Jesse Kraai is a chess Grandmaster living in Richmond, CA. Kraai reached GM status in 2007. At that time, he was the first American-born player to achieve the title since Tal Shaked

Tal Shaked

Tal Shaked is an American chess grandmaster, who is best known for winning the World Junior Championship in 1997....

 in 1997. In 2007, he won the chess state championship of New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 for the fifth consecutive year. He won the 1987 National Junior High School Championship, tied for first in the 1988 National High School Championship, and won the Denker Tournament of High School Champions

Denker Tournament of High School Champions

The Denker Tournament of High School Champions is a chess tournament that occurs annually in the United States alongside the US Open and the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. The tournament is named for the founder, Arnold Denker and is usually referred to as "The Denker".-Qualifying:This chess...

 in 1989 and 1990. Kraai was born in Santa Fe

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

; he received his B.A. from Shimer College

Shimer College

Shimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...

 in 1994, his M.A. in philosophy from the University of Jena, Germany in 1996, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Heidelberg in 2001. His dissertation examined the influence of Georg Joachim Rheticus

Georg Joachim Rheticus

Georg Joachim von Lauchen, also known as Rheticus , was a mathematician, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his trigonometric tables and as Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil...

 on the development of Copernican theory.

Jesse Kraai is a contributor to chesslecture.com.

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