Awonder Liang facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Awonder Liang |
|
---|---|
![]() Liang at Hart House in 2023
|
|
Country | United States |
Born | Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. |
April 9, 2003
Title | Grandmaster (2017) |
FIDE rating | 2592 (August 2025) |
Peak rating | 2696 (May 2025) |
Peak ranking | No. 34 (May 2025) |
Awonder Liang was born on April 9, 2003, and is an American chess player. He holds the highest title in chess, which is Grandmaster. Awonder was a chess 'prodigy' when he was young. This means he was incredibly talented at chess from a very early age. He became a Grandmaster when he was just 14 years old. This made him the third-youngest American to achieve this amazing title. Awonder has also won two world championships in his age group.
About Awonder's School Life
Awonder Liang went to Madison West High School. Before that, he attended Velma Hamilton Middle School. For elementary school, he was a student at Charles Van Hise Elementary School. He finished his studies at the University of Chicago in 2025.
Awonder's Chess Journey
Awonder Liang has achieved many impressive things in his chess career.
Becoming a Chess Expert
On April 16, 2011, Awonder became the youngest chess 'expert' in the United States Chess Federation (USCF) history. He was only 8 years and 7 days old. An expert rating means a player is very skilled. He broke the previous record held by Samuel Sevian. Later, Abhimanyu Mishra broke Awonder's record.
Youngest to Beat an International Master
On August 5, 2011, Awonder made history again. At 8 years and 118 days old, he became the youngest player to beat an International Master (IM) in a regular tournament game. An IM is another high title in chess, just below Grandmaster. This happened at the U.S. Open Chess Championship in Florida.
Winning a World Championship
On November 27, 2011, Awonder won a gold medal. He competed in the Under 8 section of the World Youth Chess Championships in Brazil. This win made him the Under 8 World Champion. It also earned him the title of FIDE Master.
Youngest to Beat a Grandmaster
On July 29, 2012, Awonder set another record. He became the youngest player ever to defeat a Grandmaster (GM) in a standard game. He was 9 years and 111 days old when he beat GM Larry Kaufman. This broke the old record by about two and a half months. This record was later broken by 8-year-old Leonid Ivanovic in 2024.
Becoming a National Master
On March 23, 2013, Awonder became the youngest person to get the US Chess Federation's National Master title. He was just 17 days shy of his tenth birthday. This was 10 days younger than the previous record holder, Samuel Sevian. However, on September 2, 2015, Maximillian Lu broke Awonder's record. Later in 2013, Awonder won the Under 10 section at the World Youth Championships.
Achieving International Master Title
On June 30, 2014, Awonder was 11 years and 92 days old. He became the youngest American to achieve a 'norm' for the International Master (IM) title. A norm is a high-level performance needed to earn a chess title. He earned his third and final IM norm on November 25, 2015. This made him the youngest American to qualify for the International Master title.
U.S. Junior Closed Championship
From July 8 to July 17, 2016, Awonder played in the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. He finished in second place, just behind Jeffery Xiong. In 2017, Awonder won the US Junior Closed Championship. This win earned him a spot in the 2018 US Chess Championship.
Earning the Grandmaster Title
In May 2017, Awonder earned his final two Grandmaster norms. He achieved these in tournaments in St. Louis and Chicago. At this time, he became the third youngest player in the US to get the Grandmaster title. In October 2017, he also played in the first Jamaican International Chess Festival.
Recent Achievements
In October 2022, Awonder was invited to play in the US Chess Championship. He finished tied for third place, which qualified him for the 2023 Chess World Cup. In March 2023, Awonder helped his University of Chicago team win the US Amateur Team North Championship for the second time.
In December 2022, Awonder tied for first place at the 2022 SPICE Cup. He shared the win with Aram Hakobyan and Abhimanyu Mishra. In April 2023, Awonder's FIDE rating reached 2651. This placed him in the World Top 100 chess players for the first time.
In May 2023, Awonder tied for first place at the 2023 Chicago Open. He shared this win with Jianchao Zhou and Emilio Cordova. Awonder played in the 2023 World Cup. He won his first round but was eliminated in the second round after losing in tiebreaks.
In July 2024, Awonder won the 52nd World Open. In October 2024, he scored 5.5 points in the 2024 U.S. Chess Championship.
Bughouse Chess
Awonder Liang is also very good at Bughouse chess. This is a fun chess game played by teams of two. With his partner Jeffery Xiong, he won the Bughouse World Championship in both 2021 and 2022. As of January 27, 2025, he was ranked #1 worldwide in Bughouse on chess.com.