A master at age 13, Joel Benjamin was a child prodigy who went on to win the U.S. Junior Championship in 1980 and 1982, the U.S. Open in 1985, and the U.S. Championship in 1987, 1997, and 2000 (he won the title ring in a blitz playoff against grandmasters Shabalov and Seirawan).

Owner and editor of the now defunct but riotously funny magazine Chess Chow, the multi-faceted Benjamin earned a degree in history at Yale University in 1985 and was hired by IBM as a consultant for supercomputer Deep Blue in its successful match against Garry Kasparov in 1997.

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