Benjamin Bok

Benjamin Bok (born January 25, 1995) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2014, at the age of 18.

Bok learned chess at the age of 6 from his father and joined the local chess club in his hometown a year later. He went on to become Dutch Youth Champion in various categories: U10, U12, and U14.

Bok became an International Master (IM) at the age of 15 in 2010, and became a Grandmaster at the age of 18 in 2014. The same year, he also crossed the 2600-barrier for the first time.

Bok has won numerous international tournaments, most notably the 2015 London Chess Classic FIDE Open with a score of 8/9. He has also participated in three World Cups (2017, 2019, and 2021).

His peak classical rating is 2645, placing him just a few spots shy of the World Top 100 at the time. In blitz chess, he peaked at 2674, which placed him in the World Top 50 for a couple of years.

Over the course of his career, Benjamin has played and defeated some of the best players in the world, including:

– Magnus Carlsen (twice in Titled Tuesday)
– Hikaru Nakamura (in classical chess at the 2016 Isle of Man)
– Anish Giri (in a rapid match)
– Alexander Grischuk (in two rapid matches)

Besides being a professional player, Benjamin is also a coach to players of all levels. Furthermore, he also streams on Twitch and Kick and has done commentary for some of the biggest chess channels, such as Chess.com and GMHikaru.