Joel Benjamin

Few chess players have had as successful and varied a career as Joel Benjamin. He first came to the attention of the American chess public during the 1975 U.S. Open in Lincoln, Nebraska. Half a century later, he is still making news.

Benjamin had a number of successes early on in his chess career, winning numerous youth events including the National Elementary, Junior High and High School Championships in 1976, 1978 and 1980-81 respectively, as well as the U.S. Junior Championships in 1980 and 1982. He also had the distinction in 1977 of becoming, at the time, the youngest ever American chess master at the age of 13. This record was previously held by Bobby Fischer.

U.S. chess champion in 1987, 1997 and 2000, Benjamin represented the U.S. in the 1987 Interzonal in Szirak, Hungary. He played for the United States in six Olympiads, winning team silver in 1990 and bronze in 1997. He was also a member of the 1993 and 1997 American entries in the World Team Championships which won gold and silver respectively.

Benjamin worked as the official Grandmaster consultant with IBM to assist with the Deep Blue chess computer that defeated World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. He is also a noted teacher and author.

Joel Benjamin was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2008.