Background
He was born in Corning, New New York Sevian was born to Armenian-born parents.
He was born in Corning, New New York Sevian was born to Armenian-born parents.
He holds the record for the youngest ever United States Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months, and 27 days. He also holds the record for the youngest ever United States International Master at 12 years and 10 months He has also broken age records when reaching the National Expert and Master titles. Sevian started to play chess when he was 5.
On December 9, 2010, Sevian became the youngest National Master in USCF history at 9 years, 11 months, and 23 days, beating Nicholas Nip"s record by 3 days.
In 2012, Sevian completed all International Master norms in the space of 6 months, during three Metropolitan FIDE IM Invitational events. He eventually became an International Master after crossing the 2400 FIDE rating mark during a tournament in Budapest in November 2013, setting a new United States record of 12 years 10 months.
In May 2013, Sevian was invited to play in the United States. Chess Championship in Saint Louis as the youngest ever participant. The field consisted of 24 players and Sevian scored 4/9, which placed him in shared 14th place ahead of several grandmasters.
Sevian became a Grandmaster at 13 years, 10 months, and 27 days, a new United States record.
He took part in the Tata Steel Challengers event in January 2015, sharing fifth and sixth with 7.5/13 points. This performance earned him a spot in the 2015 Chess World Cup. He drew both classical games against Teimour Radjabov 1:1 in the first match of the World Cup but got eliminated in the rapid play off 2:0.
Sevian was World Champion for U12s in 2012. His first success came when he became the youngest Expert in USCF history at 8 years, 2 months, beating Brian Luo"s previous record by over 10 months, an achievement that was featured in an article in the Los Angeles Times by International Master Alexiou Koutsoudis. He became the World Champion in the U12 category in Maribor, Slovenia, November 7–19, 2012. After completing General Motors Norms at the Foxwoods Open in January, Saint Louis General Motors Invitational in May and Washington International in August 2014, he completed the requirements for the title by achieving a 2500 FIDE rating during the Saint Louis General Motors Norm Invitational tournament, which he won with 7.5/9. Sevian shared fifth place in the United States Chess Championships, beating Wesley So, a world top ten ranked player, and drawing with Hikaru Nakamura as well as defending champion Gata Kamsky.
