Frank P. Samford Jr. and Frank Samford III Chess Fellowships

The Frank P. Samford Jr. and Frank Samford III Chess Fellowships are pleased to announce the fortieth consecutive annual awards. The Fellowships were created by the late Frank P. Samford Jr. of Birmingham, Alabama to advance the game he loved by identifying and assisting the most promising young chess masters in the United States. 

Since its inception in 1987 the Samford, under the leadership of Frank Samford III, has been successful in promoting the chess careers of over three dozen young Americans, many of whom have gone on to become grandmasters, members of the U.S. Olympiad Chess Team and United States Chess Champions. Four members of the 2024 bronze medal winning U.S. Women’s Olympiad team are current or former Samford Fellows.

The Fellowships are open to American chessplayers who are under the age of twentyfive at the start of the Fellowships, June 1, 2026, and have been permanent residents of the U.S. for at least one year prior to that date. Leadership of the Fellowship program is provided by Mr. Samford Jr’s grandson, Paul Samford of Atlanta, Georgia, with the able help of Al Lawrence of the U.S. Chess Trust. 

The 2026 Samford Chess Fellows will receive expense money for training by leading chess coaches, chess books, computer equipment and other study materials as well as opportunities to travel and compete in tournaments and matches at the highest levels. The yearly value of the Fellowships (including training, study materials and tournament travel) is $70,000. The Fellowships are given for a one-year term. Individuals may apply more than one year and are eligible for maximum funding up to, but not exceeding, $82,000.

The 2026 Samford Fellows will be selected by the Samford Chess Fellowship Committee (“Committee”), consisting of Paul Samford, grandmaster Yury Shulman and international master John Donaldson. Each applicant, who can be male or female, must be able to demonstrate talent, achievement and commitment to chess. He or she must be willing to make the effort required to become a leading grandmaster and possible challenger for the world chess championship. For further details and an application form write to: 

John Donaldson, Secretary   Samford Chess Fellowship

1623 ½ Martin Luther King Junior Way

Berkeley, CA 94709             

imwjd@aol.com

Completed applications for the 2026 Fellowship must be received no later than May 25, 2026. The Committee expects to announce the winner by June 1st, 2026. All decisions by the Committee will be final.

Samford Winners:

• 1987 Joel Benjamin
• 1988 Maxim Dlugy
• 
1989 Patrick Wolff
• 1990 Alex Fishbein
• 
1991 Ilya Gurevich
• 1992 Alex Sherzer
• 
1993 Ben Finegold
• 1994 Gata Kamsky
• 1995 Josh Waitzkin
• 1996 Tal Shaked
• 1997 Boris Kreiman
• 
1998 Dean Ippolito
• 1999 Greg Shahade
• 2000 Michael Mulyar
• 2001 Eugene Perelshteyn
• 
2002 Varuzhan Akobian
• 
2003 Dmitry Schneider
• 2004 Rusudan Goletiani
• 2005 Hikaru Nakamura
• 
2006 David Pruess
• 2007 Josh Friedel
• 2008 Vinay Bhat
• 2008 Irina Krush
• 2009 Ray Robson
• 2010 Robert Hess
• 2011 Alex Lenderman
• 2012 Timur Gareev
• 2012 Alejandro Ramirez
• 2013 Sam Shankland
• 2014 Daniel Naroditsky
• 2015 Samuel Sevian
• 2015 Kayden Troff
• 2016 Wesley So
• 2017 Jeffrey Xiong
• 2018 Awonder Liang
• 2018 Samuel Sevian
• 2019 GM Awonder Liang
• 2019 GM Sam Sevian
• 2019 IM Christopher Yoo
• 2020 Nicolas Checa
• 2020 Awonder Liang
• 2020 Carissa Yip
• 2020 Christopher Yoo
• 2021 Praveen Balakrishnan
• 2021 Akshat Chandra
• 2021 Nicholas Checa
• 2021 Abhimanyu Mishra
• 2021 Hans Niemann
• 2021 Carissa Yip
• 2021 Christopher Yoo
• 2022 Alice Lee
• 2022 Abhimanyu Mishra
• 2022 Hans Niemann
• 2022 Carissa Yip
• 2022 Christopher Yoo
• 2023 Alice Lee
• 2023 Jason Liang
• 2023 Abhimanyu Mishra
• 2023 Hans Niemann
• 2023 Carissa Yip
• 2023 Christopher Yoo
• 2023 Jennifer Yu
• 2024 Abhimanyu Mishra
• 2024 Andy Woodward
• 2024 Christopher Yoo
• 2024 Andrew Hong
• 2024 Bryce Tiglon
• 2024 Carissa Yip
• 2024 Alice Lee
• 2024 Gulruhbegim Tohirjonova
• 2025 Abhimanyu Mishra
• 2025 Andy Woodward
• 2025 Andrew Hong
• 2025 Brewington Hardaway
• 2025 Dimitar Mardov
• 2025 Carissa Yip
• 2025 Alice Lee
• 2025 Zoey Tang
• \2025 Megan Paragua