I was born in Russian,Saratov in 1983.

I learned to play chess at the age of 7. At the age of 9, I finished 2nd in the national championship under-10 category in Russia. In 1995 I moved to Israel, becoming an IM in 1999 at the age of 16, and a GM in 2003.

My best tournament achievements since have been: 1–3 in Ashdod op 2004; 1–6 in Zürich op 2004; 1–2 with Suat Atalık at the Gorenje closed ValjevoTournament 2007, 2–3 with Radosław Wojtaszek at Lublin op 2009, 1-2 with Yuriy Kuzubov in Trieste 2010.

I have also won many blitz and rapid tournaments, such as Oberwart blitz 2005, Biel rapid 2006 , Biel Blitz in 2010 and 2014.

I was a member of Israeli National team in different events, My main personal achievement was 1st place on board 3 at the European teams Championship in Crete, 2007. My team also won Silver medal at Olympiad 2008 in Drezden.

My peak rating was 2680 in 2008, making me number 40 in the World.

I also have a rich experience of all levels. Apart of being a second of Boris Gelfand during his World Championship match against Anand and coaching National Olympic team, I've also coaching many students from Amateurs to Grandmasters. Some of my students were able to make an impressive progress within a very short period!

I always ask my new students to send me their games. I spend some time for analyzing them and mention their main drawbacks. Then I build up a plan of our work, including improving openings, studying classical games, endgames and more.

In many cases I help my students to choose an opening, which would mostly suit their style. Chess success is based on deep positional understanding, tactical skills, psychological stability.

We have to work an all those aspects. Anyway, don't expect that one lesson will solve all your chess problems – every chess player has to work by himself. At the same time, chess coach must give a direction of work and recommend chess books, which are needed for each student specifically.

My students may also ask me for assistance during their tournaments.