GMMarie Sebag

Marie Sebag was born in Paris and learned chess from her mother, a schoolteacher, at five and a half. She developed as a junior at the city's Le Petit Pouchet club. She won European girls' titles at under-12, under-14 and under-16 level. Her first French women's championship came in 2000, followed by another in 2002. In 2004, she shared first in the world girls' under-18 championship, taking silver after a playoff with Jolanta Zawadzka. She reached the Women's World Championship quarterfinals in 2006. A victory over former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov at Vlissingen in 2007 contributed to a Grandmaster norm. She received the Grandmaster title in 2008. Away from tournament play, she studied psychology and began using therapeutic chess with children in 2021, after her final training placement, with a child psychiatrist's approval. Her book L'intelligence de l'échiquier, published in 2023, connects chess with psychological skills and everyday decisions.