Ben Finegold

Benjamin Philip Finegold (born September 6, 1969) is an American chess grandmaster and YouTuber/Twitch streamer.

He had previously been nicknamed the "strongest International Master in the United States" until receiving his Grandmaster (GM) title in 2009.

In addition to filming and streaming chess topics on social media sites, he has been active in giving live tournament commentary, lectures, and writing.

Stuart Rachels says that when he was twelve he saw Ben Finegold and his father Ron hustling in a chess club in Manhattan, offering 8:1 money bets on one-minute-per-player bullet games.

[4] Finegold said he had played in hundreds of tournament games a year when he was young: "I loved chess and if I lost it did not matter to me.

[4] Finegold tied for first place in the 1994 (Chicago, Illinois) and 2007 (Cherry Hill, New Jersey) U.S. Open Chess Championships.

As of 2021, Finegold streams chess five to six times a week, particularly on Twitch under the handle "itsBenAndKaren"; his account currently has over 133,000 followers.

As of June 2023, Finegold has appeared five times as a guest on the Perpetual Chess Podcast hosted by National Master Ben Johnson.