Country United States Role Chess Player Title Grandmaster (2011) | Ranking No. 89 (July 2015) Name Sam Shankland | |
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Born October 1, 1991 (age 32)
San Francisco, California, United States ( 1991-10-01 ) | ||
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Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He was California State champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, Champion of State Champions in 2009, World U18 championship bronze medallist in 2008, and US Junior Champion in 2010. As a member of the United States team, Shankland won the gold medal for the best individual result at the reserve board at the 41st Chess Olympiad in 2014. He also was member of the American team at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in 2016 where the United States won gold for the first time in forty years. In September 2016, he was ranked 57th in the world with an Elo rating of 2679.
Contents
- Kingscrusher s amazing game vs top us gm sam shankland live blitz chess game 1516
- Super chess gm hikaru nakamura notable game vs sam shankland world cup 2015 english opening
- Early life and education
- 2008
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- Other activities
- References
Super chess gm hikaru nakamura notable game vs sam shankland world cup 2015 english opening
Early life and education
Shankland was born in San Francisco, California. He learned to play chess at the age of 6, but didn't play in his first tournament until the age of 10. Shankland received his early chess education from the Berkeley Chess School.
Shankland graduated from Brandeis University in 2014 with a degree in Economics.
2008
Shankland began his rise to prominence in 2008, winning the Pacific Coast Open and the California State Championship. He made his international debut at the World Youth Chess Championship under-18 section, where he tied for first place with Ivan Saric and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, taking home the bronze medal on tiebreak score and earning the title of International Master.
2010
After losing his first two games in the 2010 US Junior Championship, Shankland won six out of the last seven rounds to tie for first place, and went on to clinch sole first with two back to back Armageddon victories over Ray Robson and Parker Zhao. This result qualified him for the 2011 U.S. Chess Championship.
2011
In January 2011, Shankland earned the title of Grandmaster at the Berkeley International.
He finished third in the 2011 U.S. Chess Championship, after first defeating Alexander Onischuk in a playoff game, and then Robert Hess in an Armageddon match. This result qualified him for the 2011 FIDE World Cup.
In the 2011 World Cup, Shankland defeated Hungarian super-grandmaster Peter Leko in the first round, but lost to Abhijeet Gupta in the second. Shankland's victory over Leko in the first round was the biggest upset of the tournament.
2012
Shankland won the Northern California International ahead of strong GMs Georg Meier, Alejandro Ramirez, Yury Shulman, and Bartlomiej Macieja.
2013
In 2013, Shankland made his debut for the US national team at the Pan-American Team Championship in Campinas, Brazil, leading them to victory with a performance rating over 2800.
Shankland was selected as the 27th Samford Fellow. The Samford is a fellowship given once a year to a promising young American player, providing the funds necessary for the recipient to devote him or herself to chess without being restrained by financial concerns.
Shankland clinched first place at the ZMDI Open in Dresden, Germany, edging out on tiebreak score Mikhailo Oleksienko and Georg Meier.
2014
At the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway, Shankland took home gold for his performance as a reserve player. Going undefeated, he scored 9 points out of 10 games, giving him a performance rating of 2829 for this tournament. In round 8, Shankland defeated legendary GM Judit Polgar in her last ever professional game. Polgar announced her retirement from chess at the end of the event.
Shankland shared first place at the American Continental Championship, qualifying him for the 2015 World Cup.
On December 14, 2014, Shankland broke into the top 100 chess players worldwide.
2015
Following his gold medal in Tromsø, Shankland was promoted to first board of team USA for the World Team Chess Championship, where he played with a performance rating over 2700 and drew against elite players Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, and Boris Gelfand, all of whom were in the top fifteen players worldwide at the time.
Shankland took third place in the Tata Steel Challengers group, with a score of 9.0/13 and a performance rating over 2700.
Shankland competed in the 2015 Chess World Cup, where he defeated GM Ivan Popov in the first round, but lost in a tiebreak in the second round to GM Hikaru Nakamura.
2016
In March 2016, Shankland took first place in the Fargenes International. In June, 2016, he won the Edmonton International. In August, 2016, Shankland won the Biel Masters. In September, 2016, Shankland played as fourth board for the United States at the 42nd Chess Olympiad, where the team earned gold for the first time since 1976.
Other activities
In 2016, he competed on the first season of FOX's reality game show Kicking & Screaming, coming in eighth place with his survivalist partner Caleb Garmany.