Aman Hambleton (born 30 December 1992) is a Canadian

chess grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it h ...

. He is a member of the Chessbrahs (a Canadian chess entertainment company), along with other grandmasters such as Eric Hansen (founder),

Robin van Kampen Robin van Kampen (born 14 November 1994) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. At the age of 14, he won the Dutch U20 Championship. He achieved his grandmaster (GM) title at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days. Van Kampen has represented the Neth ...

, and

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author an ...

Chess career

Hambleton was born in 1992 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and learned to play chess at age five. He moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

at age six, and played in his first tournament in the same year. He attended

Woburn Collegiate Institute Woburn Collegiate Institute (Woburn CI, WCI, or Woburn) is a non-semestered, English-language public secondary school on Ellesmere Road in the Woburn neighbourhood of the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada operated by the To ...

. He earned his

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 (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) title in 2013, and was awarded his grandmaster (GM) title by

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 ...

in April 2018, becoming Canada's tenth GM.Sunway Sitges: Aravindh Wins, Hambleton To Shave Beard
Chess.com He earned his first GM

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 envi ...

at the UNAM Chess Festival in 2012, while still a

FIDE 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 (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

, but did not achieve the second norm until the

Reykjavik Open The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually. The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12.5 ...

in April 2017. He had vowed in March 2017 to not shave his beard until he attained the GM title, resulting in a lengthy beard by the time he earned his third GM norm in December 2017. He also won the Canadian Open Chess Championship in July 2017, sharing first with

Razvan Preotu Razvan Preotu (born August 11, 1999 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Early life, family, and education Preotu is the son of Rene and Gabriela Preotu, who came to Canada from Romania in 1 ...

on a score of 6½/9. Hambleton represented Canada at the

41st Chess Olympiad The 41st Chess Olympiad ( no, Den 41. Sjakkolympiade), organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took pla ...

. On the reserve board, he scored 3½/7 (+2–2=3). He played on the reserve board again at the

43rd Chess Olympiad The 43rd Chess Olympiad ( ka, 43-ე საჭადრაკო ოლიმპიადა, ''43-e sach’adrak’o olimp’iada''; also known as the Batumi Chess Olympiad), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and c ...

. He lost to the 1937-rated Rijendra Rajbhandari in the first round, but won his last four games to finish on 4½/7 (+4–2=1). Hambleton is the No. 8 ranked Canadian player, with a rating of 2454.

Chess boxing

Hambleton had a chess boxing contest with IM

Lawrence Trent Lawrence Trent (born 28 April 1986) is an English International Master chess player and commentator. Trent has host-commentated for major FIDE tournaments, including the World Chess Championship Finals for Anand–Carlsen (2013), World Candidate ...

on 11 December 2022.

Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server, news website and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be pla ...

described it as "the highest-rated chessboxing match in history". Hambleton won via

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

in the first round of the boxing portion of the match.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hambleton, Aman 1992 births Living people Canadian chess players Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia Sportspeople from Toronto