2018 Fall Chess Classic

Ashwin Jayaram, is a Grandmaster from Bangalore, India currently living in St Louis, Missouri. He has won many Asian Junior titles, and was also a member of the Webster University Chess Team. Apart from playing competitively, he also teaches and writes about chess. He got his Masters in Finance and MBA from Webster University and is also currently working for Brown Smith Wallace.

Christopher Yoo is an 11-year old Korean-American FIDE master who learned how to play chess shortly before he turned 7 and became the youngest master in US history at the age of 9 years and 11 months.  He is currently the world’s highest-rated 11-year old. He has earned two IM norms and needs one more for his International Master title. He is the reigning North American Youth Champion for under 16 and recently became the youngest State Champion in California history, beating the old record set by then 16-year old Sam Shankland.  Christopher is a member of the San Jose Hackers of the PRO Chess League and does commentary for their online broadcasts when he’s not playing for the team.

Akshat is a Chess Grandmaster from Saint Louis. Akshat started playing chess at the age of around 9 1/2 years. He was the 2015 US Junior Champion, a distinction achieved in his first appearance, and also the former National High School Champion and National Junior High K-9 Champion. Akshat is also the #1 ranked junior rapid chess player in the country since 2014 and is the former National High School Blitz Champion. More can be learned about him on his blog AkshatChandra.com, which chronicles his journey to a Grandmaster.

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 the period of  three (non-consecutive) years. Elshan moved to the US in 2012 and has played for the US federation since 2017. Elshan spent five years at Texas Tech, within which period he won one Pan Am 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 difference sciences.

A native of Wichita, KS, Conrad Holt earned his GM title in 2012 at age 18 while a member of the UT Dallas chess team.  He graduated from UTD in 2015 with a BS magna cum laude in Physics. Holt tied for first in the World Open in 2013 and 2014, and won the 2014 US Open. He currently works as a software engineer at Google in Mountain View and was named the Bay Area Chess 2017 Tournament MVP.

Denes Boros is a Grandmaster from Budapest, Hungary that now resides in Saint Louis, Missouri. He has a Bachelor degree in Psychology and currently plays individual and team events, while also coaching. While still playing competitively, Boros is also very active on social media (twitter) and works as a chess journalist (American Chess Magazine,US Chess). He was a special commentator for the Carlsen-Karjakin World Championship Match held in New York, for the New York Times. Some of his most notable chess achievements include coming in third in the Hungarian Junior Championship at the age of 14, and was U16 Olympic Champion in Denizli.