The Field

Evgeny Shtembuliak 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 Championships 3 times in the following categories: under 8, 10, and 12. Throughout his chess career, he has won a number of different tournaments. In 2016, he earned his last norm and became an International Master. Currently, he has 2 Grand Master norms. Now, he is pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in marketing at Texas Tech University.

Robby Kevlishvili is a 17-year-old IM from the Netherlands. He started playing at the age of 4, and has since played a lot of European- and World Youth Chess Championships. His best performance was in 2013, at the World U12 championship, where he finished on a shared second place and won the gold medal in the Blitz championship. Robby’s best achievements include winning the Vandoevre Open tournament in France, and winning the Noteboom open memorial in the Netherlands, earlier in 2018. Robby currently holds 1 GM norm and hopes that his first trip to the United States will help his journey towards the GM title.

Hans started playing chess at a Leonardo School when he was 8 years old and living in the Netherlands.  He moved back to California at the end of 2012 and his rating quickly jumped from 1000 to 2200 in his two years there and he became the youngest player to ever win the long-standing Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Tuesday Night Marathon (oldest US Chess Club founded in 1855).  Hans now lives in Connecticut. He achieved his FM title in early 2016, tied for first in the U18 category of the 2016 North American Youth Championship, won clear first at Super Nationals 2017 in the K-8 category, and earned his IM title and first GM norm in the summer of 2018.  Outside of chess, Hans is on his high school swim team and debate team and enjoys playing basketball, soccer, and tennis.

Alina Bivol is a 22 year old WGM from Russia. She was the champion of the Russian youth championship 3 times (2006, 2012 and 2015). In 2015, she became the vice-champion of the World’s Junior Championship. In 2016, Bivol was on the national team of Russia ( Vladimir Fedoseev, Pavel Ponkratov, Alina Bivol), which took the first place in the world university chess tournament. In 2017, she got the title of Woman Grandmaster. Just one month ago, she won Russian Women Chess Championship (blitz). Bivol is studying at the Moscow State Institute of Culture and is on the faculty of music and sings opera. She also has her own amateur rock-band named “Victor Perestukin,” and sometimes I writes chess articles.

Justin started to play chess when he was seven years old. He achieved the National Master title in 2015, and FIDE Master in 2018. Besides chess, Justin also likes math and music.

Keaton Kiewra is a professional Chess Instructor.  He is an International Master with two Grandmaster norms. Kiewra grew up in Lincoln Nebraska where he was the Nebraska State Chess Champion for nine consecutive years.  He also won six National Scholastic Titles during that time.  Kiewra moved to Dallas in 2005 to attend UTD on a Chess Scholarship.  Since graduating in 2009, he has made his living as a full time Chess Instructor.  He moved to San Diego in 2013 and is the founder and manager of the San Diego Surfers team for the PRO Chess League.  Kiewra is very proud to have some extremely successful students who have won National Scholastic Titles, represented the U.S. at World Youth Championship events, and been consistently ranked toward the top of their age group nationally.

Vincent started his chess journey four and half years ago at the age of 9.  He fell in love with chess the moment he touched the chessboard and began to put his fighting spirit into the chessboard. He harvested National Master title in March 2017. He also represented the USA Chess Team and won the championship in 2017 at the World Cadet Chess Championship U12 held in Brazil.   In March 2018, Vincent won first place in 51st New York State Scholastic Championships held in Saratoga, New York and later represented New York State to the Barber tournament held in Wisconsin Madison. Vincent is currently working his way toward International Master.

Williams, a student at Webster University, has already accomplished many impressive feats over the board.  He earned his IM and FM norms while still in High School and then went on to win the 2013 US Junior Open. He is currently rated 2335 FIDE.

Josiah Stearman is a FIDE Master who resides in Martinez, California. Josiah is a multiple time State Champion, and All-American designee.