 Later in 1996, Shaked received the Frank Samford fellowship, which allowed him the monetary resources to fully devote his time to chess.Making the most of the opportunity, Shaked obtained three grandmaster norms within five months, officially attaining the title of grandmaster; it would be ten years later until another American-born player would achieve the grandmaster title.Two months after his third norm, Shaked won the 1997 World Junior Championship, defeating top-seed and future super-grandmaster Alexander Morozevich and scoring a total of six wins and seven draws to beat out Morozevich, future FIDE world chess champion Ruslan Ponomariov and others.