Summary of chess accomplishments 

Playing Credentials

International Grandmaster since 1992
U.S. Champion 1993 and 1996
First Board U.S. Olympic Team 1996 and 1998
Three-time World Open Champion 1993, 1995 and 1996
Four-time U.S. Open Champion 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000
Continental Champion of the Americas 2001
Four-time World Championship Candidate
Peak FIDE Rating 2660, ranked 19th in the World

Teaching Credentials

Alex was a chess coach at the Army Sports Club in Leningrad, USSR, from 1981 to 1988. During this time he coached several outstanding players, including Irina Levitina and Alexander Khalifman. Levitina was ranked number two in the world for women in 1984.  Khalifman won the FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas in 1999.

Since arriving in the United States in 1989 Alex have coached as well as played. His best-known pupil was International Grandmaster Boris Kreiman who several times represented the U.S. in the World Junior Championship.

Chess Authorship Credentials

Alex’ first book (Road to Chess Improvement) was published by Gambit Press (London, England) in 1999 and won the British Chess Federation’s Book of the Year Award.

In 2006 Gambit published his second book, The Classical Sicilian, which also won praise from the chess community. Both books were translated into German and Spanish.

Over the years Alex have written for many of the world’s leading chess magazines including: “64” (Moscow, Russia), New In Chess ( Alkmaar, Holland), Chess Life ( New Windsor, New York), Inside Chess (Seattle, Washington), Chess Horizons ( Boston, Massachusetts), Torre e Cavallo (Rome, Italy) and Schachwoche (Basel, Switzerland).

In 1994 he won a special award from the Chess Journalists of America for outstanding game analysis.

Currently

Alex is residing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Under his leadership the local outfit, Sioux Empire Chess Foundation, has grown into a visible chess magnet in the Upper Midwest. Alex teaches after school chess programs in nine Elementary and two Middle schools, while also running the Future Star Club for the most promising students that meets twice weekly. Alex is also one of the most active scholastic chess tournament directors having run about 30 tournaments since his relocation to South Dakota.