Meet WIM Dr. Carolina Blanco

Carolina Blanco is the founder of OrthoChess, LLC, established in 2008, and a lifelong competitive chess player, educator and advocate for the game.

She learned chess at age five and began competing in national and international tournaments at age seven. At just 19 years old, she earned the prestigious FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM). She later earned the FIDE Trainer (FT) title for her continued dedication to chess education, coaching players from beginners to competitive national and international tournament levels.

While competing in her native Venezuela, Dr. Blanco became a 15-time Venezuelan National Champion across multiple women’s age categories and a three-time Pan-American Women’s Champion in multiple categories for players under 20 years old. She achieved a peak Venezuelan rating of 2230 and a peak international FIDE rating of 2192.

Dr. Blanco represented Venezuela’s National Chess Team for more than 16 years, participating in four Chess Olympiads and numerous Zonal, Open, Pan-American, Central American, World Cadet, World Youth, World Junior and Girls’ Championships. Her competitive chess career took her to more than 35 countries around the world.

Her academic background includes earning a Doctor of Dentistry degree from the University of Carabobo in Venezuela in 2003, followed by a two-year postgraduate program in Orthodontics at the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil, where she became an orthodontic specialist in 2006.

After living in Georgia for more than two decades, Dr. Blanco has made significant contributions to the state’s chess community. She became a three-time Georgia Women’s State Champion and has coached more than 10,000 students across Georgia and nationwide. In recognition of her longstanding involvement and contributions to chess in her home state, she was inducted into the Georgia Chess Hall of Fame in 2024, becoming the first woman inducted.

Today, through OrthoChess, Dr. Blanco dedicates her experience and knowledge to chess instruction, coaching, educational programs, camps, tournaments, events and unique chess experiences for players of all ages and skill levels.