The Field

Wesley So

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2771
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
29
Bio: 

Wesley So is a Filipino American chess Grandmaster. A child prodigy growing up in the Philippines, So was a three-time Filipino Chess Champion. In 2014, So transferred his chess federation to the United States, and then quickly entered the world's top 10 after tying for second place at the 2015 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He then won the 2015 Bilbao Chess Masters and was the 2016 Grand Chess Tour champion after winning the Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic. In 2017, So won the Tata Steel Masters tournament and became the eleventh player in history to surpass 2800 FIDE. Since then, So has earned many top accolades, including 3-time U.S. Chess Champion (2017, 2020, 2021), 2019 and current reigning Chess 960 World Champion, 2021 Paris Rapid & Blitz winner, as well as champion of the entire 2021 Grand Chess Tour.

Levon Aronian

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2759
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
40
Bio: 

Levon Aronian is an Armenian American chess Grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000 at age 17. Aronian was the World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009 and World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010. He won the Chess World Cup in 2005 and 2017, and currently is the only player to win the tournament twice. Aronian has also led the Armenian national team to three gold medals in Chess Olympiads (2006, 2008, 2012) as well as to gold at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011. In 2014, he achieved his peak rating of 2830, making him the fourth highest rated player in history. Since then, Aronian has won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz twice (2017, 2019), 2018 sinquefield Cup, and 2019 Superbet Rapid & Blitz. In 2021, Aronian officially transferred his chess federation to the United States, making him the 2nd highest rated American player.

Fabiano Caruana

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2758
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
30
Bio: 

Fabiano Caruana is an American chess Grandmaster. He played for the United States until 2005, then transferred his chess federation affiliation to Italy. While playing for Italy, Caruana was a four time Italian Champion, winning the championship in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011. In the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, Caruana won with a score of 8.5/10 and a performance of over 3000, achieving a FIDE rating of 2844, becoming the third highest-rated player in history. In 2015, Caruana transferred back to the United States, and then won the 2016 U.S Championship. Caruana continued his stellar career with wins in 2017 London Chess Classic, 2018 Grenke Chess Classic, and tying for first in 2018 Sinquefield Cup. Also in 2018, Caruana won the Candidates tournament, becoming the first American to challenge the World Champion since Bobby Fischer. After drawing all classical games, Caruana lost the match in rapid tiebreaks. He won the 2020 Tata Steel Masters, and placed second in the 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss, qualifying him for the 2022 Candidates Tournament.  

Leinier Dominguez

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2745
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
39
Bio: 

Leinier Dominguez is a Cuban American chess Grandmaster. He is a 5 time Cuban Chess Champion (2002, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2016) who completed his transfer to the United States Chess Federation in 2018, and is currently the 4 highest rated American player in the world. Dominguez won the 2008 World Blitz Championship, and won the 2013 FIDE Grand Prix. In 2019, he earned second place in the U.S. Chess Championship and was co-winner of the Netanya Masters in Israel.

Sam Shankland

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2712
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
31
Bio: 

In 2010, Shankland won the US Junior Championships which qualified him for the US Championship the following year. He took third place in that 2011 Championship, and then went on to achieve the biggest upset at the FIDE World Cup later that year by defeating Super-GM Peter Leko. Two years later, Shankland was part of the US National Team that won the Pan-American Championship that year, where he had a performance rating over 2800. He then received the 27th Samford Chess Fellowship, later that year. 

In 2014, Shankland became one of the top 100 players in the world. He also won a gold medal at the 41st Olympiad for best reserve board player. He was undefeated ending with a score of 9 out of 10 in that Olympiad. He also defeated GM Judit Polgar in her last ever rated game during that tournament. Due to that performance, he played board one in the World Team Championship 2015, taking down some of the top fifteen players in the world at the time. In 2018, Sam Shankland had a stellar performance at the U.S. Championships. He won the tournament with 8.5/11 and crossed the 2700 barrier for the first time.

Ray Robson

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2690
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
27
Bio: 

Ray Robson is a American chess Grandmaster. As a child chess prodigy, Robson won many national scholastic titles and represented the U.S. in international scholastic events.  In 2008, Ray won his first major tournament at the Miami open, and later that year broke Hikaru Nakamura's record for youngest American GM when he achieved his title at age 14 years, 11 months, and 6 days. Robson's notable achievements include 2009 U.S. Junior Champion, 2009 Pan American Junior Champion, 2012 SPICE Cup Champion, 2014 Millionaire Chess 2nd place, and 2015 U.S. Championship 2nd place.

Jeffery Xiong

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2690
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
21
Bio: 

This young super star has achieved many impressive results since his start at seven years old. In 2010, he won the Under 10 North American Continental Championship, and then a silver medal in the Under 10 World Championship. Xiong was the 2016 US Junior Champion, and then continued on to become the 2016 World Junior Champion. Xiong’s most impressive trait is his ability to handle losses. No matter how painful the loss was he always sees his losses as an opportunity to improve. This mentality has separated him from other grandmasters by keeping calm and collected after games, often analyzing them to find where he could improve. This mentality has pushed him over 2700 after a string of impressive results in 2019. In September of 2019, Xiong competed in the World Cup where he defeated grandmasters such as Anish Giri and Jan-Kryzystof Duda, pushing him to the quarterfinals. 

Hans Niemann

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2688
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
19
Bio: 

Hans was awarded the Grandmaster title in January 2021 at the age of 17 and in the next year and half since then achieved a peak live rating of 2695. Since graduating from high school, Hans has been playing non stop tournaments around the world and online. Some of Niemann’s recent tournament wins include World Open 2021, Tepe Sigeman 2022, the 55th Capablanca Memorial, and the 2021 U.S. Junior Championship. His favorite activities outside of chess are swimming, tennis, cycling, and table tennis.

Sam Sevian

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2684
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
21
Bio: 

Samuel Sevian is an American chess Grandmaster. He earned the title of Grandmaster in 2014 at the age of 13. In 2012, he became the World U12 Champion. During his appearance at the 2015 US Championship, Sevian defeated Wesley So, one of the top ten Grandmasters in the world. In 2017, he won the American Continental Chess Championship, being the youngest in history to do so. Recently, Sevian represented the U.S. national team at the 2019 World Team Championships, winning an individual bronze medal for his performance on the second board. In 2021, Sevian took third place in the U.S. Chess Championship.

Dariusz Swiercz

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2652
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
28
Bio: 

Dariusz Świercz is an American chess Grandmaster. He earned his grandmaster title at the age of 14 years and seven months in 2009. In 2011, Świercz won World Junior Chess Championship and in 2016 he won the 3rd Millionaire Chess. Since 2018, he represents the United States. He was a part of US National Team in World Team Championships 2019 and Online Olympiad in 2021, contributing in the latter to US Team winning a silver medal. His elite chess skill earned him a wildcard spot in the prestigious 2021 Sinquefield Cup. He is currently a student at Saint Louis University and plays on the school chess team, with which he won 2022 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championships.

Awonder Liang

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2608
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
19
Bio: 

Awonder was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 9, 2003, and has lived there his whole life.  He currently attends the University of Chicago. Awonder is also a two-time World Youth chess champion, as well as creator and keeper of many youth chess records. Liang is the second youngest US player ever to achieve the International Master title, and the third youngest to achieve the GM title.  

Christopher Yoo

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2563
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
15
Bio: 

Christopher is a 15-year old Korean-American Grandmaster. He is the youngest ever to beat a FIDE-rated 2700+ "Super GM" and the youngest ever California State Champion.  He recently qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup by finishing second at the 2022 American Continental Championship.  In 2021, he placed 2nd to GM Praggnanandhaa in the finals of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, which featured many of the strongest juniors in the world.  Christopher is also an award-winning composer of endgame studies and earned a bronze medal in the 2019 FIDE World Cup in Composing. 

Elshan Moradiabadi

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2537
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
37
Bio: 

Elshan Moradiabadi is an Iranian-American chess Grandmaster. He won the 2001 Iranian Chess Championship at the age of 16. Moradiabadi moved to the U.S in 2012 to attend Texas Tech University and play on the school chess team. While at Texas Tech, he won the Final Four of collegiate chess with Texas Tech University in 2012, and won the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship in 2015. As a coach, Elshan coached US national team at the world team in 2019, Pan Am team in 2019 in Ecuador, and was the head of delegates of the US team at the world youth the Mumbai, India.

Alex Lenderman

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2535
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
33
Bio: 

Alex Lenderman is a American chess Grandmaster. He has been playing chess since 10 years old and playing professionally since 19. Lenderman's top achievements have been winning the U.S. Open 3 times(2011, 2017, 2021), 2015 World Open, and 2021 U.S. Open. In addition to playing chess, Lenderman was also the coach for the 2016 U.S. Olympiad team.