Career
On April 16, 2011, when he played in the Hales Corners Challenge chess tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Awonder became the youngest chess expert in United States Chess Federation (USCF) history with a rating of 2000 at the age of 8 years and 7 days. Awonder broke the earlier record, held by Samuel Sevian, by 64 days. On August 5, 2011, at the age of 8 years 118 days, he became the youngest to defeat an International Master (IM) in a standard tournament game.
This occurred in round 6 at the United States. Open in Orlando, Florida, when Awonder defeated IM Daniel Fernandez (rated FIDE 2401 and USCF 2448 at that time).
The previous record, which was held by Fabiano Caruana, was broken by 4 months and 15 days. On July 29, 2012, he became the youngest ever to defeat a Grandmaster (General Motors) in a standard time limit tournament game.
lieutenant occurred in round 3 of the Washington International in Rockville, Maryland, when he defeated General Motors Larry Kaufman. Awonder was 9 years, 111 days old at the time, breaking the previous record by about 2.5 months. the record was previously held by Shah Hetul at the age of about 9 years, 6 months.
On March 23, 2013, he became the youngest person ever to obtain a master"s rating within the United States Chess Federation.
On September 2, 2015 Maximillian Lu broke Awonder"s record by 12 days. Liang earned his third and final IM norm in Dallas on November 25, 2015 at 12 years, 7 months and 6 days old, thus becoming the youngest American ever to qualify for the title of International Master.