Ben Finegold
Ben Finegold | |
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Detroit, Michigan | |
Title | Grandmaster (2009) |
FIDE rating | 2400 (April 2024) |
Peak rating | 2563 (January 2006) |
Benjamin Philip Finegold (born September 6, 1969) is an American
Finegold became a
Finegold was recipient of the U.S. Chess Trust's Samford fellowship. In addition to filming and streaming chess topics on social media sites, he has been active in giving live tournament commentary, lectures, and writing. He was the grandmaster-in-residence of the Saint Louis Chess Club, and co-founded the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta.
Early life
Finegold was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a chess family, the son of chess master Ron Finegold and his wife Rita. He learned the rules of chess at age 5 and received his first USCF rating at age 6.
Stuart Rachels says when he was twelve he saw Ben Finegold and his father Ron hustling in a chess club at Manhattan, offering 8:1 money bets on one-minute-per-player bullet games.[2]
Finegold graduated high school in June 1986 at the age of 16. Afterward, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, to pursue chess.[3]
Career
Finegold said he had played in hundreds of tournament games a year when he was young: "I loved chess and if I lost it did not matter to me. That's the main thing you have to do to get better at chess – if you lose hundreds of games in a row, that's OK."[4]
Finegold received the
Finegold tied for first place in the 1994 (Chicago, Illinois) and 2007 (Cherry Hill, New Jersey)
In 2000, Finegold co-authored a chess book with chess master Bob Ciaffone, titled Smith–Morra Gambit Finegold Defense.[7]
In September 2009, he earned his third and final
Broadcasting career
Ben Finegold | |
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Twitch information | |
Channel | |
Years active | 2018–present |
Genre | Gaming |
Games | Chess |
Followers | 131,000 |
YouTube information | |
Channel | |
Subscribers | 131,000[10] |
Total views | 25,547,189[10] |
Finegold has been a live commentator at the U.S. Chess Championship, U.S. Junior Chess Championship, Sinquefield Cup, and Chess World Cup. He also frequently gave lively and often humorous instructional lectures at the Saint Louis Chess Club (formerly the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis).[11][12] He was the grandmaster-in-residence of the Saint Louis Chess Club until August 14, 2012, where he filmed a number of chess YouTube videos. In 2017, Finegold and his wife Karen co-founded the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta.[13] Finegold's lectures are available on the YouTube channels of the Saint Louis Chess Club as well as the channel of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta and on Twitch.
As of 2021, Finegold streams chess five to six times a week, particularly on Twitch under the handle "itsBenAndKaren"; his account currently has over 131,000 followers.[14] Highlights and clips from his Twitch streams are regularly uploaded to his Youtube channel with the same name. As of October 2022, his Youtube channel has over 110,000 subscribers.[15] He also has a Twitter account, with more than 21,900 followers as of March 2023.
As of June 2023, Finegold has appeared five times as a guest on the Perpetual Chess Podcast hosted by
Personal life
Finegold was a student at Wayne State University.[3]
In July 1988, Finegold moved to
Finegold has been a vegetarian since 1986.[17] He became a vegan as a New Year's resolution in 2018.[citation needed]
Publications
References
- from the original on June 17, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
- ISBN 978-90-5691-882-8.
- ^ a b c d e f Finegold, Ben (February 2010). "The 40-Year-Old GM" (PDF). Chess Life. United States Chess Federation. pp. 19–25. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-8971-9.
- ^ World Open 2002 Standings – Open Section Archived April 17, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, chessevents.com, access date March 28, 2021
- ^ Results from the 2002 World Open Archived August 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, www.thechessdrum.net, access date March 28, 2021
- ISBN 978-0966100730.
- ^ "The United States Chess Federation - GM Benjamin Finegold". United States Chess Federation. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
- ^ "The United States Chess Federation - GM Benjamin Finegold". uschess.org. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ a b "About GMBenjaminFinegold". YouTube.
- ^ "Benoni, Benko Gambit, Nimzo Indian - GM Ben Finegold - 2014.01.26". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
- ^ "Opening Traps and Loose Pieces with GM Ben Finegold". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
- ^ "Grand Opening of the CCSCATL". atlchessclub.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ Rosenblatt, Kalhan; Abbruzzese, Jason (February 17, 2020). "Speed and trash talk: Inside the 'new chess culture' and its online revival". NBC News. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
- ^ "GMBenjaminFinegold - YouTube". youtube.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- ^ "The Perpetual Chess Podcast". The Perpetual Chess Podcast. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- ^ Finegold, Ben (January 27, 2010). "Ben's Blog: Working Out". Saint Louis Chess Club. Archived from the original on August 1, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- ^ "Starting Out with 1. d4 - Chessable". www.chessable.com. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
- ^ "Starting Out: Sicilian - Chessable". www.chessable.com. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
Further reading
- Smith–Morra Gambit Finegold Defense by Ben Finegold and Bob Ciaffone, Amazon, March 2000
External links
- Benjamin Finegold rating card at FIDE
- Benjamin P. Finegold rating and tournament record at US Chess Federation
- Benjamin Finegold FIDE rating history at OlimpBase.org
- Benjamin Finegold player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Lectures with GM Ben Finegold at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta YouTube channel
- Lectures with GM Ben Finegold at the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel
- Ben Finegold on Twitch
- Ben Finegold member profile at Chess.com
- Ben Finegold member profile at Lichess