Full name: Benjamin Finegold
Title: Grandmaster
Born: September 6. 1969
Place of birth: Detroit Michigan
Ratings
World Ranking: 1180
Rapid: Not rated
Blitz: 2501
Classical (Std): 2446
Profiles
Biography
Ben Finegold is a Chess Grandmaster and has built one of the best Chess YouTube Channels by recording his lectures he teaches in Atlanta, GA.
The family of Benjamin Finegold is from Detroit, Michigan, the same place where he was born. Ronald Finegold, his father, and two older brothers are known USCF Masters. In addition, her mother, Gina, is also a Woman International Master. This might explain how he was able to gain a rating his USCF rating when he was 6 years old.
As Stuart Rachels narrated to his book, he saw Finegold and his father playing in a chess club in Manhattan. They are playing Chess bullet game with a one-minute time per player. Fine gold was 12 years old then. In connection, Finegold also mentioned that he knew he wanted to be a chess player at a young age. He even admitted he wasn’t even good until he reached 10. But before that, he joined many tournaments already and just improved over time.
The Beginning
It was in 1993 that Finegold won the Samford fellowship. During the U.S. Open Chess Championships in 1994 and 2007, Finegold came first in these cities.
In the year 1989, Finegold got a first-place tie in the prestigious U.S. Junior Closed Championship. In the same year, Finegold scored his biggest win against Boris Gelfand at the Euwe Memorial tournament, which happened in Amsterdam, Holland.
During the World Open in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2002, he tied for first place. In 2005 and 2008, he also tied for first place at the National Open, a chess tournament in the United States.
If you look at a recent rating list from the U.S. Chess Federation, he was one of the top 40 American players. The United States Championship has been held in nine cities across the United States. Finegold has competed in nine of them.
Finegold and chess master Bob Ciaffone wrote the Smith-Morra Gambit and the Finegold Defense together in 2000 when they were both in their 30s.
He earned four points when he was in Lubbock, Texas, to fight for the SPICE Cup in September of 2009. The perfect score would be five, but he is only short by one point. Later in that game, he won over Davorin Kuljasevic, making him a qualifier to be a Grandmaster.
Achievements
Ben Finegold Chess Profile, USCF rating peaked at 2662 in June 2007. Many love to see him play because he has an average rating of over 2600 points. His ability to compete with other players in events around the country proves that he can contend with some of the best players in the world.
The “Strongest International Master in America” was bestowed to Ben Finegold in 2000. The General Manager (GM) awarded Ben his final G.M. for a well-done job. This happened in Lubbock, Texas, just a few days after celebrating his 40th birthday with his family. He is faithful to his talents by winning the SPICE Cup. His International Master and Grandmaster award have a twenty year gap.
To sum it up, here are Finegold’s numerous titles in Chess:
- Grandmaster (GM) 2000
- National Master (NM) 2005
- AMERICAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPION 1999-2000
- US OPEN CHAMPION 1995-96
Final Thoughts
Ben Finegold is one of the most popular and entertaining chess grandmaster with a peak FIDE rating of 2662, the highest in his career, to vie with fellow American Grandmaster Larry Christiansen for the title of best-rated American-born chess player. For more in
According to FIDE, he had 11 matches under the Grandmaster category and 22 under the International Master category. These two categories are deemed the hardest in the Chess world. To become a grandmaster, they need at least a FIDE rating of 2500. The rating required to become an International Master is 2400, so close but yet so far from the 2500 rating requirement to achieve the Grandmaster title. One hundred rating points can take years of additional work. For more information on FIDE and ratings, see the step-by-step guide on how to get a FIDE rating.
Currently, Finegold and his wife Karen manage their Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta and his YouTube channel, which they started at 2019. His talks at the Saint Louis Chess Club were always exciting and sometimes funny. There are lectures by Finegold from St. Louis and Atlanta chess clubs and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta. You can find these lectures on YouTube, too.
Sources
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=27532
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2000261
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/guide-to-chess-titles-611067
http://www.uschess.org/index.php/Men/GM-Benjamin-Finegold.html
https://www.amazon.com/Smith-Morra-Gambit-Finegold-Defense-Ciaffone/dp/0966100735
http://www.uschess.org/component/option,com_top_players/Itemid,371/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ir1EeZICAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqCYniUdv2E
http://www.uschesstrust.org/frank-p-samford-jr-chess-fellowship/
https://uschesschamps.com/news-2013-us-championships/meet-players-all-about-benjamins