Joel Benjamin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full name | Joel Lawrence Benjamin |
| Country | United States |
| Born | March 11, 1964 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Title | Grandmaster (1986) |
| FIDE rating | 2473 (December 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2620 (July 1993) |
| Peak ranking | No. 29 (July 1987) |
Joel Lawrence Benjamin (born March 11, 1964) is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation.
Benjamin is a native of Brooklyn, New York City, and grew up in the Marine Park neighborhood, where he attended PS 222. He was in the class for "intellectually gifted children". He is now a New Jersey resident, married to Deborah, and they have two children, Aidan and Amy.
He graduated from Yale University with a major in history in 1985. He became the youngest-ever U.S. chess master at age 13, a record previously held by Bobby Fischer. [1] This record was broken by Stuart Rachels and is now held by Samuel Sevian. As a junior, he won the National Elementary championship (1976), the National Junior High championship (1978), and the National High School championship (1980–81). [2]
Other successes included the U.S. Junior Championship in 1980. In the same year he earned the International Master title. [3] He won the U.S. Junior Championship again in 1982, and the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1985. He earned the Grandmaster title in 1986. [3] Benjamin was the U.S. Chess Champion in 1987 (sharing the title with Nick de Firmian), in 1997, and in 2000. [3] He won the Saint John Open I in 1988, and the 2000 Canadian Open Chess Championship. In 1999, he placed first at the QVB Chess Festival in Sydney. [4] He was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami on May 2, 2008. He is the youngest inductee.
Benjamin is known for playing offbeat openings such as the Black Knights' Tango, and for converting very small advantages into a win. [1]
Benjamin tied for first place in the 1986 and 1987 U.S. Masters Chess Championships.
He co-authored Unorthodox Openings along with Eric Schiller, for Batsford publishers in 1987, is a frequent contributor to Chess Life magazine and other chess periodicals, and is a regular commentator on the Internet Chess Club, usually presenting its Game of the Week webcast. He was also the editor-in-chief and founder of the now defunct magazine Chess Chow from 1991 to 1994. [1] His book American Grandmaster: Four Decades of Chess Adventures was a biographical work about his chess career. His latest book is Chessboard Combat: The Give and Take of Chess Tactics. He is also a frequent contributor to Chess Life Online articles on the USCF website. [1]
Benjamin was hired as the official grandmaster consultant by IBM to help with the Deep Blue chess computer that defeated World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. [1]
Benjamin appeared in the movies Searching for Bobby Fischer and Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine . [1] He coaches the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School chess team. [5]
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |             | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
Benjamin beat grandmaster Eduard Gufeld in the U.S. Open, Hawaii 1998:
Benjamin vs. Gufeld
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Qd2 e6 8.Be2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.b3 Qa5 11.Bb2 Rd8 12.Rfd1 b5 13.cxb5 axb5 14.a3 Bb7 15.b4 Qb6 16.Qe1 Ba6 17.Qf1 Rab8 18.Rac1 d5 19.exd5 exd5 20.Na4 bxa4 21.Bxa6 Ne4 22.Bd3 Bd6 23.Rc2 Bf4 24.g3 Bh6 25.Re2 f5 26.Qh3 Rf8 27.Bb1 Rbe8 28.Ba2 Ne7 29.Ne5 Qb5 30.Rxe4 fxe4 31.Qe6+ Kh8 32.Qxh6 Nf5 33.Ng6+ Kg8 34.Rxd5 1–0 [6]
Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1975. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer.
A game of chess can end in a draw by agreement. A player may offer a draw at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. In some competitions, draws by agreement are restricted; for example draw offers may be subject to the discretion of the arbiter, or may be forbidden before move 30 or 40, or even forbidden altogether. The majority of draws in chess are by agreement.
Robert Eugene Byrne was an American chess player and chess author who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). He won the U.S. Championship in 1972, and was a World Chess Championship Candidate in 1974. Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for The New York Times, which ran his final column on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s.
Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess player, author, and journalist who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1957. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times. He wrote a long-running syndicated chess column and wrote or co-wrote more than twenty books on chess.
Boris Franzevich Gulko is a Soviet-American Grandmaster in chess. Notably, he is the only person to win both the Soviet Chess Championship and the U.S. Chess Championship, and one of the few players with a plus score against Garry Kasparov.
Arthur Bernard Bisguier was an American chess player, chess promoter, and writer who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM).
Joël Lautier is a French chess grandmaster and one of the world's leading chess players in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1986, he won the U-14 World Youth Chess Championship in Puerto Rico, Argentina. In 1988, he won the World Junior Chess Championship, ahead of stars such as Vasily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand and Gregory Serper. He is the youngest player ever to win the World Junior Championship at the age of 15. He is one of the few players who has a lifetime positive score against Garry Kasparov. He was one of the people instrumental in Kramnik winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2000 against Kasparov by preparing the infamous 'Berlin Wall'. He also won the French Chess Championship twice in 2004 and 2005. He was the first president of the Association of Chess Professionals when it was founded in June 2003. In 2006, Lautier gave up competitive chess to pursue a career in investment banking. Since 2009 he has been CEO of the Moscow-based investment banking firm RGG Capital.
Nicholas Ernest de Firmian is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987, 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff. He is also a chess writer, most famous for his work in writing the 13th, 14th, and 15th editions of the important chess opening treatise Modern Chess Openings. He was born in Fresno, California.
Benjamin Philip Finegold is an American chess grandmaster and YouTuber/Twitch streamer. He had previously been nicknamed the "strongest International Master in the United States" until receiving his Grandmaster (GM) title in 2009.
Maxim Alexandrovich Dlugy is an American chess player with the FIDE title of Grandmaster.
Alexander Vladimirovich Ivanov is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. Born in Omsk, present-day Russia, he moved to the United States in 1988. FIDE awarded him his grandmaster title in 1991. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, fellow chess player and Woman International Master Esther Epstein.
Stuart Rachels is an American philosopher and International Master of chess. He is the son of the philosopher James Rachels (1941–2003). He tied for first place in the 1989–90 U.S. Chess Championship. Although he is no longer an active player, his FIDE rating is 2485 and his USCF rating is 2605.
Guy West is an Australian chess player who holds the FIDE title of International Master (IM). He is a former Australian Chess Champion.
Wu Wenjin is a Chinese chess Grandmaster.
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.
Marc Tyler Arnold is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in September 2012.
Akshat Chandra is an American chess player. He started playing Chess during a visit to India in 2009 when he was nine years old. In 2015, he won the US National K-12 Championship and was also the US Junior Champion, the first time both titles were held by the same person in a single year. He earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in March 2017.
Carissa Shiwen Yip is an American chess player and the winner of the 2021, 2023, and 2024 U.S. Women's Chess Championship. In September 2019, she was the top rated female player in the United States and the youngest female chess player to defeat a grandmaster, which she did at age ten. In October 2019, she became the youngest American woman in history to qualify for the title of International Master until surpassed by Alice Lee in June 2023.
Abhimanyu Mishra is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he holds the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
