Nava Starr


Nava Starr is a Canadian chess player. She holds the title of Woman International Master. Starr is an eight-time Canadian ladies' champion and has represented Canada thirteen times in the Women's Chess Olympiad. She competed six times in the Women's World Championship.

Biography, chess achievements and style

Born Nava Shterenberg, Starr was born in Riga, Latvia. She has lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada since the mid-1970s. She is married to Sasha Starr; the couple has one married daughter, Regina and two grandchildren, Mathew and Naomi. Sasha Starr is also a Master-strength player.
Starr's chess style is sharp, offensive and always looking for combinations. She favours sharp and unusual openings, such as the Grand Prix Attack, b2-b3 against the French,...f7-f5 variations in the Ruy Lopez, the Philidor Defence as Black, and many others. She received the WIM title by winning her first Ladies' Canadian Chess Championship in 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia. The best players she has defeated are: Pia Cramling, Milunka Lazarević, Barbara Hund and Roman Pelts. Starr wrote an article in En Passant magazine dealing with the reasons "Why men are superior to women in chess". She is a member of the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame.

Major tournament and match results

Totals in Olympiad play for Canada: 147 games, +73 =42 −29, for 63.9 per cent.