Manuel León Hoyos

Who is Manuel León Hoyos?

Manuel León Hoyos is a Mexican chess Grandmaster. He is the current Mexican champion and ranked No. 1 in Mexico. He became the first Mexican chess player to break the 2600 Elo mark at 2602 in the official October 2012 FIDE rating list.

He is the winner of the 2012 US Open held in Vancouver, Washington, with a total of 8 points drawing the final round against GM Yasser Seirawan.

In 2010, he tied for 1st with Mikhail Kobalia in the Arctic Chess Challenge, in Tromso, Norway. He took part in the Chess World Cup 2011, in Russia but was eliminated by Alexei Shirov. He tied for 1st place at the Las Vegas Chess Festival 2013 together with Wesley So.

Vassily Ivanchuk has taken him as a second occasionally in various events.

He now attends Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri and is part of the SPICE program, run by former Women's World Champion Susan Polgar. Webster University is the ranked No. 1 chess team in the U.S. and current national champions.

He will be representing Mexico in the upcoming Chess Olympiad 2014 to be held in Norway.