Kayden William Troff (born May 6, 1998) is an American chess grandmaster. He was World U14 Chess Champion in 2012.

Personal life

Troff grew up in

West Jordan, Utah West Jordan is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is a suburb of Salt Lake City. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 116,961, placing it as the third most populous in the state. The city occupies the sou ...

, with his parents Kim and Daniel, sister Brynndi, and brothers Jeremy and Zachary Troff. He is a member of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

and served a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

in Australia.

Early years

He first demonstrated chess ability at the age of three, having learned to play by watching his father. When Troff turned six, he spent a week training with Grandmaster

Igor Ivanov Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov (; born 23 September 1945) is a Russian politician and diplomat who was Foreign Minister of Russia from 1998 to 2004 under both the Yeltsin and the Putin administrations. Early life Ivanov was born in 1945 in Moscow t ...

. He has also been trained by Melikset Khachiyan and

Alexander Chernin Alexander Mikhailovich Chernin (; born 6 March 1960) is a Soviet-born Hungarian chess grandmaster and trainer. Tournaments and championships Born in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, as a youth he frequently succeeded in tournaments and climbed rapidly ...

. Troff first won a Utah State Elementary Championship at the age of six and won first place in his section in the Utah State Elementary Championship each year after. In December 2007, he was named to the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, The World Chess Federation (FIDE). USCF administers the official national Chess ...

's 2008 All-America Chess Team; and at age 10, he was named in the 2010 All-America Chess Team, an honor described as "one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player". On December 14, 2008, he won second place at the fifth-grade level at the National K–12 Championships. In 2009, Troff won the Utah

Speed Chess Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. A ...

Championship at age ten, becoming the youngest player to win that event. This was followed up by becoming Utah G/60 Champion, the youngest player to do so. After this win, the tournament director dubbed him "Utah's Mozart of Chess." He also won the 2009 North American Youth Championship for under-12s in

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...

. Troff's quick rating was the highest of all US players under the age of 13, according to the Top 100 rating list published by the USCF from June 2009 through October 2010. In May 2010, he defeated Harold Stevens, Utah's then-highest-rated player, in a match, winning all three games. In October 2010, he won the Utah Open tournament.

Notable accomplishments

Troff won the world championship for ages 14 and under in Maribor, Slovenia, in 2012. He also won the silver medal for ages 12 and under at the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece in 2010, behind future grandmaster

Wei Yi Wei Yi (; born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th youngest in history. He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2700, accomplishing this feat ...

. Having already obtained the three GM Norms needed, he reached 2500 Elo rating to earn the Grandmaster title at the Saint Louis Invitational in May 2014, at age 16. In June 2014, Troff became US Junior Chess Champion, scoring 7/9 points.

Twitch streaming

In June 2023, Troff began streaming chess gameplay 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 c ...

under the name ChessSharkz.

References

External links

*
Kayden Troff
member profile at

Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. One of the largest chess platforms in the world, the site operates on a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available via subscription ...

(archived)
United States Chess Federation ratings (enter Troff into search box)

The Salt Lake Tribune ''Today in Photos'' feature on Kayden Troff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troff, Kayden 1998 births Living people Chess Grandmasters American chess players People from West Jordan, Utah People from Murray, Utah American Twitch (service) streamers