Sergey Matsenko was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia. He is a GM elect, with a FIDE rating of 2561. He has two bachelor degrees in Law and Engineering from South Ural State University. He is currently pursuing a master degree in Industrial engineering at Texas Tech.
International Master Joel Banawa is currently one of the ACE Arizona State Champions and a former Southern California State Champion. He won many local tournaments both in Arizona and Los Angeles. He was also a successful scholastic player winning multiple nationals in the United States and in the Philippines. He is the owner and head trainer at Rising Phoenix Chess Academy producing national champions, national masters, and state champions.
Brandon Jacobson is a 14 year old FIDE Master from New Jersey. His current rating is 2376. In 2016, Jacobson beat his closest rival, Andrew Zheng, to get clear first place in the Barber tournament of K-8 Champions.
Joshua Colas became a National Master at age 12. At age 13, in August 2012, he was ranked #1 in the nation among his age group. He has won the NY City, NY State and National Championship several times. He is also a member of the SPICE team at Webster University.
Aaron is currently a FIDE master needing 12 rating points and 1 IM norm for the title! He has won many Oregon junior state championships and have attended the World Youth, the North American Youth, and multiple other national scholastic events. Since entering college, Aaron have won the Chicago Class Championships and made two IM norms (at the 2016 SPICE Cup and the 2017 Chicago Open).
Luis Torres was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He has represented Mexico in the World Olympiad and in several World Youth Championships. He became an International Master in 2013. His most prestigious achievements include finishing runner-up in the Mexican Absolute Championship, winning the North American Youth Championship-U14, and consecutively becoming National Youth Champion of Mexico. He also represented Texas Tech in 2014 and 2017 Final Four Editions.
Qiyu Zhou is an on and off amateur chess player and pole vaulter depending on her school schedule , but she demonstrated her chess talent at a very young age. At the age of 5, she won the Finnish Youth Chess Championship U10-open. In 2008, she won the silver medal in the World Youth Chess Championship U8-G, which drove her to become a world champion one day. She realized her childhood dream of becoming an U-14G world chess champion in 2014. Her North American Chess Champion for U18-G in 2015 awarded her the WIM title. In 2017 she played in the Women's World Chess Championship after won the Canadian Women's Zonal in 2016. She is now focused on pursuing her passion in academy and pole vaulting.
Tansel Turgut is a FIDE Master. He was the 1997 Louisiana State Champion and the 1998 Michigan State Champion. Turgut is also a ICCF Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (rating: 2614), which makes him the highest rated correspondence chess player living in the U.S. Outside of the chess world, Turgut is an Interventional Cardiologist at Decatur Memorial Hospital.
Justin started to play chess when he was seven years old. He achieved the National Master title in 2015. Besides chess, Justin also likes math and music.
