Joel Benjamin

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Joel Benjamin (born March 11, 1964) is a chess Grandmaster and is currently the highest rated active chess player who was born in the United States.^[1] 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 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.

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 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.

[edit] 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 [1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• FIDE rating card for Joel Benjamin
• US Rating and Tournament Records of Joel Benjamin
• Joel Benjamin at ChessGames.com
• Statistics at ChessWorld.net
• "CHESS AT NEW YORK OPEN: 'IT'S LIKE A WAR'," 4/18/87

Preceded by Yasser Seirawan	United States Chess Champion 1987 (with Nick de Firmian)	Succeeded by Michael Wilder
Preceded by Alex Yermolinsky	United States Chess Champion 1997	Succeeded by Nick de Firmian
Preceded by Boris Gulko	United States Chess Champion 2000–2001 (with Alexander Shabalov and Yasser Seirawan	Succeeded by Larry Christiansen