About Sam...
I was born on October 1, 1991 in Berkeley, California.I started playing chess when I was 9 years old, and I played my first tournament when I was 10, achieving my first USCF rating ever of 1269. At first, I didn't play very often, mainly just the Friday night scholastic tournaments at the Berkeley Chess School, the place where I first learned chess. A year later, my rating had dropped a bit and I was down to under 1086. Starting at that point, I would go on to have one of the steepest learning curves in American chess history. Just 3 years later, I became a National Master, breaking 2200 USCF. However, at that point I ran into a brick wall and leveled out. I would stay at about 2200 for about a year, and at the end of that year something wonderful happened.I took the summer off from tournaments, and I studied almost every day with the 3 best friends I've ever had in David Pruess, Josh Friedel and Vinay Bhat. Following that summer, I had not only become a stronger player in general but my attitude toward the game completely changed. From August 2007 to October 2008, I went from a no-name 2200 USCF to an IM rated over 2450 FIDE, as well as becoming the youngest California adult state champion ever at 16. Just a month later, I would go to Vietnam to play the World u18 championship. I went on to tie for first place and become the 2008 World under 18 co-champion, receiving the bronze medal on tiebreaks. This would be my biggest claim to fame to date. Since then my FIDE rating has increased to nearly 2500 and I have 2 of the three required norms to become a Grandmaster, and I'm still an active tournament player and searching for the final norm. Source: samshankland.com
I was born on October 1, 1991 in Berkeley, California.I started playing chess when I was 9 years old, and I played my first tournament when I was 10, achieving my first USCF rating ever of 1269. At first, I didn't play very often, mainly just the Friday night scholastic tournaments at the Berkeley Chess School, the place where I first learned chess. A year later, my rating had dropped a bit and I was down to under 1086. Starting at that point, I would go on to have one of the steepest learning curves in American chess history. Just 3 years later, I became a National Master, breaking 2200 USCF. However, at that point I ran into a brick wall and leveled out. I would stay at about 2200 for about a year, and at the end of that year something wonderful happened.I took the summer off from tournaments, and I studied almost every day with the 3 best friends I've ever had in David Pruess, Josh Friedel and Vinay Bhat. Following that summer, I had not only become a stronger player in general but my attitude toward the game completely changed. From August 2007 to October 2008, I went from a no-name 2200 USCF to an IM rated over 2450 FIDE, as well as becoming the youngest California adult state champion ever at 16. Just a month later, I would go to Vietnam to play the World u18 championship. I went on to tie for first place and become the 2008 World under 18 co-champion, receiving the bronze medal on tiebreaks. This would be my biggest claim to fame to date. Since then my FIDE rating has increased to nearly 2500 and I have 2 of the three required norms to become a Grandmaster, and I'm still an active tournament player and searching for the final norm. Source: samshankland.com
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