Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (Russian:Алекса́ндр Вале́рьевич Халифма́н; born 18 January 1966) is a Russianchess player and writer. Awarded the title ofGrandmaster byFIDE in 1990, he wasFIDE World Chess Champion in 1999.
Alexander Khalifman was born in St Petersburg into aJewish family of engineers. Khalifman's grandfather was the director of the Chaliapin Museum; the other half of the family came from the Baltics. According to family legend, Khalifman's ancestor was one of the commanders ofRussian monitor Rusalka.[1]
Khalifman won the 1982 Soviet Union Youth Championship,[2] the 1984 Soviet Union Youth Championship,[3] the 1985European Under-20 Championship inGroningen, the 1985 and 1987 Moscow championships, 1990 Groningen, 1993 Ter Apel, 1994 Chess Open of Eupen, 1995 Chess Open St. Petersburg, theRussian Championship in 1996, theSaint Petersburg Championship in 1996 and 1997, 1997 Chess Grand Master Tournament St. Petersburg, 1997 Aarhus, 1997 and 1998 Bad Wiessee,[4] 2000 Hoogeveen.
Khalifman gained the Grandmaster title in 1990 with one particularly good early result being his first place in the 1990New York City Open ahead of a host of strong players. His most notable achievement was winning theFIDE World Championship in 1999, a title he held until the following year. He wasrated 44th in the world at the time,[6] while "Classical" World ChampionGarry Kasparov was rated No. 1. Khalifman said after the tournament, "Rating systems work perfectly for players who play only inround 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."[7] Khalifman played in theLinares chess tournament next year, and performed credibly (though placing below joint winner Kasparov).[8]
With his trainer Gennady Nesis (de) he runs a chess academy in St. Petersburg, called "The Grandmaster Chess School", since November 1998.[9] Khalifman has been coachingVladimir Fedoseev since 2011.[10]
