Kassa Korley

At age 15, he became the youngest African American to earn the US Chess Federation (USCF) title of National Master (NM), a record since surpassed by Justus Williams and then Joshua Colas.^[1][2] Korley switched federations from the United States to Denmark in 2014 and has triple citizenship through Ghana as well.^[3] He began playing chess at age five and never had a formal instructor.^[4] Korley became a FIDE Master (FM) in 2010 and an International Master in 2014.^[5] He has two Grandmaster (GM) norms, which he earned in 2018 at the Charlotte Chess Festival and in 2019 at the Xtracon Open in Copenhagen.^[6][7] Korley resides primarily in New York City, but also splits his time living with family in Denmark.^[8] He attended Duke University and worked at Codecademy after graduating, ultimately leaving in 2019 to focus on becoming a Grandmaster.^[9][10]

Korley currently works for Chess.com as a match commentator.^[11]