2017 Match of the Millennials

Awonder Liang is one of the most impressive chess prodigies in recent history. He holds a number of records including youngest ever to defeat an International Master, youngest to defeat a Grandmaster, youngest American to achieve a master rating, and youngest American to achieve the International Master rating.

Other achievements include tying for first at the 2011 U-8 World Youth Chess Championship, achieving a GM Norm at the 2016 Continental Championships, and placing second in the 2016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. He enters this tournament having recently dominated Group B of the Spring Classic tournament, held in Saint Louis in May 2017, with a score of 7.5/9. Awonder earned his final GM Norm this past May at the 2017 Chicago Open. Last week, Awonder won the 2017 U.S. Junior Chess Championships.

Ruifeng began playing chess at 5 years old. He won the Arkansas State Championship in 2011 at the age of 8, and later that same year placed second in the World Youth Chess Championships U-10 section. In 2012, after this early success, he was invited to participate in the Young Stars program, a chess training program coached by Garry Kasparov. Soon after, Li went on to earn his National Master title. He received his IM title in 2015, and recently earned his title as Grandmaster earlier this year.

Some of Ruifeng’s greatest chess accomplishments include several draws during major chess tournaments against world class players such as Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Luke McShane, and Alexey Dreev. Ruifeng also won the 2016 North American Junior Chess Championship. He recently was able to participate in the 2017 Spring Classic tournament in Saint Louis. Ruifeng finished 4th place out of 6 in his group, but had notable draws against GM Sam Sevian.

Carissa learned to play chess at the age of six from her father and has been shattering world records ever since; at 9, she became the youngest ever to attain the title of Expert, and at age 11, became the youngest female to achieve the National Master title. Carissa also set the record for youngest female player to beat a Grandmaster when she won against GM Alexander Ivanov in the New England Open a few days before her 11th birthday.

Carissa recently had a strong showing at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Championship where she defeated four-time U.S. Women’s Champion, Anna Zatonskih, and drew against six-time U.S. Women’s Champion, Irina Krush, who she had previously defeated in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Championship.

Martha Samadashvili is on the rise among young female players in chess. She achieved her title as Women’s Candidate Master at the 2013 NAYCC U-10G, and went on to secure her current title as Women’s FIDE Master at the 2014 North American Youth Championship in the Girls U-12 section. She is currently ranked 3rd in the U.S., 5th in the Americas, and 40th in the world in the females under 14 catergories.

Andrew Hong is a Candidate Master, achieving the title at the World Cadets 2016 U-12 Ch in 2016. CM HOng is currently competing in the under 14 category, and is ranked 2nd in the U.S. and Americas, and 8th in the world.

Nicolas Checa earned his title as International master in 2016. He is currently ranked 4th in the U.S. and Americas and 27th in the world in the under 16 section.