The Field

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.