GM KAYDEN TROFF

Kayden Troff is a chess grandmaster who was born and raised in Utah. He learned chess when he was three years old from watching his dad and two older brothers play. Growing up, they played together, which led to many tournament victories and a bit of a competitive spirit among the brothers. This included many teaching opportunities, like running a summer chess camp with another chess family for seven years. Eventually, Kayden’s brothers moved on to other things while Kayden continued to pursue chess.

He started finding success outside of Utah and even the US by winning the 2009 U12 North American Youth Championship in Mazatlan, Mexico. He then took 2nd place in the Under-12 section of the World Youth Championships in 2010. Two years later he made his return to the World Youth Championships--this time to take first place in the Under-14 section. Other notable accomplishments include securing the title of Under-21 U.S. Chess Champion in 2014 and, in that same year, achieving the title of Grandmaster at 16 years old, becoming Utah's first home-grown GM.

Kayden has been coaching privately and in groups for 10+ years and spends much of his time streaming chess with Antonio Padron on Twitch under ChessSharkz.