About

Joshua Sheng was born in Santa Monica, California, in 2000. Josh played his first chess tournament in 2008, and climbed the ladder quite quickly, being the fastest improving player in California for several months. He became a National Master in 2013 and FIDE Master in 2015. He achieved his International Master title in 2016 with a tie for first in the North American Junior Championship, ahead of multiple current grandmasters. Josh finished the standard requirements for the IM title in 2018, as well as scoring an unprecedented 6.5/7 in the Southern California State Championship. That year, he got his first Grandmaster norm, exceeding it by half a point. Josh exceeded 2500 FIDE in 2019, not long after placing third in the prestigious US Junior Championship, ahead of Grandmasters Andrew Tang, John Burke, Brandon Jacobson, and now Grandmaster Hans Niemann. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he spent more attention on his Bachelor's degree in Environmental Earth Science at UC Berkeley while writing his first chess book, Mastering Chess Logic. Afterward, Josh went on to finish his Grandmaster title, which was finalized in January of 2022.