Alexander Khalifman

Alexander Khalifman is a Russian chess grandmaster who won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 1999. Born in 1966 in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, he took the Grandmaster title from FIDE in 1990 after a string of strong results that included first place at the 1990 New York City Open. His record is a long run of titles and tournament wins, from the Soviet Union Youth Championships of 1982 and 1984 and the European Under-20 Championship of 1985 to the Russian Championship of 1996, and he played on gold-medal Russian teams at the Chess Olympiads of 1992, 2000 and 2002. The 1999 world title came in the FIDE knockout format, when he was rated well below the top player of the day. Away from the board he writes chess books, notably game collections of past champions, and since 1998 he has run a chess academy in Saint Petersburg with his trainer Gennady Nesis, and has coached and captained the Azerbaijani national team.