Steven Zierk

Steven is an American Grandmaster from California best known for winning the World Under-18 championship in 2010. He learned the game at age six and climbed to 1500 before spending five years away from serious chess. After returning in 2007, Steven gained six hundred rating points in a year, with rating gains in twenty-four consecutive tournaments. Steven’s climb culminated in victory at the 2010 World Under-18 Championship, surpassing the rest of the field by a full point. The next year Steven would begin a new break from chess, this time for undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated in 2015 with a degree in Math and Computer Science. He has since returned to chess, earning the GM title at the 2018 Charlotte Summer GM Invitational. He now lives in California. In addition to playing and teaching chess, he enjoys weightlifting and reading.