Awonder Liang

Awonder Liang is one of the bright young stars of American chess. A prodigy who set numerous age group records in his youth, Awonder is now starting to fulfill his potential. The past three years he has seen his FIDE rating rise over 100 points, briefly topping 2700.

Currently rated 32nd in the world at 2696, Liang has done well in his five previous U.S. Championship appearances. He made a creditable debut back in 2018, when at the age of 15, he scored 4.5 from 11. Since then he has made massive improvement, tying for third in 2022 and sharing second in 2024.

Awonder accomplished all this while attending the University of Chicago from which he graduated in 2025. He is now a full-time chess professional who is not only a world class player but also an excellent coach. He seconded Carissa Yip to an outstanding performance at the 2024 Budapest Chess Olympiad and a solid result at the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup. Liang and fellow Grandmaster Jeffrey Xiong won the Bughouse (a chess variant) World Championship in 2021, 2022 and 2024.