Sarasadat Khademalsharieh


Sarasadat Khademalsharieh also known as Sara Khadem, is an Iranian chess player who holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. After Alireza Firouzja decided to forgo playing under the Iranian flag as a protest to them being forced to lose their matches against Israeli players in December 2019, Sara also decided to do the same and not to represent Iran in any competition, in a post she put on her Instagram account. She stated that she has been taking part in many international competitions out of her own pocket for years now, and that she will no longer be willing to be sent to competitions by the Iranian chess federation anymore. She clarified that she is not renouncing her citizenship, but rather competing on her own.

Career

She won the Asian Under-12 Girls Championship in 2008, the World Under-12 Girls Championship in 2009, the Asian Under-16 Girls Blitz Championship in 2012, and the World U16 Girls Blitz Championship in 2013. In 2014, she finished runner-up in the World Junior Girls Championship.
Khademalsharieh played for the Iranian team at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2012, 2014 and 2016.
She won the Iranian women's championship of 2015, held in January 2016.
Khademalsharieh qualified for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16 as host city nominee after winning a qualifying match against Atousa Pourkashiyan in Tehran. In the Grand Prix stage held in her home city, although being the lowest rated player in the field, she finished in second place and achieved her first Grandmaster norm.
She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship 2017, but was eliminated in the first round by Sopiko Guramishvili.