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Ray Robson
Robson 
Courtesy of chessdailynews.com 

Number of games in database: 926
Years covered: 2004 to 2025
Last FIDE rating: 2692 (2652 rapid, 2619 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2704
Overall record: +287 -165 =292 (58.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 182 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (145) 
    B42 B32 B30 B90 B33
 Ruy Lopez (94) 
    C67 C65 C84 C96 C78
 French Defense (57) 
    C11 C18 C02 C10 C16
 Sicilian Najdorf (32) 
    B90 B96 B94 B92 B97
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (31) 
    C84 C96 C97 C92 C95
 French (30) 
    C11 C10 C12 C00
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (124) 
    B90 B52 B83 B76 B81
 Semi-Slav (45) 
    D45 D43 D44 D47
 Grunfeld (36) 
    D85 D80 D90 D70 D94
 Queen's Pawn Game (30) 
    D02 E10 D00 A45 E00
 Ruy Lopez (29) 
    C65 C67 C78 C81 C80
 Sicilian Scheveningen (28) 
    B83 B81 B80 B82 B84
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   A S Rasmussen vs Robson, 2009 0-1
   Robson vs B Finegold, 2011 1-0
   Robson vs A Udeshi, 2011 1-0
   Y Yu vs Robson, 2014 0-1
   Robson vs M Khachiyan, 2011 1-0
   V Akobian vs Robson, 2009 0-1
   Robson vs E Perelshteyn, 2010 1-0
   K Priyadharshan vs Robson, 2011 0-1
   Robson vs Le Quang Liem, 2012 1-0
   Niemann vs Robson, 2022 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Pan-American Junior Championship (2009)
   St Louis Fall A (2019)
   US Championship (2015)
   Arctic Chess Challenge (2009)
   United States Championship (2020)
   World Junior Championship (2011)
   Corus Group C (2010)
   41st Annual World Open (2013)
   Foxwoods Open (2007)
   Millionaire Chess Open (2014)
   Millionaire Chess (2015)
   PRO League Group Stage (2019)
   48th World Junior Championship (2009)
   Gibraltar Masters (2011)
   Pro Chess League (2018)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   2012 Spice fall swiss by gauer
   2011 Saint Louis invitational by gauer
   2014 Spice Cup open by gauer
   2005 WYCC (open) U-12 by gauer
   2004 WYCC (open) U-10 by gauer
   2006 WYCC (open) U-12 by gauer
   2006 Philadelphia national open by gauer

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 Grenke Freestyle Open
   F Svane vs Robson (Apr-21-25) 1/2-1/2, unorthodox
   Robson vs P Pultinevicius (Apr-21-25) 1-0, unorthodox
   A Wirig vs Robson (Apr-20-25) 0-1, unorthodox
   Robson vs H Raja (Apr-20-25) 1/2-1/2, unorthodox
   Robson vs S Loeffler (Apr-19-25) 1-0, unorthodox

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Ray Robson
Search Google for Ray Robson
FIDE player card for Ray Robson

RAY ROBSON
(born Oct-25-1994, 30 years old) Guam (federation/nationality United States of America)

[what is this?]

FM (2005); US National Master (2006); IM (2008); GM (2009).

Briefly

GM Ray Robson was born in Guam, and he and his parents moved to Largo, Florida, USA shortly afterwards. He learned chess from his father at age three and at the age of 14 years 11 months and 16 days became the youngest US American to gain the GM title - four days younger than Fabiano Caruana. Robson won a chess scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas but in 2012 chose to attend Webster University and its SPICE program run by Susan Polgar instead.

Championships

<Age – National and Continental> He won his FM title in June 2005 after tying for first place (runner-up on tiebreak) at the Pan American Youth Chess Championship in Brazil. He won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship 2009 and the Pan-American Junior Championship (2009). He tied for first in the USA Junior Championship (2010), but placed second on tiebreak behind Sam Shankland.

<Age – World> Robson's second ever FIDE rated event after his entry into that arena in the 105th US Open (2004) was the World U10 championship of 2004. He came=7th at the World U12 in 2006 and scored 7.5/13 at the 48th World Junior Championship (2009).

<State and National> At the US Championship (2007), he became the youngest U.S. Championship participant ever, being just 12 years, 6 months, and 20 days at the start of the tournament. He has played in every U.S. Championship from 2009 through 2024. His best result was clear second with 7.5/11 behind Hikaru Nakamura in the US Championship (2015), thereby qualifying for the World Cup 2015. He tied for first place in the 2008 Florida championship.

<World>. Robson played in the World Cup (2009), losing in the first round to Georgian GM Baadur Jobava. At the World Cup (2011), he met French super-GM Etienne Bacrot. In a fiercely fought contest, he drew the two-game classical match, forcing the tiebreaker where he came from behind in the 25 minute rapid game match to level their contest 2-2. However, in the 10 minute rapid tiebreaker, Robson lost both games and exited the tournament. He qualified to play in the World Cup (2013) and in a shocking result, defeated Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin by 2-0 in the first round. He was eliminated by Ukrainian veteran GM Vasyl Ivanchuk in the second round. At the World Cup (2015), he unexpectedly was eliminated in the first round by Ukrainian GM Yuri Vovk.

Standard Tournaments

In December 2006, Robson placed =2nd at the North American Open held in Las Vegas behind Alexander Shabalov, defeating GM Melikset Khachiyan. He captured his first IM norm in November 2007 by taking clear first place in the 6th North American FIDE Invitational tournament in Chicago, Illinois, scoring 7/9. He scored his second and third norms just weeks later at the World Junior Championship (2007) in Antalya, Turkey, and at the Dallas GM Invitational in Texas, becoming the youngest IM in the USA early in 2008 when his FIDE rating finally reached 2400. In August of 2009, Robson tied for first at the Arctic Chess Challenge (2009) played in Tromsø, Norway, winning his first GM norm. Later in August, he gained his second GM norm by winning the 23rd North American FIDE Invitational in Skokie, Illinois. In October 2009, he won the Pan-American Junior Championship (2009) with one round to spare, earning his third and final GM norm to acquire the title a couple of weeks before his fifteenth birthday (his rating having already reached 2500), thereby becoming the USA's youngest Grandmaster.

Other good results were:

- =1st at the Annual Eastern Open in Washington DC in December 2008 alongside Sergey Kudrin, Alex Yermolinsky and Daniel Ludwig

- =1st at the Philadelphia Open 2010 alongside Alexander Stripunsky and Gata Kamsky

- =2nd at the 2011 St Louis Invitational

- He scored 4.5/9 at the Aeroflot Open (2012) (+3 -3 =3; TPR 2634).

- =2nd at the 40th World Open (2012) in August 2012, half a point behind Shabalov

- 1st at the 2012 SPICE fall Swiss

- =1st at the 2013 Chicago Open with Joshua E Friedel scoring 7/9

- =1st with Wesley So with 6/7 in the preliminary 7 rounds of the Millionaire Chess Open (2014), conceding the final tiebreaker 0.5-1.5 to So to take 2nd prize in the event and

- =2nd at the 2014 SPICE Cup Open with 6.5/9, half a point behind the winner Illya Nyzhnyk.

Team events

Robson played 2 games as 2nd reserve for the USA in the World Team Championship (2010), helping his team to a team silver. He played reserve for the USA in the Istanbul Olympiad (2012). He won individual silver for board 3 playing for the USA in the 9th Pan American Team Championship 2013, helping his team win the gold medal. He played for Webster University which placed =1st at the 2012 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, and also played with the Webster team that won the 2013 Final 4 of College Chess in April 2013. He also played board 4 for the USA in the World Team Championship (2013), helping his team to 4th place. He made a perfect score of 5/5 to help his team, Webster University, to first place in the Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship in December 2013. He repeated that effort in 2014, his personal result being sufficient to elevate him to the world's top 100. He was also on hand to help Webster win the title three times in a row when it won the President's Cup in March 2015, Robson's personal tally being 2.5/3.

Match

He played and won the Finegold - Robson Match (2011) by 4-2 (+2 =4) in May 2011.

Rankings and Ratings

Robson first entered the top 100 in February 2015. He first breached the 2700 barrier in October 2022. Winning three consecutive games in Rounds 6-8 of the 2022 U.S. Championship brought his live rating to 2706.7, No. 35 in the world, as of October 13, 2022.

References

Wikipedia article: Ray Robson ; live rating: http://www.2700chess.com/

Last updated: 2025-02-04 07:37:00

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 38; games 1-25 of 937  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. D Freeman vs Robson 0-1292004105th US OpenD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
2. Prince Mark Aquino vs Robson 0-1402004Wch U10B83 Sicilian
3. Aghasaryan vs Robson  ½-½392004Wch U10D35 Queen's Gambit Declined
4. P Chen vs Robson 1-0302004Wch U10B82 Sicilian, Scheveningen
5. Robson vs I Beradze 1-0342004Wch U10B12 Caro-Kann Defense
6. Robson vs Prasanna Raghuram Rao 1-0262004Wch U10B78 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack, 10.castle long
7. Robson vs R Song  0-1602004Wch U10C18 French, Winawer
8. Robson vs Y Hou 0-1372004Wch U10B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
9. Robson vs K Eranyan  1-0472004Wch U10C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed
10. L Milman vs Robson 1-0342005HB Global Chess ChallengeB81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack
11. Robson vs P Vargas 1-0612005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)C18 French, Winawer
12. Robson vs J Vasconez  1-0422005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
13. R Salazar Loor vs Robson 0-1562005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)B80 Sicilian, Scheveningen
14. Robson vs S Iermito  ½-½352005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)C41 Philidor Defense
15. M Bambino vs Robson  0-1442005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)A13 English
16. Robson vs J M Diaz Velandia  1-0492005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)C60 Ruy Lopez
17. T Tomaz vs Robson  ½-½502005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)A13 English
18. Robson vs S Navarro 1-0302005Pan American Championship U12 (boys)B33 Sicilian
19. I Saeed vs Robson  0-1532005Wch U12D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
20. Robson vs Swiercz  1-0402005Wch U12B42 Sicilian, Kan
21. Robson vs Z Strzemiecki  ½-½422005Wch U12C11 French
22. Robson vs S Narayanan  ½-½372005Wch U12B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
23. J A Guevara Perez vs Robson  0-1672005Wch U12B50 Sicilian
24. Robson vs Negi ½-½1052005Wch U12B42 Sicilian, Kan
25. S Sjugirov vs Robson  ½-½802005Wch U12B81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack
 page 1 of 38; games 1-25 of 937  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Robson wins | Robson loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 13 OF 19 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-25-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: He's only 15 years of age, man.
Jan-25-10  Knight13: <chancho: He's only 15 years of age, man.>

And he already surpassed Waitzkin. Well, Waitzkin was a different case, so...

Jan-25-10  Riverbeast: <Well, I think that when all is said and done, Robson will be no more than a skid mark on the underpants of chess.>

That's a nice thing to say...And beautifully put!

Jan-25-10  goatpaths: I think wolfmaster's comment about Robson couldn't be more off the mark. (By the way, he made the same comment about Nakamura the day before.) In my opinion, Robson's just getting started, and I am looking forward to following his games over the next few decades. Go Ray!
Jan-25-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: They can't all be Magnus Carlsen. Robson might end up like Seriwan, get very close to the top and beat a world champion or two.
Jan-25-10  Knight13: <They can't all be Magnus Carlsen.> Good point. Wesley So's less than 100 points higher than Robson and look at all the attention he's getting. Don't know what all the obsession with So is about, but I don't care.
Mar-27-10  wordfunph: 2009 World Team Championship: Ray Robson broke Bobby Fischer's record (age 17 at Leipzig 1960) as the youngest player ever to compete for the United Sates in a FIDE team competition.
Apr-03-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: Draw yesterday in round 5 of Philadelphia Open:

[Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Date "2010.04.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Robson, Ray"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "2559"]
[BlackELO "2702"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.a3 c5 13.Bc2 Re8 14.b4 exd4 15.cxd4 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Bf8 17.Bb2 Rc8 18.Qb1 g6 19.Qa2 Re7 20.Rad1 Qe8 21.a4 bxa4 22.Bxa4 Nxe4 23.Bxd7 Qxd7 24.Nxe4 Rxe4 25.Rxe4 Bxe4 26.Qxa6 Qb7 1/2-1/2

Apr-05-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: Philadelphia Open 2010 (United States of America), final ranking crosstable:

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr322...

Apr-05-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: This last round win secured 2nd place:

[Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Date "2010.04.04"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Robson, Ray"]
[Black "DeFirmian, Nick"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2559"]
[BlackElo "2557"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd3 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Be7 11. Be2 Nc6 12. fxe6 fxe6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bh5+ g6 15. e5 dxe5 16. Rb3 e4 17. Qd4 Qd6 18. Bxf6 O-O 19. Be2 Rxf6 20. Qxd6 Bxd6 21. Nxe4 Be7 22. Nxf6+ Bxf6 23. Rf1 Be7 24. Rb6 Bd8 25. Rxc6 Bb7 26. Rxe6 Bxg2 27. Rf4 Bc7 28. Rf2 Bd5 29. Rxa6 Rxa6 30. Bxa6 Bxa2 31. c4 Bb1 32. Bc8 Bd6 33. Ke2 Kg7 34. Be6 g5 35. Bf5 Ba2 36. Kd3 Bb1+ 37. Kd4 Bxf5 38. Rxf5 Kg6 39. Rf2 g4 40. c5 Bc7 41. c6 h5 42. Ke4 h4 43. Rg2 g3 44. h3 Kf6 45. Rd2 Ba5 46. Rd6+ Ke7 47. Rd7+ Ke6 48. Kf3 Bb6 49. Rh7 Kd6 50. Rxh4 Kxc6 51. Rh6+ Kc7 52. Rxb6 1-0

May-18-10  Don Cossacks: He's a 1.e4 player.
May-18-10  diceman: <wolfmaster: Well, I think that when all is said and done, Robson will be no more than a skid mark on the underpants of chess.>

At least he had underpants.

When all is said and done,
you'll be nothing.

May-18-10  diceman: <Knight13:Wesley So's less than 100 points higher than Robson and look at all the attention he's getting.>

Look at all the attention Bobby Fischer got in 1958.
He didnt win the WC until 1972.

<Don't know what all the obsession with So is about, but I don't care.>

Dont care? Then why you crying about it?

Jul-19-10  radicalcation: <diceman: <Don't know what all the obsession with So is about, but I don't care.>

Dont care? Then why you crying about it?>

Good point <diceman>.

Much of the attention So is getting is from his fans from the Philippines. Many Filipinos love chess and are very excited to have someone like So to support. Why don't you tell them to stop supporting So <Knight13>? Better yet, tell them to stop playing chess.

In another note, looks like GM Robson is running away with the US Juniors. Good luck Ray and I hope you continue to progress to the top.

Jul-19-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eric Schiller: People in his home country are justifiably proud of their prodigy, just as we were of Bobby Fischer. It seems the Philippines always has a chess hero, from Torre, to Roglio and now So. Let them enjoy it!

I just wish they would express themselves in our common language, even if they hav to re3sort to Googlish translations. They'd get more fans that way.

Every country should be So lucky to have a talented prodigy!

Jul-20-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: Placed 2nd in the US Junior Championship 9-20 July 2010 (after losing playoff vs IM Samuel Shankland):

http://saintlouischessclub.org/2010...

Aug-19-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: 6th place in György Marx Memorial (Paks, Hungary) 5-16 August 2010:

http://www.ase.hu/marxgy/2010/cross...

Oct-21-10  Kinghunt: Has Robson played at all since August?
Nov-01-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: He's finding the SPICE Cup a little too spicy.
Nov-01-10  wordfunph: SPICE Cup:

after 5 rounds, GM Robson with disappointing 2 draws and 3 losses..

get back on track Ray!

Nov-05-10  Whitehat1963: He's not quite ready for prime time. He'll get there in a few years.
Nov-09-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: 6 losses in ten games. If Texas Tech offers a scholarship, I say take it and major in engineering.
Nov-09-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: sheesh, <HeMateMe>.
Nov-09-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Hey, there's a point where YOUGOTTAGETREAL.....is that a Metallica avatar?
Nov-09-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: And that point is at, what, 16 years and a few losses?

Belated Biba Kumpleaños, btw, Rob!

Darn thing is too small I can't tell who it is, but it's not Hetfield.

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