Alexander Khalifman

Alexander Khalifman
Full name	Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (Александр Валерьевич Халифман)
Country	Soviet Union Russia
Born	18 January 1966 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster
World Champion	1999–2000 (FIDE)
FIDE rating	2623 (February 2016)
Peak rating	2702 (October 2001)
Peak ranking	No. 12 (January 2003)

Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (Russian: Алекса́ндр Вале́рьевич Халифма́н; born 18 January 1966 in Leningrad) is a Russian chess Grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion in 1999.

Early life

Khalifman is of Jewish descent.^[1] When he was six years old, his father taught him chess.

Tournament career

Khalifman won the 1982 Soviet Union Youth Championship,^[2] the 1984 Soviet Union Youth championship,^[3] the 1985 European Under-20 Championship in Groningen, the 1985 and 1987 Moscow championships, 1990 Groningen, 1993 Ter Apel, 1994 Chess Open of Eupen, 1995 Chess Open St. Petersburg, the Russian Championship in 1996, the Saint Petersburg Championship in 1996 and 1997, 1997 Chess Grand Master Tournament St. Petersburg, 1997 Aarhus, 1997 and 1998 Bad Wiessee,^[4] 2000 Hoogeveen.

He was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the Chess Olympiads in 1992, 2000 and 2002, and at the 1997 World Team Chess Championship.

Khalifman gained the Grandmaster title in 1990 with one particularly good early result being his first place in the 1990 New York Open ahead of a host of strong players. His most notable achievement was winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 1999, a title he held until the following year. He was rated 44th in the world at the time,^[5] while "Classical" World Champion Garry Kasparov was rated No. 1. Khalifman said after the tournament, "Rating systems work perfectly for players who play only in round robin closed events. I think most of them are overrated. Organizers invite same people over and over because they have the same rating and their rating stays high."^[6] Khalifman played in the Linares chess tournament next year, and performed credibly (though placing below joint winner Kasparov).^[7]

Trainer

With his trainer Gennady Nesis he runs a chess academy in St. Petersburg, called "The Grandmaster Chess School", since November 1998.^[8] There he trains players worldwide following the motto: "chess = intellect + character".

Khalifman has been coaching the Azerbaijani national team since 2013^[9] and is its captain.^[10][11][12] He acted as second to Alisa Galliamova in the Women's World Chess Championship 1999^[13] and to Anna Ushenina in the Women's World Chess Championship 2013.^[14]

Books

• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviev; Olga Krylova (1994). Mikhail Tal Games 1949-1962. Chess Stars. ISBN 978-1199583178.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviev; Olga Krylova (1995). Mikhail Tal Games 1963-1972. Chess Stars. ISBN 954-8782-02-2.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviev; Olga Krylova (1996). Mikhail Tal Games 1973-1981. Chess Stars. ISBN 978-954-8782-03-6.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviev; Olga Krylova (1996). Mikhail Tal Games 1982-1992. Chess Stars. ISBN 954-8782-04-9.
• Alexander Khalifman; Leonid Yudasin (1997). Jose Raul Capablanca - Games 1901-1926. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782065.
• Alexander Khalifman; Leonid Yudasin (1997). Jose Raul Capablanca - Games 1927-1942. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782065.
• Sergei Soloviev; Alexander Khalifman (1998). Emanuel Lasker 1 - Games 1889-1903. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782073.
• Sergei Soloviev; Alexander Khalifman (1999). Emanuel Lasker 2 - Games 1904-1940. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782103.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviov (1999). Mikhail Chigorin - The First Russian Grandmaster. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782111.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviov (2000). Mikhail Botvinnik - Games 1924-1948. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782138.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviov (2001). Mikhail Botvinnik - Games 1951-1970. Chess Stars. ISBN 9548782170.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviov (2002). Alexander Alekhine - Games 1902-1923. Chess Stars. ISBN 954-8782-21-9.
• Alexander Khalifman; Sergei Soloviov (2002). Alexander Alekhine - Games 1923-1934. Chess Stars. ISBN 954-8782-23-5.
• Alexander Khalifman (2002). Opening for Black according to Karpov. Chess Stars. ISBN 978-9548782166.
• Alexander Khalifman (2000-2002). Opening for White according to Kramnik 1.♘f3 (5 volumes). Chess Stars
• Alexander Khalifman (2003-2012). Opening for White according to Anand 1. e4 (14 volumes). Chess Stars
• Alexander Khalifman (2006-2011). Opening for White according to Kramnik 1.♘f3 (revised edition, 5 volumes). Chess Stars

References

1. "Russian Jewish Encyclopedia". JewishGen.org. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
2. "31st Soviet Union Junior Chess Championship, Yurmala, January 4–17, 1982". RusBase. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
3. "33rd Soviet Union Junior Chess Championship, Kirovabad, January 1984". RusBase. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
4. Crowther, Mark (2002-11-04). "TWIC 417: Forthcoming Events and Links - 6th Open International Bavarian Masters". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
5. Crowther, Mark (1999-07-05). "The Week in Chess: FIDE July Rating list". London Chess Center. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
6. Luchan, Jason; Aird, Ian. "Las Vegas World Championship, July 30 – August 29, 1999". ChessScotland.com. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
7. "The Week in Chess 273 – 13 March 2000".
8. About GMChess School
9. "The Members of Azerbaijani Team Will Train With Alexander Khalifman for Ten days". chess-news.ru. 2013-03-12. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
10. "Alexander Khalifman: "I don’t set sporting goals, but I strive to win"". Voronezh Chess festival. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
11. "Success but no medals". regionplus.az. 2014-08-26. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
12. "Shahriyar Mammadyarov: “Rauf is my friend, but I had to win him”". Shamkir Chess. 2015-04-24. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
13. "After game five it could start from the beginning". ChessBase. 2013-09-25. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
14. Schipkov, Boris. "Women's World Chess Championship 2013 Match". Chess Siberia. Retrieved 8 October 2015.

External links

• Alexander Khalifman games at 365Chess.com
• Alexander Khalifman player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Biography
• Chess puzzles from the games of Alexander Khalifman
• Interview with Alexander Khalifman (2005)
• Interview with Alexander Khalifman (2008)
• Two part interview with Alexander Khalifman (2010) Part 1 Part 2