21 Facts About Ray Robson

Ray Robson was born on October 25,1994 and is an American chess grandmaster.

Ray Robson achieved the grandmaster title in 2010, at the time the youngest American player to be awarded the title by FIDE.

Ray Robson said as a child that he wanted to become a professional chess player, and his parents hoped for him to gain a chess scholarship to college.

In 2009 Ray Robson was the recipient of the Samford Fellowship.

In early 2012, Ray Robson decided to attend Webster University instead of UT Dallas.

Ray Robson has won seven national scholastic titles, including regulation events and blitz events.

Ray Robson finished in the top ten at each of the World Youth Chess Championships from 2004 to 2007, and he tied for first place in the U12 section of the Pan American Youth Chess Festival in 2005 and 2006, taking the silver medal on tiebreak on both occasions.

Ray Robson plays in many of the major open tournaments in the United States.

Ray Robson finished in the top ten both at the 2006 National Chess Congress in Philadelphia and at the 2006 North American Open in Las Vegas.

In 2004, at the age of nine, Ray Robson defeated his first National Master in tournament play.

Ray Robson was awarded the title of FIDE Master in June 2005 after tying for first place at the Pan American Youth Festival in Brazil.

Ray Robson earned the USCF title of National Master in January 2006 by raising his Elo rating above 2200.

Ray Robson earned the three norms required for the IM title in only six weeks: the first at the 6th North American FIDE Invitational on November 3,2007, in Chicago, Illinois; the second on November 27 at the World Youth Championships in Antalya, Turkey, and the third and final norm on December 10 at the University of Texas at Dallas GM Invitational in Dallas, Texas, making him the youngest IM-elect in the United States, beating the previous record-holder Hikaru Nakamura by one month.

Ray Robson tied for first place in the 2008 Florida championship.

Later that same month, Ray Robson then went on to earn his second GM norm by winning the 23rd North American FIDE Invitational in Skokie, Illinois.

Ray Robson earned his third and final GM norm in October 2009 by winning the Pan American Junior Chess Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Ray Robson was formally awarded the title by FIDE in January 2010.

Ray Robson played in his first FIDE World Cup in November 2009 in Russia.

Ray Robson competed again in this event two years later and was eliminated in the first round by Etienne Bacrot.

Ray Robson won the 2023 tournament while only losing a single individual battle.

Ray Robson crossed FIDE classical rating of 2700 in November 2022.