The Field
Sam Shankland
Shankland won the US Chess Championship in 2018 and was the California State Champion in 2008, 2009, and 2011. He won Bronze at the U18 Championship and was Junior Champion in 2010. He represented the US in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø and won a gold medal for best individual performance. In the 42nd Olympiad in Baku, he helped the US win team gold for the first time in 40 years.
Gawain Jones
Currently the top rated player in England, Gawain Jones is a two-time British Chess Champion, having won the title in 2012 and 2017. At age 10, he became the youngest player ever to defeat an International Master in official tournament play. Jones is also a renowned chess author, writing 5 books between 2008 and 2015.
Liem Le
Liem was the 2013 World Blitz Chess Champion and Under-14 World Youth Chess Champion in July 2005. He is currently the #1 ranked player in Vietnam. Liem is a valuable asset to the Vietnam Chess team and in the 2012 Chess Olympiad he helped Vietnam place No. 7 overall - the highest ever for Vietnam.
Jeffery Xiong
In 2015, Jeffery became the third youngest player to achieve the Grandmaster title at age 14. He came in second at the US Junior Closed Chess Championship in July 2015 which qualified him for his first appearance in the US Chess Championships. By 2016 he entered the top 10 players in the world under age 20, and is currently in the top 60 overall.
Sam Sevian
Youngest American GM having achieved the title at 13 years, 10 months, and 27 days; 2012 World Youth U12 Champion; Youngest ever American Continental Champion, 2017.
This American chess prodigy holds some of the top records in the United States. He was the 2012 World U12 Champion and another member of the Young Stars program. He received training from the legendary Garry Kasparov and Grandmaster Alexander Chernin. He became the youngest American Expert level player, and Grandmaster and still holds both titles today. He achieved his GM title at 13 years, 10 months, and 27 days old, which also puts him in the top ten youngest Grandmasters to achieve the title in the world.
During his last appearance at the 2015 US Championship, Sevian defeated Wesley So, one of the top ten Grandmasters in the world. In 2017, he won the American Continental Chess Championship and was the youngest one to do so in history. He is the second highest rated Junior in the United States, and fifth highest in the world.
Dariusz Swiercz
Darius is the youngest Polish player of all time to qualify for the title Grandmaster at the age of 14 in 2009. Świercz won the 2011 World Junior Chess Championship at the age of 17 and is currently the only Polish male chess player to accomplish this title. The following year he also won the Under 18 World Championship.
Igor Kovalenko
Igor has achieved the title of Latvian Champion twice, winning the title in 2013 and 2014. In 2016, he placed second in the European Individual Chess Championship in Gjakova. He has represented Latvia at three different Chess Olympiads in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Daniel Fridman
Daniel Fridman is a German chess grandmaster. He was Latvian champion in 1996, as well as German champion in 2008, 2012 and 2014. His first major success in his early chess career was when he took home a bronze medal in the Under-16 category of the World Youth Chess Championship. Daniel is a master of speed chess and won first place at the Essen rapid contest of 2000 and Dutch Open rapid tourney of 2008. Outside of his personal successes, he represented the Latvian men's team on board 4 at the Yerevan Olympiad of 1996 and at the Pula 1997 European Team Chess Championship. He returned to the Olympiad team as first board in 2004 (Calvià) and in 2006 (Turin). After he became a German citizen, he switched chess federations and, as incumbent national champion in 2008, was an automatic choice for the German team at the Dresden Olympiad.
Grigoriy Oparin
Grigoriy Oparin is a Russian grandmaster who received his title by FIDE in 2013. That same year he was on the Russian team that won silver in the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad. He has won the Russian Junior Championship, Russian Higher League, and was the best player at the Nutcracker Match of the Generations in Moscow.
Surya Ganguly
Surya Ganguly achieved the IM title at age 16, and the GM title at age 19. Since then, Surya has become a six-time Indian chess champion. He has received numerous accolades for his achievements in chess, including the Arjuna Award for outstanding achievement in sports, the Shera Bengali award as a spokesperson for Bengal, and the Bangabhusan award which is the second-highest civilian award in West Bengal.
Hovhannes Gabuzyan
In his youth, Hovhannes Gabuzyan placed second at the European Youth Chess Championship in 2011 and 2012. Later that year he was awarded the Grandmaster title. Since then, he has won the World University Chess Championship and the 77th Armenian Chess Championship in 2017.
Dmitry Gordievsky
Born in 1996, Gordievsky earned his IM title in 2016, and the GM title in 2017. Dmitry is the No. 29 ranked Russian player as of February 2018 after he finished 3rd in the Moscow Aeroflot Open.
Arturs Neiksans
Arturs has won the Latvian Chess Championship in 1999, 2011, 2015, and 2019. He won the Baltic Sea Junior Championship in 2001 and the Aivars Gipslis Memorial tournament in 2002. Arturs represented Latvia in 6 Chess Olympiads ranging from 2000 to 2018.
Cristian Chirila
Cristian is a four time Romanian Junior Championship winner. In April of 2015, Cristian won the World Youth Championship for 16 and under. In 2010 he received a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas in Dallas and would go on to win the Millionaire Chess Open in the under 2550 rating group.
Chirila was also a part of Fabiano Caruana’s team that won the 2018 Candidates Tournament and followed him to the World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen in London in November 2018. Chirila streams on twitch.tv on the channel "chesschilla" and he plays on chess.com under the pseudonym "TheCount."
Aram Hakobyan
Aram Hakobyan started playing chess when he was 6 years old and earned his Grandmaster title in 2018. Since then, he has achieved much in the chess world, such as winning the Armenian Youth Championships five times in different age groups (10,12,14,18), becoming World Chess Champion in U12 in 2012, earning vice-champion of the European Chess Championship U14 years in 2014, bronze medalist of the of the European U14 Championship in 2015, and bronze medalist in U16 team Olympiad in 2016. Other accolades Aram has been awarded include "The World's Young Stars" - 3rd prize for first and second rounds of European Junior Grand Prix in 2017, 2nd place in the category "Best junior player "The World's Young Stars" - 1st prize of third round of European Junior Grand Prix in 2018, and European individual chess championship - Best junior player U18, also in 2018.
Elshan Moradiabadi
Elshan Moradiabadi learned the game of chess at the age of seven and earned his GM title as an Iranian in 2005. Before that, Moradiabadi won the Iranian championship in 2001. Elshan was the top player in Iran for the period of three (non-consecutive) years. Elshan moved to the US in 2012 and has played for the US federation since 2017. Elshan spent five years at Texas Tech, within which period he won one Pan Am and one final four with the Texas Tech chess team. He also earned two Masters degree during this period. Elshan currently resides in Durham, North Carolina where he teaches chess to youngsters and talented players. Elshan loves to watch movies, read books, and learn about difference sciences.
Brandon Jacobson
Brandon Jacobson is a 15 year old International Master from New Jersey. He is currently the highest rated chess player in the United States by age and the highest rated International Master in the country. He also ranks among the top players in the world by birth year. Influenced by his older brother Aaron, Brandon began playing chess at age 4 and has developed an enduring passion for the game. He recently earned his first Grandmaster norm and is working toward earning the Grandmaster title. Brandon was homeschooled and accepted to Columbia University at age 14.