Current Leadership & Staff
FM Henry Deng, Editor-in-Chief
Henry is a rising junior in high school from Northern California. He is a Fide Master (FM) with a peak FIDE rating of 2338 and a peak USCF rating of 2392. He started playing chess when he was 7.5 years old and consistently ranks top 10 in the country for his age group. Henry has been selected into the prestigious U.S. Chess Federation All-America Chess Team for his outstanding performance. He won the 2021 National Rockefeller Elementary School Tournament of Champions. As an official USA representative, Henry has won the 2024 Pan-American Youth Championships for U14 Open and bronze medal for 2024 North American Youth Chess Championships for U16 Open. He also won a silver medal in the 2025 Pan American Youth Championships for Rapid and Blitz. He also received the prestigious Falconer Award in 2026, for being the strongest youth player in Northern California. He founded the Ribbon for Humanity Chess Club and teaches lessons to share his knowledge with others. Outside of chess, he also likes competitive math, coding, and badminton.
Jerry Chang, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Jerry Chang is a junior at Oak Park High School and a competitive chess player with a peak USCF rating of 1970, ranking among the top 100 players in the United States for his age group. His recent tournament highlights include 3rd Place in the Classical and 2nd Place in Blitz at the 2026 CTCA International Chess Open (Taiwan), a Top 10 finish at the North American Open, and a first-place finish at the Memorial Day Classic. Beyond competition, Jerry is passionate about promoting chess through education and community service. He co-founded The Future King Chess Club, serves as Vice President of the Amy Chess Club, co-authored Chess Unplugged: Your Ultimate Beginner’s Guide, and provides free chess instruction through community and online chess clubs, including volunteering to teach children with autism. He hopes to inspire more young people to enjoy chess and discover its lifelong benefits.
Ruoxiao Xia, Managing Editor
Ruoxiao Xia serves as an Editor for Chess Connections Magazine. Placeholder biography — update with personal background, chess accomplishments, academic interests, and contributions to the magazine.
Jeremy Wang, Editor
Jeremy is an eleven-year-old sixth grader from Rancho Palos Verdes, Southern California, who possesses a strong passion for chess. He is dedicated to mastering advanced strategies and complex tactics to improve his game every day. His focus has resulted in impressive achievements, including victories and trophies in multiple local competitions and official USCF-rated tournaments. When he is not analyzing the board or competing in tournaments, Jeremy balances his schedule with a variety of active and creative hobbies. He enjoys playing competitive soccer, immersing himself in books, and writing his own original stories.
Emma Wang, Designer
Emma Wang is a current sophomore at Horace Mann School in New York City. Outside of school, she spends her time swimming or creating art, both of which are activities that have stuck with her for many years. In addition, she codes and is an engineer, and combines her interest in computer science with her art background. She also keeps a wide range of books on her shelf, and is always looking for more recommendations.
Sabrina Sang, Designer
Sabrina Sang is a sophomore at Great Neck South High School in New York. She has a passion for the arts, and whether through writing, painting, or design, she enjoys expressing herself and her ideas in thoughtful and intentional ways. When she is not putting pen to paper or colors to canvas, she can probably be found immersed in a novel, knitting her next scarf, or passing a lacrosse ball around with friends.
Dingding Chen, Staff Writer
Dingding Chen is an eighth grader at a private school in a small city in the San Francisco Bay Area, and both a competitive chess player and competitive lyrical dancer. She hopes to become a titled player and a chess psychologist one day. She actively competes in local, state, and national championships and constantly teaches younger kids chess in her community, spreading the positional skills and tactics required in the game to a strictly academic facility. Outside of chess, she enjoys choreographing dances, novel writing, history, and studying math. She has made it to the finals of her school’s principal math competition two times in four years and is aiming to play in the National History Bowl this year as well.
Bryan Wat, Staff Writer
Bryan Wat is a Los Angeles–based chess instructor, tournament organizer, and avid competitor with a USCF rating of 1795. Having learned chess at the age of seven, Bryan is passionate about sharing the cognitive and social benefits of the game with the next generation. He specializes in coaching children and has experience working with students on the autism spectrum. Beyond the chessboard, Bryan enjoys participating in math competitions, playing the saxophone, and competing in water polo.
Alice Chovanec, Staff Writer
Alice Chovanec is a Staff Writer for Chess Connections Magazine. Placeholder biography — update with information about her writing interests, chess experience, and background.
Chess Connections Alumni
IM Justin Wang (TX), Editor-in-chief (Emeritus)
Justin first learned chess at age 7 and since has progressed to become one of the most successful young chess players of his age. Justin was granted the FIDE Master title in 2018 and the International Master title in 2019. His achievements include an invitation to the 2021 US Junior Championship, 1st place at the 2021 National Online Scholastic Championships, 2nd place at the US Cadet National Online Championship, 1st place at the 2019 U.S. Cadet Championship, 2017 Barber Co-Champion, 2017 4th place in the World Cadets Chess Championships U12 in Pocas De Caldas, Brazil, 2017 Texas Masters Champion, 2016 US Junior Open Co-Champion, 2015 World Open U2200 Co-Champion, and Bronze medal in the World Youth & Cadets Chess Championships U10 in Greece. He is an 8-time invitee to the All-American Chess Team.
Besides Chess Connections magazine, Justin also co-founded Chess In Action, a nonprofit organization in March 2018 with his brother Jason to connect with chess enthusiasts around the world, serving underprivileged communities. Justin hopes to apply his chess skills towards creating lasting changes in his local community and in communities nationwide, empowering others to reach their full chess and personal potential. Outside of chess, Justin is a competitive mathematician, pianist, and jump-roper.
WIM Ellen Wang (NY), Co-Editor-in-Chief & Designer
WIM Ellen Wang is a rising junior at Horace Mann School in New York. Since starting chess at the age of 6, she has been playing competitively at the regional, national, and international levels. Her most recent accomplishments are 2023 National Girls’ Champion (U16), Gold Medal at 2022 World Schools Chess Championships (U17 Girls), Team Champion at 2023 National Invitationals of State Champions, and Gold Medals at both 2020 and 2021 North American Junior Girls Chess Championships (from which she earned the WIM title and two WGM norms). She also achieved the US National Master title in 2021.
Beyond chess, Ellen is an avid robotics designer, a passionate flutist, and an enthusiastic tennis player.
FM Davis Zong, Jr. (NY), Co-Editor-in-Chief
Davis Zong is a 12th grader at Hunter College High School in New York City. He qualified for and competed at the U8, U10, and U12 world cadets chess championships, and has won both the elementary and junior high NYC Championships. He became a national master in 6th grade and a FIDE master in 11th grade.
Outside the board, Davis loves to write articles; he is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of his school newspaper and he also wrote several articles on the USCF website on events including the World Cup and the U.S. Junior Championships. Davis loves to share the beauty of chess around the world.
Lulu Huang, Head of Social Media and Designer
Lulu Huang is a rising 10th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia. She has been playing chess since she was four. At six years old, she tied for second place at the All Girls National Chess Championship (U8 section). She qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Women Fast Chess Championship USA national team, and she also received Top 10 in the 2021 US Junior Chess Congress U12 section. She is a coach for Phoenix Chess Club, as well as an Intermediate Chess teacher at Hope Chinese School.
Outside of chess, Lulu is an avid Future Problem Solving competitor, having placed first in States and qualifying for Internationals twice in a row. She enjoys both digital art and math competitions in her free time.
Olivia Coward, Managing Designer
Olivia Coward is a rising junior attending Horace Mann school in New York City. She is interested in English and visual arts.
Anjali Lodh (IA), Designer
Anjali Lodh is a rising 11th grader at West High School in Iowa. She is the current Iowa Girls Chess Champion and represented Iowa in the Ruth Haring Girls Tournament of Champions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 as well as representing Iowa in the Barber Tournament of Champions in 2021. She co-founded and runs a non-profit chess organization called “Chess Butterflies” dedicated to inspiring young girls to become confident chess players. She is an aspiring graphic designer and loves to design things in her free time. She has also written several articles for Iowa’s chess publication, “En Passant.” Some of her hobbies include playing violin, trumpet, playing tennis, and competing for her school’s Science Olympiad team.
NM Jack Levine, Staff Writer
Jack Levine lives in New York City and is a rising 11th grader at Hunter College High School. He started playing chess at the age of 5, and became a National Master in 2019 at the age of 13. He won 1st place at the US Grade Nationals while in 4th grade and again in 6th grade, and was Junior High co-champion at the New York State Scholastic Tournament in 2019. Jack also plays soccer, enjoys studying classical piano, and is currently developing Chess Rescue, an organization that will be dedicated to raising urgently needed funds for causes around the world.
Roger Shi, Staff Writer
Roger Shi is a 14-year-old Southern Californian with a USCF rating of 2122. He is a “Top Blogger” for chess.com and has posted many blogs on chess.com including one that has won “chess.com’s Blog of The Month.” Roger is a USCF Expert and was the team captain of the “San Diego Sorcerers”, who won the 2021 K-8 USATN Tournament. He is a competitive soccer player, and a Manchester United and Golden State Warriors fan. You can check out his blogs on Chess.com at https://www.chess.com/blog/RodgyReports.
NM Roger Zhang, Staff Writer
Roger Zhang is a rising sophomore in Livingston, NJ. He recently became a national master and still continues to actively play in tournaments. He and his friends led his high school to win the NJ High School Team Championship in March 2023. Besides chess, he also enjoys math, science, track, cross country, and has a liking for speedrunning the game 2048.
Dazhen Lu, Staff Writer
Dazhen Lu is a rising sophomore from Hunter College High School who currently lives in New York City. He started playing chess at the age of six, and got third place (shared) in the 17th Manhattan Open Under 1100 section in 2018. Dazhen is currently on the Hunter 9th grade chess team and got third place in team standings in the 2022 US Grade Nationals and third place as well in team standings in the 2023 High School Nationals with an individual performance rating of 1922 with a rating of 1391. Dazhen also loves music and history, and performed at Carnegie Hall three times as a classical pianist.
Contributors
In random order: GM Andrew Tang, WFM Zoey Tang, Kevin Wang, Dylan Zhang, WIM Lisa Lan Yao, Jason C. Wang, WGM Jennifer Yu, Jerry Xie, FM Andy Huang, Daiwen Guo, Eric Wu, IM Annie Wang, WCM Lucia Huang, IM Erick Zhao, GM Joshua Sheng, FM Evan Park, Oliver Torgersen, Justin Li, Lucas Liu, David Li, GM Darwin Yang, IM-Elect Eddy Tan, Roger Luo, WIM Evelyn Zhu, GM Awonder Liang, Henry Burton, Jack Levine, Kent Slate, WGM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro, Hans Xu, Madison Brown, Laurel Aronian, Alice Chovanec, Dazhen Lu