Joel Benjamin

Joel Benjamin (born March 111964) is a chess Grandmaster and is currently the highest rated active chess player who was born in the United States. [ [http://www.fide.com/ratings/topfed.phtml?ina=1&country=USA FIDE Online. Country Top 100 and Stats ] ] In 1998 Benjamin was voted “Grandmaster of the Year” by the U.S. Chess Federation.

As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2576, making him the # 12 player in the US and the 214th-highest rated player in the world.

Benjamin is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Marine Park neighborhood. He graduated Yale University in 1985.

At the age of 13 Benjamin broke Bobby Fischer’s record by becoming the youngest-ever U.S. Master. As a junior player he won the National Elementary title (1976), the National Junior High crown (1978), and the National High School title (1980-81).

Other successes included the U.S. Junior Championship in 1980 and 1982, and the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1985. He earned the Grandmaster title a year later. Benjamin was the US Chess Champion in 1987, 1997, and 2000. He won Saint John Open I in 1988, and the 2000 Canadian Open Chess Championship.He was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in Miami on May 2, 2008. He is the youngest inductee.

He co-authored "Unorthodox Openings" along with Eric Schiller, for Batsford publishers in 1987, and has been a frequent contributor to "Chess Life" magazine and other chess periodicals. His latest book, is "American Grandmaster" Four Decades of Chess Adventures.

Benjamin was hired as a consultant by IBM to help with the Deep Blue chess computer that defeated World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

As of the October 2006 [http://www.uschess.org/ratings/top/0610/genList.php?filename=TopOverall.txt&&pheader=Top%20Overall rating supplement] Benjamin had a United States Chess Federation rating of 2646, ranking him 14th best among American chess players.

Benjamin appeared in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and "Game Over, Kasparov vs the Machine".

Notable games

Here is a scintillating game that Benjamin won against the late grandmaster Eduard Gufeld: Benjamin-Gufeld, U.S. Open, Hawaii 1998 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.O-O O-O 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 [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1292499]

References

External links

*fide|id=2000091|name=Joel Benjamin
* [http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlTnmtHst.php?10102511 US Rating and Tournament Records of Joel Benjamin]
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* [http://www.chessworld.net/chessclubs/statistics_pgn_rating_chart.asp?username=Benjamin,Joel Statistics at ChessWorld.net]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4D8113DF93BA25757C0A961948260 "CHESS AT NEW YORK OPEN: 'IT'S LIKE A WAR'," 4/18/87]