Vahap Şanal is a Turkish chess Grandmaster (GM) and successful competitor in many national and international chess tournaments.
Şanal was born on April 6, 1998 in Istanbul, and started playing chess at the age of five. He credits his father, an amateur chess player, with motivating him to learn chess. He was also trained by Bulgarian GM Vasil Spasov.
His early career as a young chess player saw significant accomplishments. In 2008, at the age of ten, Şanal won the World Schools Chess Championship in the U11 category. The following year, he became the European U12 Chess Champion. He was Turkey's U13 champion in 2010 and its U16 champion in 2012.
While still a teenager, Şanal competed in and won several prestigious tournaments, which contributed to his rising status in the chess world. These included the 2013 Fajr Sabalan Cup, the 2016 TCh-TUR Premier League, and a shared first place at the 2016 Istanbul Open. Şanal received the title of GM from the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) in October 2016.
Şanal's skills have been displayed in his performance at high-profile tournaments in recent years. He won the 2019 TCh-TUR Super League and represented his country in two Chess Olympiads (2016 and 2018). He took first place in the Turkish Cup in 2021.
However, Şanal isn't just a successful chess player; he also contributes to the chess community through educational work. He's a student at Istanbul Kültür University, studying educational technologies, and he creates educational chess content for YouTube.
He is dedicated to promoting chess, particularly to young people. He argues that chess is more than just a game; it helps develop intellectual skills and promotes peace by bringing people from different cultures together. In addition to his Turkish citizenship, Şanal also holds honorary citizenship from Düzce Province, Turkey.