2017 Spring Chess Classic

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.

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.

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.

 Alejandro Ramirez was inspired by the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer when he was four years old. He became FIDE Master at the age of 9, an International Master at the age of 13, and a Grandmaster at the age of 15. At the age of 15, he became the first Centro-American to achieve the Grandmaster chess title awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), and became, at that time, the second youngest chess grandmaster. Major tournament victories for Ramirez include first place in the Morelia Open 2008 and the first place in the U.S. Chess Open 2010 held in Irvine, California. Ramirez currently serves as an editor for the popular chess news website ChessBase. He has become a frequent face the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, through roles as both the Club’s Resident Grandmaster and as a player in the nation’s elite events. He currently serves as the chess coach for Saint Louis University and is recruiting its inaugural team. Ramirez competed in U.S. Chess Championship in 2013, 2014, and 2015.