Brandon Jacobson is an American chess grandmaster, born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 2003. He rose quickly through the titles, becoming a FIDE Master in 2017, an International Master in 2018, and a Grandmaster in 2020 at the age of sixteen. He sealed the title by winning the 2020 Charlotte Open with a score of 7/9, a result that delivered his final grandmaster norm. Chess runs in the family - his older brother Aaron is an International Master.

Jacobson is known for his fearless opening choices, famously employing the offbeat first move 1.a4 at the highest level. At the 2024 World Rapid Championship he used it to defeat Hikaru Nakamura, one of the strongest players of his era, in 47 moves, having earlier that year beaten Daniel Naroditsky with the same experiment. He placed fourth in the 2020 US Junior Championship and remains among the leading young American grandmasters.