College
Rosen attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for two years from 2012 to 2014, studying mathematics and computer science. [10] [17] He had been offered a full ride chess scholarship by the University of Texas at Dallas, but Rosen turned it down as it would have seen him playing for the B-Team. [18] Instead, Michael Auger, the Illini Chess Club President and Rosen's future roommate, convinced him to study at Illinois. [18]
In his freshman year, the team competed in the Pan-American Championships for the first time since the 1970s, and tied for first with four wins and two draws, after being seeded 14th. [18] This took the team to the President's Cup, the Final Four of collegiate chess, for the first time since 1991. [17] Rosen's team was the only college in the Final Four which did not offer chess scholarships, and the only team without a coach or Grandmaster. [19] In a "fairy tale story", the team made it to the President's Cup again in 2014, after placing 3rd at the Pan-American Championships. [17] [7]
In 2015, Rosen transferred to Webster University on a chess scholarship. [9] Webster had won the President's Cup in both of Rosen's previous appearances in that event. [10] [20] Playing for Webster University SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence), he was trained by Susan Polgar, the former Women's World Champion. In 2017, Rosen graduated from Webster University with a B.A. in Interactive Digital Media. [10]
Individual
Rosen placed 9th in the 2011 World U-18 Championship in Caldas Novas, Brazil, with 6 out of 9 points, in doing so earning his first International Master norm. [21]
From 2012 to early 2015, Rosen's FIDE rating stagnated at around 2300, dipping to 2259 in 2013. [22] [16] However, in June 2013, Rosen achieved his second IM norm, with a tied first place finish at the 29th North American Masters in his hometown of Skokie, Illinois. [23] [24]
At the 9th Philadelphia Open in May 2015, Rosen gained 50 rating points and his third International Master norm after tying for first in the U2400 division. [25] [23] A month later, Rosen gained 51.4 rating points and a fourth IM norm after a 2nd place finish at the 24th Chicago Open, with 6.5 out of 9 points. [26] These two tournament performances took him to his peak FIDE rating of 2423. [16] With his final IM norm won, and a rating over 2400, Rosen was awarded the title of International Master in September 2015 at the 86th FIDE Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE. [16] [23]
In 2018 he unwittingly defeated reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen in a bullet game. [27] In 2022 he won chess.com's online I'M Not a GM Speed Chess Championship, whose 16 entrants were prominent chess players who did not have the grandmaster title. [28]
