Robert Hess was the 2006 U.S. Junior Chess Champion, the runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship, and a three-time member of the U.S. national team. He won the 2010 Samford Fellowship, awarded to the most promising American player under the age of 25. He is an analyst and commentator for Chess.com and has served as the coach of the U.S. Women’s team at the 2016 Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan and 2018 Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. Outside of chess, Hess co-founded the sports journalism site The Sports Quotient. He holds a degree in history from Yale University and lives in New York City.