Andrew Tang (born November 29, 1999) is an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

grandmaster. He is also a popular streamer, known online for his speed chess skills especially in

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and ...

(one-minute), hyperbullet (30-seconds), and ultrabullet (15-seconds) time controls as well as for playing speed chess blindfolded.

Chess career

Tang began playing chess in preschool. He was instructed by

John Bartholomew John Bartholomew (25 December 1831 – 29 March 1893) was a Scottish cartographer. Life Bartholomew was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, John Bartholomew Sr., started a cartographical establishment in Edinburgh, and he was educated ...

as he was growing up. He earned the title of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...

in 2014 by winning the North American Junior Chess Championship. Tang earned the title of Grandmaster in November 2017, when he achieved his final

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

and an

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved c ...

over 2500, both required for the title, in the Fall 2017 CCCSA GM Norm Invitational tournament, held in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

awarded him the title in April 2018. In December 2018, he participated in the

World Rapid Chess Championship The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tour ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Initially seeded 190th, Tang achieved a good result, scoring 8.5 points out of 15 rounds, and placing 59th. In the tournament, he also played his first live game against world champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has ...

. In the 2019 U.S. Junior Championship, Tang placed 4th out of 10 with 5/9. In January 2020, Tang tied for second place with a score of 6.5/9 in the Charlotte Open, held in Charlotte, North Carolina, tying with GM

Cemil Can Ali Marandi Cemil Can Ali Marandi (born 17 January 1998) is a Turkish chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster in 2017. Biography Cemil Can Ali Marandi repeatedly participated in European Youth Chess Championships and World Youth Chess C ...

, GM Akshat Chandra, GM Ulvi Bajarani, and IM Aaron Grabinsky. On October 1, 2020, Tang signed with the esports organization

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 201 ...

using the online ID penguingm1. Andrew Tang also competed in the 2021 Bullet Chess Championship Presented By SIG hosted by chess.com. There he competed against GMs

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraNihal Sarin Nihal Sarin (born 13 July 2004) is an Indian chess player and chess prodigy. He achieved the title of Grandmaster at age 14. In 2018, he passed the Elo rating of 2600 at 14 years old, which at the time made him the third youngest player in his ...

Daniel Naroditsky Daniel Naroditsky (born ), also known as Danya, is an American chess grandmaster, author, and commentator. He published his first chess book at age 14. Chess career Born in San Mateo, California, Naroditsky learned chess at age six from ...

and

Alireza Firouzja Alireza Firouzja ( fa, علی‌رضا فیروزجا, ; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest ever 2800- rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months ...

, among others. He finished in 2nd place, losing 5-11 to Firouzja in the final. He again participated in the competition's following-year edition, and again finished in 2nd place, losing 11-8 to Nakamura in the Grand Final. Tang streams chess live on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

, preferring fast bullet chess games of 15, 30, or 60-second chess with no increment, he is the only chess player to ever beat the Lichess

Stockfish Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage l ...

1 to 8 in Ultrabullet time control. He has won the Lichess Titled Arena five times as of December 2021.

Personal life

Tang graduated from Wayzata High School in

Plymouth, Minnesota Plymouth is a city in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A suburb in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the city is about west of downtown Minneapolis.The population was 81,026 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota' ...

, and attends

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

, where he hopes to major in Operations Research and Financial Engineering.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Andrew Tang
chess games and profile at Chess-DB.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Andrew 1999 births Living people American chess players Chess grandmasters People from Naperville, Illinois People from Plymouth, Minnesota Twitch (service) streamers Cloud9 (esports) players