Ryan Emmett:- Hi Yelena.  Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions for Chess.com!  I understand that you come from a chess-playing family and learnt to play chess at a very young age. Could you tell us more about your early chess experiences and your family?
Yelena Dembo:- It is possible to write a whole book about it!  All of it would be very interesting and very useful.  My mum is a USSR Master, linguist and journalist.  My dad is her (and my) trainer, a pianist (a graduate of Leningrad's Academy), a journalist, writer and psychologist.

Even before my birth my parents created a special system for teaching children. My dad called this system: "How to make a talented child out of normal one". Later on he gave lectures about it in different Universities and Institutes of Russia.  Chess was definitely a very important aspect of this system. So, I won my first chess event among boys under 12 when I was only 3 years and 9 months old!

IM Yelena Dembo won the  Women's GM tournament in Athens 2003

Ryan Emmett:- So would you describe yourself as a child prodigy? Did you have any other talents and interests that competed with chess for your attention when you were growing up?
Yelena Dembo:- Of course, I was a prodigy besides chess, when I was two-and-a-half years old I read books in Russian and soon started reading in English. I could run and walk over 10 km in one day, was playing the piano a little and could sing very well. My dad says that my musical talent wasn't worse than my chess one.

Ryan Emmett:- Your family emigrated to Israel when you were just 7 years old. Why did they emigrate and how did life change for you?
Yelena Dembo:- We emigrated from the USSR because the country was collapsing. It is necessary to add anymore?

Of course, my life changed a lot. In the USSR we lived very well from an economic point of view.  For example, we had our own flat, a very good car, a garage, both my parents worked in great places.  When we came to Israel, we became incredibly poor - we didn't have anything as it was possible to take out of USSR only $60 per person.

Ryan Emmett:- Did your chess studies affect your schooling when you were growing up? When did you decide to become a professional chess player and was it a difficult decision?
Yelena Dembo:- Of course, chess was affecting school and school was affecting chess! Especially in a new country with a very difficult language! It is very easy to answer the 2nd question: after winning the first event when I was 3 years and 9 months old it became clear that we need to concentrate on this.

Ryan Emmett:- You are quite a globetrotter - you now live in Greece with your husband. Could you tell us more about him and how you met?
Yelena Dembo:- I am indeed a globetrotter but for 4 years now I live in Athens with my husband and my parents. My husband is an FM with 2300+ Elo, his name is Sotiris, he is 33 years old and he works in a logistics company as a business consultant. He is also a FIDE arbiter and a chess organizer who organized many world and European junior championships as well as many other International events.

And now about the "love story".  Four and a half years ago he invited me online to play in an upcoming "Acropolis" tournament in Athens where I played very successfully, sharing 1st-2nd places and found Sotiris!

IM Yelena Dembo wedding