Alisa Melekhina (born June 26, 1991) is one of the top female chess players in the United States, a classically trained ballerina, and an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Melekhina is a frequent contender in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, and has represented the United States in numerous World Youth and Junior Chess Championships, where she has placed in the top ten. She placed fifth at the 2014 US Women's Championships. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School aged 22, in May 2014. Early life Melekhina was born in Simferopol in 1991. She immigrated with her parents to the United States when she was only two months old. They originally settled in Brooklyn, New York while her father completed his dental re-accreditation. They moved to Philadelphia five years later, where Melekhina has resided since. Melekhina was taught to play chess by her father and only coach at age 5, and played in her first tournament when she was 7. She also began taking Vaganova-style ballet lessons at that age, and has been dancing ballet and pointe since. At age 6, she authored “The Frog Princess,” a translation of a popular Russian fairy tale, making her a published author at age 8. Chess achievements Melekhina's top chess accomplishments include: Finishing top 10 at the World Youths and World Junior Chess Championships. Winning the gold medal best individual board four performance at the Women's World Championships held in Ningbo, China in 2009 Team Securing an IM Norm at the Chicago North American Invitational RR series in 2009 Placing third at the prestigious U.S. Women's Championships in 2009 at age 18, held in St. Louis Tying for third in the competitive, high-stakes World Open U2400 section in 2010 First Female Pennsylvania State Champion She earned the FIDE Master title in 2011 and prefers to go by this over her Women's International Master title Notable games Melekhina won one of the best game prizes for her win over WGM Tatev Abrahamyan at the 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championships as black against the Italian Opening. Her win over one of China's top female players as black in the Trompowsky Opening was featured in the print-version of the New York Times. One her most notable games is a c3 Sicilian miniature over GM Alexander Shabalov in 2011. In December of that year she beat GM and US Women's Champion Irina Krush