William Graif

William Graif is a Canadian-American chess FIDE Master. In each country, he was twice national champion in his age category, including the 2019 Canadian Junior Chess Champion.
==Youth competition==
Graif played in his first chess tournament at age five. At age seven, Graif won the $2000 first prize in the Under 1600 section at the National Chess Congress in Philadelphia against a field of 80 players. Also in 2007, Graif won the K-1 section at the NY State Scholastic Chess Championships. At the same tournament the following year, he won the K-3 section.
In 2008, he defeated Grandmaster Alexander Shabalov in a simultaneous exhibition, who won the other 30 games. At the age of eight, this would place Graif among the youngest to ever defeat a grandmaster. Around this time, he began working with chess coach Sunil Weeramantry.
In July, Graif went to Quebec and won the U-10 section of the 2008 Canadian Youth Chess Championships, guaranteeing him sponsorship to represent Canada at the World Youth Chess Championships in Vietnam later that year. Graif has also since represented Team Canada at World Youths in Turkey, Greece, and the United Arab Emirates.
In December 2008, Graif won the 3rd-grade section of the US National Scholastic Chess Championships in Orlando, Florida. Graif would also go on to win the 6th Grade section of the same tournament in 2011.
In 2014, Graif clinched the US National Master title at the age of fourteen.
Upon starting at Edgemont High School, Graif founded the school's chess program. In December 2014, Graif — placing sixth individually — led Edgemont to the 9th Grade Team National Championship. For their victory, the team was honored by the Westchester County Board of Legislators. Other notable victories by the school include the 2017 and the 2018 New York State Scholastic Chess Championships, at which Graif placed 2nd and 5th individually, respectively. After the 2018 victory, the team was honored by Westchester County Executive George Latimer. The Scarsdale Inquirer and The New York Daily News were among the sources to cover the story of Edgemont Chess and Graif. Before his graduation, Edgemont High School honored Graif as the first-ever recipient of the Extracurricular Leadership Award, "presented to the student or students who has made an extraordinary contribution to extracurricular life at Edgemont." Superintendent Victoria Kniewel "applauded his efforts to expand the chess program beyond his own participation and broaden it to the entire Edgemont community."
==College competition==
Graif started at the University of Chicago in the autumn of 2018, and was president of the school's chess club during the 2020-21 academic year. In May 2021, Graif organized a simul with GM Hikaru Nakamura, who would play 40 team members of UChicago Chess at once; Graif drew as the school scored 8.5 points against Nakamura, who streamed the whole event live on Twitch. The Chicago Maroon would later note Graif's "successful fundraising efforts that characterized his year of leadership" in describing the growth of the club and of the game across campus. In the autumn of 2021, UChicago Chess -- with a team including GM Awonder Liang, GM Praveen Balakrishnan, Graif, FM Kapil Chandran, and NM Christoph Eichinger -- won Season 3 of the online Collegiate Chess League and the top prize of $5,000. In February 2022, Liang, Balakrishnan, Graif and fellow UChicago teammate Brian Hu won the US Amateur Team North competition.
==Titles and ratings==
In 2018, Graif clinched his Life Master and Original Life Master titles with the United States Chess Federation in quick succession. In 2019, Graif won the Canadian Junior Chess Championships in Toronto, Ontario. He drew his first round before winning his next six in a row to clinch the tournament with a round to spare. In 2021, on a trip to Europe, Graif clinched the FIDE Master title as his ELO rose above 2300. As of April 2022, he was the 12th-highest rated active player in Canada.
==Personal life==
Graif was born and raised outside of New York City. He holds both American and Canadian citizenship, as his mother is from Toronto and his father is from Montreal. In international chess, Graif has always competed under the Canadian flag. Graif graduated from the University of Chicago in June 2022 with a degree in Data Science as well as in Public Policy, and currently works for Deutsche Bank.
In 2015, Graif's chess-playing friendship with pitcher Jeremy Guthrie was featured by MLB.
Category:People from New York City
Category:Canadian American
Category:University of Chicago alumni
Category:Chess FIDE Masters