Grandmaster Joel Benjamin started his extraordinary chess career very young. In 1976, he came home with the National Elementary Championship title. In 1977, at the age of 13, Joel became the first person to break Bobby Fischer's record, becoming the youngest U.S. Master to that time. In 1978, he was National Junior High Champion and in 1980 (the year he earned his International Master status) National High School Champion as well as U.S. Junior Champion. In 1981 he repeated his success as National High School Champion. And he repeated his U.S. Junior championhip in 1982.

Joel won his first U.S. Open in 1985 -- the year he graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in history. The following year Joel earned the title of International Grandmaster. In 1987 he became the first awardee of the Samford Fellowship as the most promising player under the age of 25 in the United States. Also this year he won his first of three U.S. Championships (with wins in 1997 and 2000).

In addition to finishing in second place five times for the U.S. Championship (and "equal third place" in the most recent '05 U.S. Championship), Joel is a five-time U.S. Olympic Chess Team member and two-time medalist and won two gold medals in the 1993 World Team Championship. Joel also won the last three Harvard Cups, in which Grandmasters played against chess computers.

In 1993, he tied for first at the NY Open. He represented the U.S. at the 1996 World Team Championships helping win the gold medal. He later won the bronze at the 1996 FIDE Olympiad. He earned his first right to be a participant in the FIDE World Championship in 1997/1998 and has qualified for each championship since; four of the past five World Championships Joel has entered the competition.

Owner and editor of the now defunct but riotously funny magazine Chess Chow, the multi-faceted Benjamin prides himself as having played in a record 22 consecutive U.S. Invitational Championships as well as working for IBM as a consultant for supercomputer Deep Blue in its successful match against Garry Kasparov in Philadelphia in February 1996.

His only regulation meeting against former World Champion Garry Kasparov was at Horgen in 1994. Joel and Garry played to a draw. Joel appeared in the documentary "Game Over: Kasparov vs. the Machine", in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer", and was
named to the list of 50 smartest New Yorkers by New York Magazine in 1995.

In recent years Joel has been teaching classes in New York City and has coached Columbia Grammar to several national titles. He is a perennial coach of the U.S. World Youth squad and a popular instructor at the Castle Chess Camp.

Grandmaster Susan Polgar's recent and upcoming activities.

GMs Joel Benjamin and Susan Polgar