The Field

Oparin became a Grandmaster at the age of 16, after he won the 2013 Trieste Open to achieve his final GM norm. A year later, He won the 2014 Russian Junior Championship. In 2016, Oparin won the Russian Higher League, which qualified him for Superfinal of the Russian Chess Championship.

Rinat developed his early chess career in 2011, including participation at the FIDE World Cup and earning 1st place in the men’s division of the Kazakhstan Chess Championship. In 2013, he placed 1st in the Blitz event at the Chigorin Memorial. In 2014, Rinat placed 1st in the  Rapid at the Asian Nations Cup, and again placed 1st at the 2014 Kazakhstan Chess Championship. His schedule only became busier, as he participated in the 2015 World Cup, took 3rd at the 2015 7th London Chess Classic FIDE Open, and took 3rd place in Classical and 1st place in Blitz at the 2015 RTU Open. Rinat’s achievements continued in 2016 where he scored 3rd in the Classical at the Asian Nations Cup and 2nd in the Rapid at the Biel Chess Open. Most recently, he placed first at the 2017 Kazakhstan Championship, took 3rd place at the 2017 Mikhail Tal Memorial Rapid, Yurmala, and earned 1st place at the 2017 Sants Open.

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.

Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky first learned the rules of chess at six years old, and it was not long before he was paving his professional future -- eventually becoming a three-time U.S. Scholastic champion, earning a gold medal at the World U12 championship in 2007 and winning the U.S. Junior championship in 2013. Naroditsky is  the youngest published chess author in history -- now with two titles to his name. Recently, he has taken up livestreaming on Twitch, and has garnered a substantial following due to his online blitz and bullet prowess.

Sergei Azarov is a Grandmaster from Belarus. He graduated from the Republic College of Olympic Reserve in 2002, became a Grandmaster in 2003, and graduated from the Belarusian State University of Physical Education in 2006. Azarov won the Belarus Chess Championship in 2001 and 2002. At the 2003 U-20 World Championship in Azerbaijan, he took second place and  won the fifth Istanbul Chess Festival in 2006. Azarov has also won the 3rd Annual Continental Class Championships in Arlington, Virginia in 2012; tied for 1st in the Cappelle-la-Grande Open in 2014; won the Chess Club Championships in Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovakia; won the Washington International Chess Tournament in 2014; won the New York International in 2015; won the Empire City Open in 2017; and took part in 5 Chess Olympiads (2000-2008). He has been playing for the Czech Chess Club “Beskydska Sachova Skola” Frydek-Mistek for more than 10 years. Additionally, Azarov was a participant of the Chess World Cup in 2011 and 2013.

Emilio Córdova Daza is a Grand Master of Peruvian chess, a title that he earned in 2008. He started playing chess at age 8 with his father.  At age 9 he won the Pan American Chess Championship in 2001. In 2005, he became the youngest International Master of Peru and South America until Jorge Cori Tello broke the record. By 2008, both Emilio Cordova Daza and Julio Granda were considered the foremost experts of the sport in Peru.

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 a period of three (non-consecutive) years. Elshan moved to the U.S. in 2012 and has played for the U.S. federation since 2017. Elshan spent five years at Texas Tech, during which he won the Pan American Championships 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 different sciences.

Aleksey  is from Barnaul, Russia. Aleksey  Sorokin started playing chess at the age of 8.   In 2016, he took 3rd place in U16 Youth European Championship.  In 2017, at the age of 17, he won the Russian U20 Chess Championship.  In the December 2018, Aleksey took 3rd place in the final of the Russian Cup.  In January of 2019, he moved to the United States to attend Texas Tech University at Lubbock on a chess scholarship; he is currently majoring in Computer Science.

Justin started to play chess when he was seven years old. In 2015, just three years after the start of his chess career, he became a USCF National Master. He has previously played well in Saint Louis, winning the 2017 Saint Louis Invitational after defeating IM Torres Rosas and scoring his first IM norm. Justin then went on to score a second IM norm at the 2018 World Open and came back to Saint Louis to score his third and final IM norm by winning the IM section of the Saint Louis Invitational. Besides chess, Justin enjoys math and music.