Julio Alberto Becerra Rivero is a Cuban chess Grandmaster who relocated to the United States in 1998. He was born on September 15, 1973 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. He won several national championships in Cuba before moving to the U.S.
As a child, he learned chess from his father who had little formal knowledge of the game. Becerra became a National Master at 14, an International Master at 17 and a Grandmaster at 20. He won the Cuban National Championship in 1996 and 1997 and represented Cuba in the 1996 and 1997 Olympiads, scoring 15.5 points out of 21 games over both events.
In the U.S., he has been a frequent competitor in the U.S. Championship. In 2008, he won the National Open in Las Vegas, and in 2011 he was a quarter-finalist in the U.S. Chess Championship, and won the Miami Chess Open. In 2017, he won the Pan American championship in Medellin, Colombia.
He has competed in numerous World Championship competitions, playing in Zonal 2.3 tournaments and World Chess Championships. In 2001 and 2004, he represented the U.S.A. in the FIDE World Chess Championship.
Becerra Rivero has also participated in various internet-based chess tournaments. He has earned the highest money prize in the history of the Internet Chess Club, winning the Dos Hermanas Tournament over many other renowned grandmasters. In 2005, he won the Game of the Year prize awarded by the Internet Chess Club.
He actively promotes and teaches chess to young people. He was named the "Chess Coach of the Year" in the state of Florida in 2008. He currently lives in Miami and continues to play and teach chess.