YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS. 13-year-old Armenian IM Samuel Sevian took a victory with blacks over GM Magesh Panchanathan (India) in the last 9th round and scored 6,5 points at the open that was held in Philadelphia, USA. Samuel was only one point behind the winner – GM Gata Kamsky (USA). The Chess Federation of Armenia informed “Armenpress” about this.

Samuel Sevian (born December 26, 2000) is an American chess prodigy of Armenian descent. He was born in Corning, New York. He currently holds the record for the youngest ever United States International Master at the age of 12 years and 10 months, besting Ray Robson's previous record by three months. He accomplished it by completing all the norm performances and reaching a FIDE rating of 2401 during the course of tournament play in Budapest, Hungary in November 2013. Sevian accomplished it while being the reigning World Champion in his age group U12. Sevian became an IM-elect by completing all three International Master norms before he turned 12.

Sevian started to play chess when he was 5. His first success came when he became the youngest Expert in USCF history, an achievement that was featured in an article in the Los Angeles Times by International Master John Peters. On December 9, 2010 Sevian broke another major record by becoming the youngest National Master in USCF history. Both records have since been broken by Awonder Liang. In 2012, Sevian completed all International Master norms by winning two Metropolitan International Master and one Grandmaster norm tournament held in Los Angeles. He became the World Champion in the U12 category in Maribor, Slovenia, November 7–19, 2012. His pre-tournament (FIDE) rating at the World Youth was 2347, almost 100 points above his nearest competitor. In May 2013, Sevian was invited to play in the U.S. Chess Championship in St. Louis as the youngest ever participant in US history. The field consisted of 24 players and Sevian scored 4/9, which placed him in shared 14th place ahead of several grandmasters. In June, Sevian, again the youngest in the field of competitors, played in the US Junior under 20 Championship, where he came second only half a point behind Daniel Naroditsky. Sevian was awarded the International Master title in November 2013 when he crossed the 2400 FIDE rating mark. Sevian is currently the highest FIDE rated player in the world for his age group.