Agata Bykovtsev

Entering the tournament as the top female in the country under 18 years of age, Agata Bykovtsev has toured the globe to play in tournaments in Brazil, Slovenia, the United Arab Emirates, and many other countries. Agata Bykovtsev was born in Uzbekistan but has lived in the US since before the age of one.

Bykovtsev’s resume includes winning the gold medal at both the 2014 Pan American Chess Championship and the 2015 North America Junior U20 Chess Championship. She also is the only U.S. high school female who has ever medaled at the World Youth when she took home the bronze medal in 2015.

Agata Bykovtsev also excels at academics: she has taken all available Mathematics (including Statistics, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra and Differential Equations) and three semesters of Calculus-based Physics classes at her community college, and completed the requirements for college transfer at the age of 16.

 Bykovtsev was one of two recipients of the 2015 Matthew J. Quinn Youth Leadership Award, which was awarded to her for her volunteer work with the Isla Vista Youth Project -- a program she designed to teach chess to low-income elementary school children in Goleta, California. Using the money she had earned giving private lessons, she designed a curriculum and purchased boards, sets, a demo board for her class.