I have been a fan of Sam Shankland for several years. I love that he plays the Caro Kann, his books are good, but mostly - I appreciate his blunt and brutal honesty when talking to people.

Born in 1991, Sam started playing chess at 6, but only really started playing in tournaments at the age of 11.

When he was 17, he started making a splash nationally and internationally by winning the Pacific Coast Open, the California State Championship, and tying for first at the World Youth Under 18 Chess Championships which earned him his International Master title.

In 2010, he won the US Junior Championship in back to back Armageddon games, qualifying him for his first US Chess Championship tournament.

The following year, he earned his Grandmaster Title and participated in the World Cup - advancing to the second round by having the largest upset by beating the 18th seeded Peter Leko while Shankland was seeded 111th.

In his second Chess Olympiad event in 2014, he took home Gold for his performance as a reserve player with a 9/10 score and a performance rating of 2829. He also defeated GM Judit Polgar in her last professional game before she retired.

2018 was a banner year for Shankland - he not only qualified, but won the US Chess Championships in St Louis amongst a field that included 3 top 10 players in the world. In that tournament, he increased his rating to 2701 becoming the 7th American in history to break the 2700 rating barrier.

The following year at the Tata Steel tournament - he drew World Champion Magnus Carlsen and beat former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in Kramnik’s final game before retiring. He also reached his peak rating of 2731 at number 21 in the world.

In 2021, he won the Prague Masters tournament with a performance rating over 2900 - the highest in the tournament’s history.

A couple of fun facts about Shankland: He has been an analyst for Magnus Carlsen in World Championship preparations in 2014 and 2016 (against Anand and Karjakin). He was also featured on Fox’s survival show ‘Kicking and Screaming’.

Sam is also a successful author! He has written 4 different books. He doesn’t do it for the money or for others’ education. In an interview on the World Chess Youtube channel he said:  “I don’t really write books for other people, I write them because it forces me to train really well... Whenever I think of some idea of something I want to work on a lot, ‘I think well if I force myself to write a book about it maybe I’ll work on it even better.’ ” .

In the span of 14 years Shankland went from playing in his first tournament at age 11 to winning the US Championship that featured 3 of the top 10 players in the world. In his career - so far - He has participated in 11 US Championships in 13 years, been a 3 time-medalist on 10 different US Olympiad Teams, and aided a World Champion in their preparation. Sam is the role model for hard work and determination when pursuing a goal.

This week, we are going to 2010 at the Philadelphia Open.

Sam Shankland versus Vladimir Romanenko.

Now if we’re ready, let’s begin.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2 Qc7 9. f4 Be7 10. f5 Bc4 11. O-O-O Nbd7 12. g4 Nxg4 13. Rg1 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Rc8 15. Rxg7 h6 16. Kb1 Bg517. Qh3 Qd8 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Rxd6 Qe7 20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Rxg5 Rc6 22. Rg1 Rd6 23. Nd5 Qa4 24. Qc3 1-0