Draft:Shiyam Thavandiran

Shiyam Thavandiran (born 1992) is a Canadian chess International Master (2017) and Canadian Chess Championship winner (2024).

Chess career
Shiyam enrolled in chess lessons in Toronto at a young age.

Thavandiran won the Canadian Youth Chess Championship in U10 age group and participated in World Youth Chess Championship in U10 age group where he ranked in 4th place in a field including Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana.

In 2005, at age 12, he made history as the youngest ever winner of the Canadian Junior Chess Championship.

In 2012, he played alongside notable Canadian Chess players Raja Panjwani, and Aman Hambleton for the University of Western Ontario's University's chess team, winning the Canadian University Chess Championship.

In 2017, he achieved the title of International Master. His norms came from the 2009 Quebec Open, the 2010 World Junior Championship in Chotowa, and the 2012 World Junior Championship in Athens.

In 2024, he won the Canadian Chess Championship in Toronto by scoring 9/10. He won the tournament with a round to spare, ahead of the 2nd place finishers by 2 points.

Personal life
He studied Mathematics at Western University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 2015 and a Masters of Science in 2016. He works as a full-time machine learning engineer.