Sam Sevian

Grandmaster Sam Sevian of Holden, Massachusetts, was a chess prodigy in his youth. Taught to play by his father at the age of five, he broke several records between the ages of 8 and 13. These included the youngest American player to become an Expert, Master, International Master and Grandmaster.

The United States has had five players rated in the top twenty in the world for some time making it extremely difficult to earn a spot on the national team. Sam has not yet played in an Olympiad, but he had an impressive debut for the United States in the 2019 World Team Championship held in Astana, Kazakhstan. Playing on second board Sevian won an individual bronze medal for his undefeated score of 5 from 8, helping an underdog U.S. squad overperform and tie for fourth place.

Sevian competed in his first U.S. Championship in 2013 and has been a regular participant ever since. His best result was in the 2021 event where he tied for first with Fabiano Caruana (whom he defeated in their individual game) and Wesley So, but lost out in the playoff won by So. He placed fourth in last year’s event.

Among Sevian’s highlights in 2025 were finishing with an even score against the best players in the world in the Sinquefield Cup, scoring an excellent 7 from 11 in the FIDE Grand Swiss and placing fourth in the U.S. Championship.

2026 has seen him continue his exceptional play. Sevian defeated Leinier Dominguez in the American Cup, losing to the eventual winner Wesley So only in the tiebreak phase. He then won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial held in Jermuk, Armenia, on tiebreak over Vladislav Artemiev. This was a very strong event and the performance put Sevian back over 2700 FIDE. He followed up this result with another even score in the 2026 Sinquefield Cup, competing against some of the best players in the world.

Sevian, who is now at his peak rating of 2708, is ranked number 29 in the world on the September FIDE rating list.