| Eric Hansen | |
|---|---|
 Hansen in 2014 during the Reykjavik Open | |
| Country | Canada |
| Born | May 24, 1992 Irvine, California, U.S. |
| Title | Grandmaster (2013) |
| FIDE rating | 2609 (October 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2629 (September 2017) |
Eric Hansen (born May 24, 1992) is a Canadian chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title in 2013. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2011 and 2013. Hansen has represented Canada in the Chess Olympiad. [1]
Hansen holds a dual citizenship as a Canadian and American. Hansen was born in Irvine, California [2] but grew up in Calgary, Alberta. He first attended elementary school at Webber Academy where his chess roots formed a solid foundation during school chess club.
In a March 2016 interview with La Presse , Hansen said he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when he was 8 or 9 years old. [3] In a 2015 article by sportsnet, Hansen said he was prescribed Ritalin temporarily and enrolled in a school for children with learning disabilities. [4]
Hansen attended the University of Texas at Dallas for one year, beginning in September 2011, on a chess scholarship, representing the school in intercollegiate tournaments. He took a break from his studies to focus on chess full-time, [5] and made his European base in Valencia, Spain, in autumn 2013. [6]
Eric began playing chess in grade school at age nine. By 15, he became the youngest ever Alberta champion [7] and earned the title FIDE Master (FM). He became Alberta champion again in 2009, [8] 2011, [9] and 2013. [10]
In 2011, Hansen tied for first place in the Canadian Closed Championship with a score of 7½/9 points, but lost a two-game playoff to Bator Sambuev, who was declared champion. Nevertheless, Hansen was nominated to play in the FIDE World Cup 2011. [11] [12] In that event, Hansen played Vugar Gashimov, losing both games. In a 4 September 2012 video interview at the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Hansen reflected on his 2011 World Cup experience: "I got paired against Gashimov and he killed me. It was a good experience because I realized I wasn't serious enough to be competing with these guys. I'm more serious now ... it was good for motivating me." [13]
Hansen won the Canadian Open Chess Championship in Victoria, British Columbia, in July 2012. [14] The next month, he tied for fifth place in the World Junior Chess Championship in Athens, Greece, scoring 9/13 points, [15] the best-ever finish by a Canadian in this event; the previous best had been Vinny Puri's tie for 8th place in 1988.[ citation needed ] At the Isthmia Open tournament at Vrachati a few days later, Hansen scored his first Grandmaster norm with a tie for 1st–3rd place. [16]
Hansen achieved his final Grandmaster norm in the 40th Chess Olympiad, in Istanbul, Turkey, in August–September 2012, [17] where he made his debut on the Canadian national team. He played on board four and scored 7½/10 points, boosting his FIDE rating by 25 points, reaching 2500 (the minimum for the GM title). Hansen is the second-youngest Canadian to attain the title of Grandmaster, after Mark Bluvshtein, who did so at age 16 in 2004, and the youngest homegrown Canadian (because Bluvshtein received Israeli youth chess training systems before immigrating to Canada in 1999 at age 11). FIDE awarded him the title in January 2013. [18]
Hansen tied for first place at the October 2012 American Continental Championship in Mar del Plata, Argentina, with Julio Granda Zuñiga, Alexander Shabalov, Diego Flores, and Gregory Kaidanov. Since there were four qualifying places for the 2013 World Cup, Hansen played a rapidplay playoff with the other four, finishing fourth. [19] In December, he won the 2nd Panama Open, scoring 8½/9. [20] [21]
In early 2013, Hansen tied for first place at the Cappelle-la-Grande Open in France. [22] In July he shared first place in the Canadian Open in Ottawa with Nigel Short, with both scoring 7½/9. [23]
In the 2015 Canadian Zonal Championship, Hansen shared first place with Leonid Gerzhoy and Tomas Krnan, who was declared the winner on tiebreak. [24]
In the online tournament Airthings Masters in February 2022, Hansen defeated both Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the preliminary rounds and qualified for the knockout phase. [25]
Hansen is predominantly a blitz and bullet player, both over-the-board and online. He has played at Internet Chess Club (ICC), Chess.com, ChessCube, PlayChess.com, and lichess.org. For most of 2011, Hansen was recognized as the highest-rated player on ChessCube.com, with a 3000+ rating. [26] By April 2012, he was recognized as the highest-rated bullet player on Chess.com. He subsequently qualified for and accepted Chess.com's Death-Match 4 against then-IM Conrad Holt, who had the highest blitz rating. The two were living in the same dorm on the University of Texas at Dallas campus at the time. [27] Holt won the match 15-11. [28]
Hansen is the main host of the "Chessbrah" chess channel on Twitch along with GM Aman Hambleton. The channel occasionally features other "brahs", most of whom are titled players, such as GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Robin van Kampen, GM Aryan Tari, FM Lefong Hua, Elias Oussedik, Omid Malek, and Eric Kurtz. Stream highlights are often later posted on a YouTube account with the same name as the Twitch channel. As of September 2024, each channel has about 330,000 followers/subscribers. [29] [30]
In April 2021, the Chessbrah YouTube channel received copyright strikes from a multi-channel network acting on behalf of fellow Grandmaster and streamer Hikaru Nakamura, leading Hansen to criticise Nakamura for the strikes and for his past behaviour in the broader chess community. [31] [32] Nakamura publicly apologized and retracted the copyright strikes, indicating he would take a more active role in the management of his content and business. [33]
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Abhijeet Gupta is an Indian chess player with the title of Grandmaster (GM). Gupta is the first player to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship five times. He completed his early education from A's Steward Senior Secondary School, Bhilwara before embarking upon his career as a chess player.
Maxim Rodshtein is an Israeli chess grandmaster. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2017.
Li Chao is a Chinese chess Grandmaster and Asian champion in 2013. In 2007, he became China's 23rd Grandmaster at the age of 18.
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster.
Gawain Christopher Bernard Jones is an English chess grandmaster and three-time British Chess Champion. He was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE in 2007. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013, 2017 and 2019.
Robert Lee Hess is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2009. In May 2012, his FIDE rating was 2635, fifth in the United States. Hess is a commentator for Chess.com, covering events such as the World Chess Championship and Candidates Tournament. He also streams chess content on his Twitch channel GMHess, which has 73,000+ followers.
Grzegorz Gajewski is a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006.
Dariusz Świercz is a Polish-American chess player playing for the United States. He was the youngest Polish player of all time to qualify for the title Grandmaster; he was 14 years and seven months when he achieved this title in 2009. In 2018 he switched his national federation to the United States.
Yuri Vovk is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was trained by Vladimir Grabinsky, coach of the Ukrainian youth team.
Sergey Fedorchuk is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2002.
Yuriy Hryhorovych Kryvoruchko is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Kryvoruchko was Ukrainian champion in 2013. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2009 and 2013.
Martyn Kravtsiv is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013.
Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. Dubov won the 2018 World Rapid Chess Championship held in Saint Petersburg.
Sanan Sjugirov is a Russian chess grandmaster of Kalmyk origin who represents Hungary. He was European champion and world champion in his age category. Sjugirov competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2009 and 2015.
Jorge Moisés Cori Tello is a Peruvian chess grandmaster. A former chess prodigy, he was twice world champion and four-time Pan American champion in his age category. Cori competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2021. He has played for the Peruvian team in the Chess Olympiad since 2010.
Alexander Ipatov is a Ukrainian-born Turkish chess grandmaster. He is the top ranked chess player of Turkey. Ipatov was world junior champion in 2012 and Turkish champion in 2014 and 2015. Since 2012, he has played for the Turkish national team in the Chess Olympiad, World Team Chess Championship and European Team Chess Championship.
Robin van Kampen is a Dutch chess grandmaster. At the age of 14, he won the Dutch U20 Championship. He achieved his grandmaster (GM) title at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days. Van Kampen has represented the Netherlands at the 2013 European Team Chess Championship, and at the 41st and 42nd Chess Olympiad. Van Kampen is a research analyst at Caption Partners in New York as of July 2020.
Aman Hambleton is a Canadian chess grandmaster and Twitch/Kick streamer. He is a member of the Chessbrahs, along with other grandmasters such as Eric Hansen (founder), Robin van Kampen, and Yasser Seirawan.
David Gareginovich Arutinian is a Georgian chess grandmaster since 2006, and an international master since 2002. He is ranked 9th in Georgia and 453rd in the world. His highest rating was 2593.
