The Fields

Hrant is a 30-year-old Armenian chess player who earned his Grandmaster title in 2008. He took 2nd at the 2006 World Youth Championship under 18  and the 2015 European Rapid Championship. Hrant also won the European Blitz Championship in 2011, the London Chess Classic in 2013 and 2017, and many other open tournaments. He often competes on the Armenian national team, earning a silver medal at the European Team Championship and a bronze medal at the World Team Championship in 2015.

Ray was a chess prodigy in every sense of the term. He achieved the Grandmaster title at the young age of 14 years and 11 months and won seven national scholastic titles. He also finished in the top ten at each of the World Youth Chess Championships from 2004 to 2007 and tied for first place in the 2005 and 2006 Pan American Youth Chess Championships. On July 16, 2009, he won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship, becoming one of the youngest champions ever. Ray played in his first World Cup in November 2009 in Russia, competing again in 2011. He won the Webster University - SPICE Cup Open in St. Louis in 2012, and he finished second in the Millionaire Chess Open in Las Vegas in 2014, losing to Wesley So in the final round. Ray has competed in many of the major open tournaments in the United States, as well as numerous U.S. Championships. When he qualified for the 2007 U.S. Championship, it made him the youngest player in the history of the event to participate.

Jorden learned to play chess from his father at the age of six, but he only began to play seriously three years later, at which time he began to make rapid progress. Within six years, he had attained the International Master title, subsequently earning all his Grandmaster norms at the age of sixteen. During his meteoric career, Jorden has won many prestigious tournaments, including the European Under-14 Championship in 2013. At the 2017 European European Team Chess Championship, Jorden scored 5/7, thereby earning a performance rating of 2723. Most recently, he shared first at the 2019 Dutch Championship with his younger brother, Grandmaster Lucas Van Foreest. 

Var began learning chess in Mongolia, where the winters were so harsh that his father forbade him and his sister from going outside. Instead, his father taught him chess. It was clear from the beginning that Var was extremely skilled in chess, and he soon decided to dedicate himself to becoming a Grandmaster. He did just that, achieving his GM title when he was twenty years old. After receiving the prestigious Samford Chess Fellowship, Var became a top player in the United States, winning the 2003 US Junior Chess Championship. Var also went on to win the World Open three times, sharing first in 2002 and winning outright in 2004 and 2007. In 2014, he was the runner-up US Champion, losing to Gata Kamsky in the rapid tiebreak.

Var admires and mirrors the style of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian. He is a strong positional player, who follows in the footsteps of Petrosian with his expertise in the French Defense,  one of Petrosian’s most popular openings as Black.

Olexandr is a Ukranian Grandmaster, having attained the title at the 2015 Vladimir Nabokov Memorial. In 2014, he won the under-18 category of the World Youth Chess Championship. A speed chess specialist, Olexandr reached the finals of Chess.com’s Bullet Chess Championship before losing to GM Hikaru Nakamura, the winner of the tournament. A professional chess coach and player, Olexandr currently  resides in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. His older brother, Mykola, is also a strong chess player, holding the title of International Master.

Yasser is the twenty-seventh Cuban chess player to have been awarded the Grandmaster title, achieving this feat in 2015 at the Marcel Sisniega Memorial in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Considered to be one of Cuba’s biggest rising talents, Yasser played his first tournament at the age of five, winning the provincial championship a year later. He tied for eighth at the 2019 World Open and placed clear second at the 2019 Cuban Championship. Yasser’s older brother, Yuniesky, is also a Grandmaster.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Avetik attained the International Master title at the age of 18, becoming a Grandmaster only a year later. His many tournament victories include: the 2010 Bansko Grand Chess Open, the 2010 Armenian Championship, and the 2012 Pavlodar Open. In 2017, Avetik coached Thailand’s national team and subsequently founded ChessMood, an online store for chess enthusiasts.

Alex is a Brazilian chess grandmaster, having attained the title in 2007. He won five gold medals at the Pan American Youth Chess Festival: in the U10 division in 1996 and 1997, U12 in 2000, U14 in 2002 and U18 in 2005. He also won the South American Junior Championship in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Fier won the Brazilian Chess Championship in 2005, and won the 65 Anos da Federação tournament in São Paulo in 2006.

Alex won the Open of Sants, Hostafrancs & La Bordeta in Barcelona in 2009 and 2014. He briefly appeared in the 2011 World Cup, but faced elimination after losing to GM Alexander Morozevich in the second round. Two months later, he won the 2nd Latin American Cup in Montevideo, edging out GM Diego Flores in a tiebreaker. He competed in the 2013 Chess World Cup, but was eliminated after his loss to GM Baskaran Adhiban.

Evgeny was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1999. His mother introduced him to chess when he was 6 years old. He won his first Ukrainian Championship in 2007. Afterwards, he placed second in the European Chess Championship 3 times in the following categories: under 8, 10, and 12. He earned the International Master title in 2016, becoming a Grandmaster two years later. He graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Recently, he won the 2019 Saint Louis Norm Congress after defeating GM Denes Boros in a tiebreak.