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Samuel Sevian
Sevian 
 

Number of games in database: 1,133
Years covered: 2010 to 2025
Last FIDE rating: 2683 (2654 rapid, 2727 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2698
Overall record: +305 -144 =425 (59.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 259 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (143) 
    B90 B30 B32 B92 B50
 Ruy Lopez (105) 
    C65 C67 C78 C95 C92
 French Defense (48) 
    C11 C18 C10 C17 C07
 Sicilian Najdorf (41) 
    B90 B92 B94 B96 B99
 Caro-Kann (36) 
    B12 B18 B11 B15 B17
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (33) 
    C95 C92 C84 C99 C96
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (89) 
    C78 C77 C84 C83 C65
 English, 1 c4 e5 (52) 
    A20 A28 A29 A22 A23
 Giuoco Piano (39) 
    C50 C53 C54
 Queen's Pawn Game (36) 
    D02 A45 A46 A40 E10
 Nimzo Indian (35) 
    E48 E20 E46 E36 E49
 Semi-Slav (33) 
    D44 D45 D43 D47 D49
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   So vs Sevian, 2015 0-1
   Shirov vs Sevian, 2016 0-1
   Sevian vs T Abrahamyan, 2012 1-0
   V Gunina vs Sevian, 2015 0-1
   Sevian vs W Ju, 2022 1-0
   Sevian vs Robson, 2022 1-0
   So vs Sevian, 2022 0-1
   L'Ami vs Sevian, 2015 1/2-1/2
   Sevian vs Naroditsky, 2015 1/2-1/2
   Sevian vs T Gareyev, 2019 1/2-1/2

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Champions Showdown 9LX (2023)
   Spring Chess Classic (2022)
   Capablanca Memorial (Elite) (2019)
   Lindores Abbey Tal Mem (2021)
   US Junior Championship (2020)
   Airthings Masters Div 3 (2023)
   FTX Road to Miami (2022)
   MrDodgy Invitational 3 (2022)
   Pacific Northwest Chess Center Masters (2020)
   Xtracon Open (2019)
   Tata Steel Challengers (2015)
   Tata Steel Challengers (2016)
   PRO League Group Stage (2019)
   World Cup (2021)
   Pro Chess League (2018)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Best Games Best Players II by Miguel Medina
   2010 WYCC (open) U-10 by gauer

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 Sinquefield Cup
   Firouzja vs Sevian (Aug-27-25) 1/2-1/2
   Sevian vs Duda (Aug-26-25) 1/2-1/2
   Vachier-Lagrave vs Sevian (Aug-25-25) 1/2-1/2
   Sevian vs Caruana (Aug-24-25) 1/2-1/2
   Sevian vs Abdusattorov (Aug-22-25) 1/2-1/2

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Samuel Sevian
Search Google for Samuel Sevian
FIDE player card for Samuel Sevian

SAMUEL SEVIAN
(born Dec-26-2000, 24 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]

Sam Sevian was awarded the titles of FIDE Master in 2012; International Master in 2013; Grandmaster in 2014. He was World U12 Champion in 2012 and World #1 U14 from April - November 2014 (1), (2)

Preamble

Sevian was the world's youngest Grandmaster, the youngest US American ever to become a Grandmaster at the time he earned the title, and the first born in 2000. Sevian gained the title on 23 November 2014 at the age of 13 years, 10 months 28 days when he defeated Andrei Gorovets in the St Louis GM Invitational to lift his live rating to over 2500, thereby fulfilling the last criterion for the GM title.

Under the tutelage of his coach, Armenian IM Andranik Matikozian, Sevian became the youngest US Expert ever at the age of 8 years, 2 months, and on December 19, 2010, he became the youngest National Master in USCF history at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 23 days, breaking the record previously held by Nicholas Nip by 3 days. He learned chess when he was 5 and started competing a few months later in 2006.

Championships

<Youth> In 2010, Sevian scored 8/11 placing =5th in the World U10 Championship in Halkidiki. He won the World U12 Championship in Maribor with 9/11, winning on tiebreak ahead of compatriot Cameron Wheeler, FM Zhu Yi and Saveliy Golubov respectively (this effort earning him his FM title). In June, he came second at the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship behind Daniel Naroditsky.

<National> He competed in the United States Championship (2013), and is the youngest competitor ever in the the national championship. Two years later he scored 5.5/11 to place =5th at the US Championship (2015), adding a hefty 17 points to his rating and qualified to play in the next World Cup.

<World> Sevian qualified to play for the World Cup (2015) through his result at the US Championship 2015 (see above). However, he bowed out of the contest when he lost his first round match to Azeri GM Teimour Radjabov.

Standard Tournaments

Sevian played his first tournament in Orlando on August 12, 2006. He commenced in FIDE rated competitions when he was 8 years old, beginning with the 2009 CalChess Labor Day Championships in San Francisco. He starting accumulating serious rating points in 2009 at the Western States Open in Reno, Nevada and the 45th Annual American Open, and also recorded his first results (draws) against titled masters such as FMs Michael Feinstein and Eugene Yanayt. In early 2010 he competed in and made steady progress in local tournaments in California; although he only scored 2/5 in the NorCal Open, he scored his first win against a master, FM Kenan Zildzic, and his first draw against an IM, Emory Tate, soon followed by a win against FM Richard Kelson and a draw against IM Walter Shipman. January 2011 saw Sevian score his first win against a grandmaster, Mauricio Flores Rios, at the 2nd Annual Golden State Open. In April 2011 he scored a draw against GM Sergey Kudrin at the 11th Annual Reno Far West Open.

2012 opened with an auspicious 4.5/9 for the 11 year old in the Northern California International, adding 32 points to his March 2012 rating, including a boost from his draw against Polish GM Bartlomiej Macieja. Further solid results in the 19th Annual Western Class Championships (3/5) held in Agoura Hills, California, in the 17th, 19th and 20th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitationals held in Los Angeles in mid-2012 boosted his ranking to the top of the world's U12 list, the latter two adding IM norms to his resume. A further solid result in the 2nd(!) Metropolitan Chess FIDE International in August 2012 where he scored 5.5/9 including a win over US GM Melikset Khachiyan consolidated his hold on the top U12 ranking. Then came outright 2nd (behind his trainer IM Andranik Matikozian) with 6/9 at the 22nd Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational in LA in October, further boosting his stocks, and his rating. After winning the World U12 championship, he followed up with a win at the 23rd Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational held in Los Angeles with an impressive 6/9, picking up 42 points for that event alone - he was the lowest rated player in this category 8 event and picked up his 3rd IM norm, missing a GM norm by the narrowest of margins. However, 2012 finished on an anti-climactic note for him when he scored only 3.5/8 at the 22nd North American Open held in Las Vegas.

2013 started with a relatively sparse 3/9 at the 24th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational, causing him to shed 10 ratings points, although his 4.5/9 at the 2013 UT Dallas Spring FIDE Open recovered most of these lost points. 2014 started with a rating neutral 5.5/9 at the Bay Aread International at Santa Clara, but was followed by a dynamic 6.5/9 (including wins over GMs Bartlomiej Macieja, Alexander Shabalov and Alexander Stripunsky, placing outright 2nd and earning a GM norm. (1) A solid 5/9 at the 2014 UT Dallas Spring FIDE Open underwritten by Turner Construction was followed by an equally solid =3rd with 6.5/9 at the 8th Annual Philadelphia Open. In May 2014, Sevian won the 2014 CCSCSL Invitational GM event with 6.5/9, winning his 2nd GM norm and came through with his 3rd GM norm at the 3rd Annual Washington International in August where he scored 6/9. Soon afterwards he played in the US Masters in North Carolina, and scored 4.5/8, adding a few rating points and inching him closer to his GM title.

Sevian gained his GM title with effect from 23 November 2014, when he reached a live rating of over 2500 at the St Louis Invitational GM Tournament. His application for the title had previously been lodged with FIDE. (3)

In January 2015, Sevian was invited to play in the annual Tata Steel Challengers (2015). After a poor start where he lost his first two games, he performed impressively to scoring 7.5/13 and place =5th to add 20 points to his rating. He had an impressive outing at the UTDallas versus USA Junior All Stars in March, scoring 6.5/10 and adding nearly 17 rating points to his card. An undefeated 6.5/9 (including +1 =4 against his GM opponents) at the 24th Annual Chicago Open added a further 13 points to his rating.

In 2017, Sevian won the Chicago Open in May and also qualified(4) for the World Cup later that year.

Rating and Ranking

Sevian's initial rating was 2060 in November 2009 while he was still eight years old.

References and Sources

(1) http://www.uschess.org/content/view... and http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/... shows St Louis results = GM norm; (2) http://mdchess.com/index.php?option...; (3) http://ratings.fide.com/title_appli...; (4) http://www.fide.com/images/stories/...

Wikipedia article: Samuel Sevian; Photo: http://www.bidmonfa.com/sevian_samu...

Last updated: 2024-10-23 11:39:44

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 46; games 1-25 of 1,133  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Sevian vs Igor Anikin  1-0332010WYCC Open U10A07 King's Indian Attack
2. Liri Nima Shirani vs Sevian 0-1442010WYCC Open U10D14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation
3. Sevian vs T Trubchaninov  1-0312010WYCC Open U10B30 Sicilian
4. Y Grahesh vs Sevian 0-1782010WYCC Open U10D14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation
5. Sevian vs A Puranik ½-½402010WYCC Open U10A07 King's Indian Attack
6. K Koziol vs Sevian  0-1402010WYCC Open U10C47 Four Knights
7. Sevian vs J Cao 0-1302010WYCC Open U10B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
8. B Gupta vs Sevian  1-0502010WYCC Open U10C77 Ruy Lopez
9. Sevian vs M Petrov  1-0252010WYCC Open U10B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
10. V Djordjevic vs Sevian 0-1522010WYCC Open U10C45 Scotch Game
11. Sevian vs V Panchanatham  ½-½332010WYCC Open U10A07 King's Indian Attack
12. L Remlinger vs Sevian  ½-½542012Northern California InternationalD35 Queen's Gambit Declined
13. Sevian vs A Young  0-1542012Northern California InternationalB27 Sicilian
14. Y Liou vs Sevian  0-1712012Northern California InternationalC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
15. Sevian vs K Kavutskiy  1-0372012Northern California InternationalC17 French, Winawer, Advance
16. S Shivaji vs Sevian  ½-½152012Northern California InternationalA09 Reti Opening
17. Sevian vs Macieja  ½-½632012Northern California InternationalB30 Sicilian
18. J Bryant vs Sevian  ½-½302012Northern California InternationalC89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall
19. Sevian vs R de Guzman  0-1422012Northern California InternationalB06 Robatsch
20. Sevian vs T Ishkanov  ½-½582012Northern California InternationalC17 French, Winawer, Advance
21. Z Amanov vs Sevian  ½-½35201219th Metropolitan IMA16 English
22. Sevian vs A King  1-021201219th Metropolitan IMC67 Ruy Lopez
23. V C Shen vs Sevian  1-046201219th Metropolitan IMD47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
24. K Troff vs Sevian  0-184201219th Metropolitan IMA60 Benoni Defense
25. Sevian vs C J Arvind  1-033201219th Metropolitan IMC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
 page 1 of 46; games 1-25 of 1,133  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Sevian wins | Sevian loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-26-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Happy 14th birthday to the world's youngest GM, Samuel Sevian.
Jan-02-15  kardopov: It's now a race for Sevian and Xiong for the USA Kingship in the future. Who is the better of the two? Sevian may be leading by now but Xiong has the greater scalp in Dreev and Zhou Jianchao.
Jan-25-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Congrats to Sevian for his performance at the Tata Steel (Group B) (2015) tournament. He finished in 4th place with 5 wins. Not a bad start to his career as a GM.
Jan-25-15  Howard: Yes, Sevian's final score was certainly nothing to be embarrassed about---his rating will even go up a bit thanks to this event.

As for the oldest, by far, participant (whom Sevian beat in the last round) his performance was quite a surprise. His age seems to be clearly catching up with him.

Mar-13-15  cro777: Sevian got the wildcard for the 2015 US Championship to be held from March 31st to April 14th in Saint Louis. This will be one of the strongest fields ever and will also be one of the youngest fields.
Apr-03-15  Gypsy: <Sevian got the wildcard for the 2015 US Championship ...> Top-10 scalp:

W So vs S Sevian, 2015

Apr-04-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Very good player! A genuine World Champion candidate.
Apr-07-15  strifeknot: The Guardian interviews Sevian:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...
Apr-07-15  cro777: Sevian on his training with Garry Kasparov.

A British news paper The Guardian had a chat with Sevian during the US Championship, in which he also discussed what he learned from Kasparov (what’s been the best part of training with him):

"I like to watch and listen to Kasparov and try to get into his mind to see how he thinks. He’s one of those unique players who is able to give many ideas at once. It’s hard to evaluate all of the ideas, but that’s part of what makes him one of the best players of all time, and it’s also what I really admire about him ... He told me to make my game a little more practical, to work on my time management, to think a little less, and to work on my decision-making process."

Apr-08-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Project Sam:

<http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h-...>

Apr-09-15  Jambow: <HeMateMe> That is a nice consistent rise for Sam.

Better buy some stock in this one it's going up quick. He doesn't have blow out events he just over performs consistently.

<Kardopov> Sam got a scalp that is So much better now. Sorry couldn't resist.

Apr-09-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I have the feeling that Kasparov is spending a few hours with various prodigies so that as soon as they start winning tournaments he says, "I taught him everything he knows!"
Apr-09-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: <offramp> If Sam becomes a better player as a result of his collaboration with Kasparov, and it leads to greater success, I don't think the kid will mind. :-)
Jul-09-15  waustad: He is scheduled to play in Armenia at the Lake Sevan 2015 tournament, starting soon.
Jul-13-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Samuel Sevian not off to a great start at the Lake Sevan tournament, starting 0/2. However, I remember the last time he started 0/2: Tata Steel Group B (2015). He ended up going on a 7.5/11 (+4) run.
Jul-13-15  waustad: He is the lowest rated player, but not by a huge amount. He also started with two blacks.
Jul-21-15  fisayo123: http://armenpress.am/eng/news/81280...
Aug-26-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: Good luck vs. Radjabov in the world cup
Sep-13-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <SteinitzLives: Perhaps Caruana should do what someone recommended Korchnoi do shortly after he defected, and play under the non-federation flag of the Jolly Roger....>

A droll idea.

Sep-13-15  fisayo123: Good effort vs Teimour. But Radjabov proved to wily a customer for young Sevian.
Dec-08-15  waustad: He beat Jakovenko in the ACP Masters. That is a huge win for the lad! Congratulations.
Dec-08-15  waustad: The official site isn't making it easy to find out the time control. I suspect that these are rapid games, since these guys don't usually play a 4 round Swiss on Saturdays anymore like many of us remember.
Dec-08-15  sonia91: <waustad> yes, it's a rapid tournament: http://www.2700chess.com/?per-page=... (see "Current events")
May-02-16  Howard: Sevian is currently playing at a Swiss event in Norway, and he's one of 10-12 players tied for first, at 3-0.
May-04-16  waustad: In it he beat Shirov in a tactical scrum with short time: http://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2016.... He gave up 1/2 point against GM Postny in round 4. At present he is in a 9 way tie for first at 4.5/5. http://chess-results.com/tnr176071....
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