The Field
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2442
Federation:
- Kazakhstan
Age:
- 17
Bio:
- Abdumalik began attending a chess school, along with her older brother, at six years and won her first trophy at a national tournament. In 2008, she won the girls’ U8 section at both the Asian Youth Chess Championship and the World Youth Chess Championship. She would go on to win women’s championship of Kazakhstan in 2016. Abdumalik has played on the Kazakhstani national team in the Women’s Chess Olympiads (2014 and 2016) and in the Women’s World Team Chess Championships of (2013 and 2015). In the Women’s Asian Team Chess Championship in 2016, she won the team bronze medal and an individual silver playing board 2.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2648
Federation:
- Argentina
Age:
- 29
Bio:
- Sandro Mareco competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2011, 2013 and 2015 and has played for Argentina in the Chess Olympiad since 2012. Other accomplishments include the South American Under-20 Championship in 2007 and tying for first place in the Argentine Chess Championship in 2012. Mareco won the 10th American Continental Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay and the Argentine championship in 2015. Most recently, he won the Marcel Duchamp Cup in Montevideo with a perfect score of 9/9 points.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2536
Federation:
- California, U.S.A.
Age:
- 26
Bio:
- Ioan-Cristian Chirila was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1991. He was introduced to chess at the age of five by his father, and by the age of 13, took 9th place at the 2004 Romanian Men’s Chess Championship. Cristian dominated the Romanian Junior competitions, won the prestigious World Youth Championship U16 in 2007, as well as tied for first place in the 2008 edition. In 2010 he started his higher education pursuing a Political Science diploma at the University of Texas at Dallas. After graduating in 2014, he has won multiple open tournaments in the US, his last success came late last year when he won the U2550 section of the Millionaire Open. He is currently the Head Coach and resident GM at Bay Area Chess, and has made his way into the Grandmaster in Residence rotation at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) since its opening in 2008. He has also appeared at CCSCSL to add to the live broadcast coverage of the 2017 U.S. Chess Championships as well as other tournaments in the past.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2645
Federation:
- Kansas. U.S.
Age:
- 33
Bio:
- Varuzhan Akobian immigrated to the U.S. in 2001 and a year later earned the Samford Chess Fellowship, which allows a talented junior to focus on chess for two years. The prize paid off quickly, as he tied for first in the 2002 World Open and also won the Irme Koenig GM Invitational. The following year, Akobian scored 8/9 to win the 2003 U.S. Junior Closed Championship, winning his first seven games. He was officially awarded the grandmaster title in June 2004, after which he won the World Open again, clinching it with a sparkling win against Alexander Shabalov. Akobian placed in a three-way tie for 3rd at the 2017 U.S. Chess Championship. He has joined the Resident GM rotation at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and has also become a team member of the Saint Louis Arch Bishops where he contributed to the team’s current title of World Champions of the 2017 PRO Chess League.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2591
Federation:
- Kyiv, Ukraine
Age:
- 26
Bio:
- GM Baryshpolets obtained his title as Grandmaster in 2013. He attended Texas Tech University and represented the university at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship in 2015 and won. He was also the Ukrainian champion under 18 in 2008, A. Margaryan Memorial 2013, Delhi Open 2015, prize-winner of Benasque 2016, and winner of Golden State Open 2017. Typically he has utilized the Catalan opening when playing white, but also implements the King’s Indian for both white and black pieces.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2652
Federation:
- Cuba
Age:
- 34
Bio:
- Lazaro Bruzon Batista is a Cuban grandmaster, a title that he earned in 1999. As a youth, he proved his ability to defeat tough competition after winning several national tournaments and championships: the World Junior Chess Championship in 2000 (qualifying him for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002); the Lausanne Young Masters, a knockout event, in 2001; the 37th Capablanca Memorial (Elite group); tied for first in the 2002 North Sea Cup; the Corus B tournament in 2004; the 12th Guillermo Garcia Memorial in Villa Clara; the Cuban Chess Championship in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010; the American Continental Championship in 2005 and 2013; the 2010 Magistral Casino de Barcelona round-robin tournament; tied for first with Kamil Mitoń, Bojan Kurajica, Yuri Gonzalez Vidal, Evgeny Gleizerov and Bartłomiej Heberla in the 4th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de La Laguna, placing second on countback in 2010; placed equal first in the 2013 World Open; the 8th Edmonton International Tournament in 2013; the Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial Cup in 2013, 2014 and 2015; the 5th Latin American Cup in 2014; and the Iberoamerican Chess Championship in 2006 and 2015. He has made appearances at the Chess World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015; however, he has faced elimination early on at each event.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2662
Federation:
- Turkey
Age:
- 24
Bio:
- Alexander Ipatov was the 2012 World Junior Chess Champion and a two-time Turkish Chess Champion. In 2015, he won Turkey’s national championship with an impressive score of 12.5 out of 13. GM Ipatov represented Turkey at three Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, 2016; two European Team Championships in 2013 and 2015; and the World Team Championship in 2013. At the Baku World Chess Olympiad in September 2016, Alexander Ipatov aided the Turkish team to finish in 6th place, an all-time team record, by conquering Georgian Grandmaster Mikhail Mchedlishvili in the very last round after a tied score of 1.5 for each player. With this victory, Ipatov helped Turkey to qualify for the 2017 World Team Chess Championship. He typically favors the Nimzo opening when playing for white, and Sicilian opening when playing for black.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2590
Federation:
- New York City, U.S.A.
Age:
- 40
Bio:
- In 2000 at the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul Turkey, GM Kacheishvili’s Georgian Olympiad Team (including Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Giorgi Giorgadze, Zurab Sturua, Tamaz Gelashvili, and Baadar Jobava) placed 6th out of a total of 126 teams representing 124 nations in the Open section of the event, a truly remarkable outcome for the team. GM Kacheishvili represented New York in The United States Chess League in its fifth season in 2009. The Championship Match was contested by New York and Miami, with New York ultimately winning in the blitz tiebreaker. Game of the Year honors went to Kacheishvili for his win over GM Josh Friedel of San Francisco. In 2012, he tied for 2nd-8th place in the 40th Annual World Open held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that year with Alexander Evdokimov, Marc Tyler Arnold, Yury Shulman, Ray Robson, Wesley So, and Aleksander Lenderman.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2630
Federation:
- Cuba
Age:
- 32
Bio:
- Yuniesky Quezada Pérez is a Cuban chess grandmaster, obtaining the title in 2005. He was the fourth Cuban chess player to surpass the 2600 mark Elo rating on the July 2010 FIDE list. He won the Cuban Chess Championship in both 2008 and 2011. He has a strong game with the Sicilian opening, utilizing this strategy nearly 30 percent of the time.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2649
Federation:
- Saint Louis, U.S.A.
Age:
- 23
Bio:
- Dariusz Świercz began learning the game of chess at the age of three. By the time he was 11 years old, he had already become a FIDE Master. He rapidly succeeded in obtaining his International Master title in 2008 by the age of 13, and then went on to became one of the youngest grandmasters in history and the youngest Polish grandmaster of all time when he was only 14 years old in 2009. Świercz won the 2011 World Junior Chess Championship at the age of 17 and is currently the only Polish male chess player to accomplish this title. The following year he also won the Under-18 World Championship. He favors the Sicilian opening for both white and black pieces, as well as the Ruy Lopez for white.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2665
Federation:
- Texas, U.S.A
Age:
- 17
Bio:
- At age 17, Jeffery Xiong already has had an impressive list of results: the 2010 Under-10 North America Continental Champion, a silver medalist in the 2010 Under-10 World Youth Chess Championships, 2013 MVP of the United States Chess League for his perfect record in regular season for the Dallas Destiny, 2015 Chicago Open Champion, and 6th place finish in the strongest U.S. Championship in history (2016), He was recently awarded the 2016 U.S. Outstanding Player Achievement Award by USCF. In 2016 Xiong won the U.S. Closed Junior Championship, and is currently the highest rated player under eighteen years of age in the U.S. and the second highest rated player under eighteen in the world. Xiong recently placed 11th in the 2017 U.S. Chess Championship.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2619
Federation:
- Saint Louis, U.S.A.
Age:
- 23
Bio:
- The Ukrainian-born American Grandmaster earned his title at the age of 15. Zherebukh states, “My biggest success so far was the advancement to the 4th round (1/8 of the final) at the World Cup 2011 in Russia.I won or shared 1st place in numerous US and European tournaments, the most memorable being Cappelle la Grande in France, 2010 (650+ players, over 80 GMs) and US Masters 2015 in Greensboro, NC.” In May 2015, Zherebukh switched his affiliation from the Ukrainian Chess Federation to the U.S. Federation, which made him eligible to be the unpredictable wildcard in this year’s U.S. Championship. Zherebukh has made his mark on the Saint Louis Campus when he became a team member of the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, where he contributed to the team’s current title of World Champions of the 2017 PRO Chess League. He recently placed 6th in the 2017 U.S. Chess Championship.
Tag:
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2479
Federation:
- U.S.A.
Age:
- 19
Bio:
- Cemil Can was born in Ankara in 1998. He attained his FIDE Master title at the age of 10 in 2008.He has a unique achievement of winning the European Youth Championships five times. Additionally, he has represented Turkey in the 2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad. He earned his current title as International Master in 2013. Cemil Can is a team member of the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, where he helped lead the team to victory with a title of World Champions of the 2017 PRO Chess League. His current FIDE rating is 2479.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2581
Federation:
- Moscow, Russia
Age:
- 24
Bio:
- When he was only 18 years old, GM Vladimir Belous, an untitled player at the time, took home first place at the Moscow Open in February 2011. During the same year, Belous obtained his International Master title, and went on to earn his Grandmaster title in 2013. When he plays as white, he will typically choose the English opening, and Sicilian for Black; however, he has also played the King’s Indian opening for both white and black on several occasions.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2489
Federation:
- Saint Louis, U.S.A.
Age:
- 17
Bio:
- Akshat is a 17-year-old Grandmaster who recorded one of the fastest rises in the history of chess when he went from a starting rating of 1548 to a Grandmaster rating of 2500 in under 5 ½ years. He started playing chess at the age of 9 ½ years. Akshat was the 2015 US Junior Chess Champion, as well as the National High School Chess Champion and the National High School Blitz Champion. Since the age of 14, Akshat has remained the highest ranked Junior Rapid Chess player in the country. In August 2016, Akshat moved with his family to Saint Louis to pursue Chess professionally. More can be learned about him from his blog QuestToGM.com, which chronicles his journey from an amateur to a Grandmaster.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2562
Federation:
- Joinville, Brazil
Age:
- 29
Bio:
- Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier is a Brazilian chess grandmaster, having attained the title in 2007. Fier won five gold medals at the Pan American Youth Chess Festival: in the under-10 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. Fier won the Open of Sants, Hostafrancs & La Bordeta in Barcelona in 2009 and 2014. GM Fier briefly appeared in the Chess World Cup 2011, but faced elimination in the second round after defeat by his opponent Alexander Morozevich. Two months later, Fier won the 2nd Latin American Cup in Montevideo edging out Diego Flores in a tiebreaker. He competed in the 2013 Chess World Cup, but was eliminated after his loss to Baskaran Adhiban. He typically favors the Sicilian opening for both white and black pieces, utilizing this method about 40-45 percent of the time.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2563
Federation:
- New York City, U.S.A.
Age:
- 39
Bio:
- Tamaz Gelashvili is a chess grandmaster from Georgia, earning the title in 1999 at the age of 21. His highest FIDE rating has been 2623, achieved in October 2007. He is currently ranked fourth in Georgia, and he has represented his country at several Olympiads over the years . In 2001 he tied for 1st with Yannick Pelletier, Mark Hebden and Vladimir Tukmakov in the 9th Neuchâtel Open and in 2006 won the Acropolis International tournament in Athens. In 2008 he tied for 2nd with Giorgi Bagaturov in the Gyumri International tournament and tied for 1st with Nigel Short, Vadim Milov, Aleksej Aleksandrov, Baadur Jobava, Alexander Lastin, Gadir Guseinov and Farid Abbasov in the President’s Cup in Baku. In 2011 he won the 5th Annual Philadelphia Open. He is noted for playing some unusual opening variations, such as 2.b3 in response to the Sicilian, French and Caro–Kann Defense. He also utilizes the Queen’s Pawn Game opening for both white and black pieces the majority of the time.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2578
Federation:
- New York City, U.S.A.
Age:
- 28
Bio:
- Born in Leningrad, Aleksandr Lenderman arrived with his family in Brooklyn when he was four. Lenderman was part of the “dream team” at his high school, winning four straight national titles along with now International Master Salvijus Bercys. He played an important role in the book The Kings of New York. Lenderman achieved first place in the 2008 USCF Grand Prix, scoring higher than all the grandmasters he competed against by playing and championing in smaller events, including WCL tournaments. He finished first in the 2009 Atlantic Open, won the 2009 USCF Grand Prix, and was a co-champion of the 2009 U.S. Open. Lenderman earned three Grandmaster norms in quick succession in the summer of 2009 and formally obtained the title of grandmaster in 2010. Lenderman played for USA team in the 2015 World Team Chess Championship in Tsaghkadzor and scored 5/7, ultimately bringing home the gold. He won the 2015 World Open after conquering Rauf Mamedov in an armageddon playoff.
Tag:
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2483
Federation:
- Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Age:
- 14
Bio:
- Awonder Liang is an American chess prodigy. He is an International Master, obtaining the title in 2015 when we was just 12 years old. In 2011, he became the youngest chess expert in United States Chess Federation (USCF) history with a rating of 2000 at the age of 8 years and 7 days, a record previously held by Samuel Sevian. That same year he became the youngest to defeat an International Master (IM) in a standard tournament game, defeating IM Daniel Fernandez in the sixth round at the U.S. Open in Orlando, Florida. He would also go on to win the gold medal in the under-8 open section of the World Youth Chess Championship, earning a FIDE Master title. On July 29, 2012 in a standard time limit tournament game Liang became the youngest player ever to defeat a Grandmaster, GM Larry Kaufman; a record previously held by Fabiano Caruana. IM Awonder Liang placed second in the 2016 U.S. Junior Closed Chess Championship at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, Missouri. There, he achieved the second place score of 6/9, just a half point behind Jeffery Xiong.
Tag:
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2369
Federation:
- Las Vegas, U.S.A.
Age:
- 23
Bio:
- Paikidze was born in Irkutsk, Russia and has been playing chess since she was four years old. Raised in Tbilisi, Georgia, Paikidze quickly collected prolific wins at the highest levels of international youth chess play. By the time she was 16, Paikidze had won four European Youth Chess Championships and medaled in the World Youth Chess Championship an astounding six times, including two gold-medal finishes. In 2006, Paikidze moved with her family to Moscow, Russia. While she continued to represent Georgia in international events, she seized the initiative to combat some of Russia’s best, winning both the Moscow Women’s Championship and the Moscow’s Open Women Tournament, and finishing fourth in the Russian Women’s Chess Championship. With continuous strong play, Nazi achieved her Woman Grandmaster title in 2010 and her International Master in 2012. In 2016, she started teaching lessons on ChessUniversity.com’s Prodigy Program chess course. Paikidze won the title of U.S. Women’s Champion in 2016, and recently participated in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in Saint Louis, Missouri where she placed second with a score of 7/11.
Tag: