Live Broadcast Commentators

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan

2453 (USCF) | 2364 (FIDE)
2004 and 2011 U.S. Women's Championship Runner-Up

Tatev Abrahamyan started playing chess at 8 after her father took her to the Chess Olympiad games in 1996. She was soon playing competitively among the top players her age in Europe and has played in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship eight times. Tatev is a formidable competitor. At the 2010 U.S. Women's Championship she played her heart out to a fantastic 7/9 score, which would usually be enough to net first place, but actually put her in a tie for second place, half a point behind Irina Krush. Tatev's strong play and fighting qualities in 2010 earned her the 9 Queens/goddess chess fighting spirit award, which was selected by former Women's World Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk. At the 2011 U.S. Women's Championship, Tatev turned in a remarkable performance, falling just short to Anna Zatonskih in the playoff finals to finish in second place. That same year, Abrahamyan graduated from California State University Long Beach with a double-major in psychology and political science. Tatev was once again a force to be reckoned with at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Championship while also teaching chess and working as a journalist for the Grand Chess Tour. This will be Tatev’s second time doing live commentary for the U.S. Junior Championships at the Saint Louis Chess Club. 

GM Robert Hess

2660 (USCF) | 2574 (FIDE)
Former U.S. Junior Champion

Robert Hess is a former U.S. Junior Champion, the 2010 Samford Award winner, the runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Championship, and a three-time member of the U.S. National team. After graduating with a degree in History from Yale University in 2015, he has continued to be involved with chess. He is a known chess analyst and commentator and was the coach of the U.S. Women's team at the 2016 Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. Outside of chess, Hess serves as Chief Operating Officer of The Sports Quotient, a statistically-based sports site he co-founded.