Sam Shankland

World rank: No. 71 (October 2026)
Rating: 2646
Peak rating: 2731 (February 2019)
Title: Grandmaster (2011)
Federation: United States
Born: October 1, 1991, Berkeley, California, United States (age 35)
FIDE ID: 2004887

An American grandmaster from California and the 2018 U.S. champion. Shankland also won the U.S. Junior title in 2010 and reached a peak rating of 2731 in 2019.

He won the American Continental Championship in 2025 and defended it in 2026 with 9½/11. At the 2025 World Cup he beat Vasyl Ivanchuk, Vidit Gujrathi, Richárd Rapport and Daniil Dubov to reach the quarter-finals.

Career highlights

2018 U.S. Champion
World Cup quarter-finalist in 2025
American Continental Champion in 2025 and 2026
Peak rating 2731 (February 2019)

Titles

Prague Chess Festival: 2021
U.S. Chess Championship: 2018

From the winners lists on our event pages.

Sam Shankland in The Chess Herald

Oct 21, 2026So Draws Niemann in Under an Hour, One Round From a Fourth Title
Oct 20, 2026So Holds Caruana to a Draw and Keeps His Full-Point Lead
Oct 19, 2026So Beats Woodward in a Pawn Ending, Leads Caruana by a Point
Oct 18, 2026So Takes Sole Lead on 5/7 as Liang Falls in 27 Moves
Oct 16, 2026Caruana and Liang Join a Four-Way Lead After Round 6

Show all 9 articles

Oct 15, 2026Woodward Beats Caruana as Eight of 12 Games Are Decisive
Oct 13, 2026Woodward and Shankland Win as So and Liang Stay Level at 2.5
Oct 11, 2026So and Liang Lead Open at 2/2, Bottom Seeds Top the Women
Oct 2, 2026Caruana Heads a 12-Player U.S. Championship Field in Saint Louis

FIDE profile · Wikipedia
Profile last reviewed September 29, 2026. Ratings update monthly from FIDE.