Background
Shankland was born in Berkeley, California.
Shankland was born in Berkeley, California.
Shankland graduated from Brandeis University in 2014 with a degree in Economics.
In July 2015, he was ranked 89th in the world. He learned to play chess at the age of 6, but didn"t play in his first tournament until the age of 10. Shankland received his early chess education from the Berkeley Chess School.
2008
Shankland began his rise to prominence in 2008, winning the Pacific Coast Open and the California State Championship.
He made his international debut at the World Youth Chess Championship under-18 section, where he tied for first place with Ivan Saric and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, taking home the bronze medal on tiebreak score and earning the title of International Master. This result qualified him for the 2011 United States. Chess Championship.
2011
In January, 2011, Shankland earned the title of Grandmaster at the Berkeley International. He finished third in the 2011 United States. Chess Championship, after first defeating Alexander Onischuk in a playoff game, and then Robert Hess in an Armageddon match.
This result qualified him for the 2011 FIDE World Cup.
In the 2011 World Cup, Shankland defeated Hungarian super-grandmaster Peter Leko in the first round, but lost to Abhijeet Gupta in the second. Shankland"s victory over Leko in the first round was the biggest upset of the tournament. 2013
In 2013, Shankland made his debut for the United States national team at the Pan-American Team Championship in Campinas, Brazil, leading them to victory with a performance rating over 2800.
Shankland was selected as the 27th Samford Fellow.
The Samford is a fellowship given once a year to a promising young American player, providing the funds necessary for the recipient to devote him or herself to chess without being restrained by financial concerns. Shankland clinched first place at the ZMDI Open in Dresden, Germany, edging out on tiebreak score Mikhailo Oleksienko and Georg Meier.
2014
At the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway, Shankland took home gold for his performance as a reserve player. Going undefeated, he scored 9 points out of 10 games, giving him a performance rating of 2829 for this tournament.
In round 8, Shankland defeated legendary General Motors Judit Polgar in her last ever professional game.
Polgar announced her retirement from chess at the end of the event. Shankland shared first place at the American Continental Championship, qualifying him for the 2015 World Cup. On December 14, 2014, Shankland broke into the top 100 chess players worldwide.
2015
Following his gold medal in Tromsø, Shankland was promoted to first board of team United States of America for the World Team Chess Championship, where he played with a performance rating over 2700 and drew against elite players Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, and Boris Gelfand, all of whom were in the top fifteen players worldwide at the time.
Shankland took third place in the Tata Steel Challengers group, with a score of 9.0/13 and a performance rating over 2700.