2019 Fall Chess Classic

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.

Evgeny was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1999. His mother introduced him to chess when he was 6 years old. He won his first Ukrainian Championship in 2007. Afterwards, he placed second in the European Chess Championship 3 times in the following categories: under 8, 10, and 12. He earned the International Master title in 2016, becoming a Grandmaster two years later. He graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Recently, he won the 2019 Saint Louis Norm Congress after defeating GM Denes Boros in a tiebreak.

Yasser is the twenty-seventh Cuban chess player to have been awarded the Grandmaster title, achieving this feat in 2015 at the Marcel Sisniega Memorial in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Considered to be one of Cuba’s biggest rising talents, Yasser played his first tournament at the age of five, winning the provincial championship a year later. He tied for eighth at the 2019 World Open and placed clear second at the 2019 Cuban Championship. Yasser’s older brother, Yuniesky, is also a Grandmaster.

Manuel earned his Grandmaster title in 2017 at the Lake Sevan International Chess Tournament. The thirteenth highest-rated player in Armenia, Manuel won the Under-18 World Youth Championship in 2016 and placed second at the 2017 World Junior Championship. Most recently, he served as GM Levon Aronian’s second at the 2019 St. Louis Rapid and Blitz and 2019 Sinquefield Cup, helping Aronian to place in first at the former.

Victor is originally from Gomel, Belarus. He relocated to Israel in 1991 and achieved the title of Grandmaster in 1996. Victor was a member of the Israeli Olympic team in 2006 and 2010, helping his team to win the bronze medal in the latter. Victor won two Israeli Junior Championships in 1991 and 1992. In 1997 he won the Israeli Rapid Championship, and in 2014 he won both the Israeli Classical and Blitz titles as well. His best performance rating to date was 2876 during the 2007 Calvia  International Open, in which he won with 8 points out of 9. He resides in Be’er Sheva, Israel with his wife and three kids.

Denis is a Bosnian grandmaster who currently lives in Sarajevo. Denis’s father taught him to play chess when he was 5 years old, and Denis played his first tournament four years later. In 2012, he became the European Rapid and Blitz champion in the U-16 category. From 2014 till 2018, he attended the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) where he received a full scholarship and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance. In the summer of 2017, he won 2 strong international tournaments in a row: the Bosna Open in June, followed by the Paracin Open in July. He has played in the last 4 Olympiads for his country, making his final GM norm at the Istanbul Olympiad in 2012 and playing on the first board in Batumi in 2018. He is currently a professional chess player and coach.

Aman is a Grandmaster currently living in Montreal, Canada where he is a part-time coach and streamer at www.twitch.tv/chessbrah. He achieved his IM title in 2013 after a meteoric rise from 2250 to 2500 in less than a year. Aman was a member of the Canadian Olympiad team in 2014, the coach of the Canadian Women's Olympiad team in 2016, and the 2017 Canadian Open Champion. He earned his second GM norm at the 2017 Reykjavik Open and finally secured the Grandmaster title at the IV Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival the same year.

Aram started playing chess when he was 6 years old and earned his Grandmaster title  at the age of 17. He has achieved much during his career, winning the Armenian Youth Championships five times, becoming U12 World Chess Champion in 2012, earning a bronze medal in European U14 Championship in 2015, and another bronze medal at the U16 Olympiad in 2016. Aram’s other accolades include 3rd prize for the first and second rounds of the European Junior Grand Prix in 2017 and being named best junior player U18 for his efforts at the 2018 European Individual Championship.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Avetik attained the International Master title at the age of 18, becoming a Grandmaster only a year later. His many tournament victories include: the 2010 Bansko Grand Chess Open, the 2010 Armenian Championship, and the 2012 Pavlodar Open. In 2017, Avetik coached Thailand’s national team and subsequently founded ChessMood, an online store for chess enthusiasts.