunity
- Applying lessons from elite games to work and life
Jennifer has delivered keynotes on chess, poker and decision-making to audiences around the world. Her speaking experience includes Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, Harvard, Yale and MIT. This breadth of experience allows her to bring sophisticated ideas to audiences in an accessible, energetic format.
Author and original thinker
Jennifer Shahade is also an accomplished author whose work explores chess, competition, identity and the ways strategic thinking can influence our lives. She is the author of Chess Bitch/Chess Queens, Play Like a Champion and Thinking Sideways: How To Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Life.
Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and Financial Times. Across her books, articles and speaking, Jennifer draws on years spent studying how people perform, respond to opponents and make consequential choices.
This combination of writing and competition gives her keynotes depth. She understands strategy both as a practitioner who has faced high-pressure decisions herself and as a communicator who knows how to examine those experiences from different angles. Audiences gain insights grounded in real competition rather than theory alone.
Changing the game for women in chess
Alongside her competitive and professional achievements, Jennifer Shahade has made significant moves to advance gender equality in chess. Her work has helped bring greater attention to the experiences of women in a traditionally male-dominated mind sport and to the changes needed within the chess world.
Her influence was highlighted by The Telegraph in 2023, which credited the actions of female stars including Jennifer with helping expose a darker side of the male-dominated sport that could no longer remain hidden. In 2026, US Chess named Jennifer Shahade as its first official ambassador, marking another important chapter in her relationship with the game.
This part of Jennifer’s story adds another dimension to her speaking. She can bring together the mindset of a champion with perspectives shaped by challenging established structures and pushing for greater equality. Her career demonstrates how strategic thinking can apply beyond competition and become a tool for creating meaningful change.
Book Jennifer Shahade for your event
A keynote with Jennifer Shahade brings audiences inside two fascinating worlds: elite chess and professional poker. Both demand concentration, strategic awareness and the ability to make decisions whose consequences may only become clear several moves later. Jennifer translates those experiences into ideas that resonate with organizations, leaders, teams and students.
Her background spans championship chess, international poker, writing, teaching and advocacy. She has competed successfully across continents, represented chess at Olympic level, won major national titles and established herself as a recognized voice on the culture surrounding the game.
Book speaker Jennifer Shahade for a keynote on chess, poker, strategic thinking or decision-making and give your audience a memorable perspective on how to approach uncertainty, pressure and opportunity. Her experiences demonstrate that strong decisions are about more than calculating the next move. They require understanding the situation, considering different possibilities and knowing when it is time to change the way you think.
Keynotes
Keynote by Jennifer Shahade:
Chess and Decision-Making
In this popular talk, Jennifer speaks about how chess can lead anyone to better decisions, even if they’re not expert players.
Drawing from her book, Thinking Sideways: How to Think Like a Chessplayer and Win at Life, she shows you how you can make faster decisions, and think more creatively via the ancient game of chess–even if you never move a single piece.
Keynote by Jennifer Shahade:
Decision-Making and Uncertainty
Lessons from the Poker Table Shahade uses poker to reveal powerful lessons in negotiation, finance, and decision-making, from managing uncertainty to recognizing when to take risks and when to hold back.
Drawing on strategies that have taken her from tournament tables in Prague to London to Las Vegas, she demystifies complex ideas and makes them accessible to any audience, while pulling lessons from her award-winning Wall Street Journal article on poker and failure.
Keynote by Jennifer Shahade:
The Human Still Matters: Thinking for Yourself When AI Knows the Answer
The Chess world has reckoned with superhuman AI for 30 years, and the game is more popular than ever.
Jennifer summarizes this uncanny reality, while explaining how you can use AI to develop pattern recognition, while also knowing how to 'turn the computer off' at the right moment.
Concepts like the 'sandwich method' and 'Thinking Sideways' will give you concrete ways to help monitor your own usage and make sure that you are using AI to become more human, not less.
Keynote by Jennifer Shahade:
Deciding Under Time Pressure
Chess and poker are masterclasses in making smart decisions under pressure.
As an international champion in both arenas, Jennifer Shahade shares how to translate the time-tested strategies of elite players into sharper focus, faster thinking, and better outcomes in business and life.
Using insights from the chess clock to the poker table, Jennifer reveals how to find your “flow” more often, avoid the pitfalls of overthinking, and use time constraints as fuel for creativity and clarity. Blending strategy and real-world application, this energizing talk redefines time management.
Books by Jennifer Shahade
Thinking SidewaysHow to Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Lifeby Jennifer Shahade
Chess QueensThe True Story of a Chess Champion and the Greatest Female Players of All Timeby Jennifer Shahade
