Alexander Gregory Fishbein (born May 8, 1968 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as Aleksandr Grigoryevich Fishbein,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Александр Григорьевич Фишбейн) is an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player with the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

of Grandmaster (GM).

Career

At the age of four, he learned chess from his father, Gregory, (

: Григорий Абрамович Фишбейн; Grigory Abramovich Fishbein), who is a National Master. The family immigrated to the US in 1979. In 1985, he won the first

Arnold Denker Arnold Sheldon Denker (February 21, 1914 – January 2, 2005) was an American chess player and author. He was U.S. champion in 1944 and 1946. In later years he served in various chess organizations, receiving recognition from the United States ...

Tournament of High School Champions. In 2018, he also won the inaugural John T. Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions, repeating that victory in 2020. In the 1990s, Fishbein won tournaments in

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

, Norway, and

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

, Denmark and shared first place in several major Opens in the United States, including the World Open and National Open. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1992. Although Fishbein has worked in finance since 1993, focusing on investment strategies and trading of

mortgage-backed securities A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "Financial instrument, instrument") which is secured by a mortgage loan, mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals ( ...

since 2005, and is registered with

FINRA The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that financial regulation, regulates member brokerage firms and exchange (organized market), exchange markets. ...

, he continues to compete in chess tournaments. He played in the U.S. Chess Championship four times in the 2000s (the best result: eighth place in 2006). Since 2012, he has regularly appeared in

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

tournaments in the Eastern United States and has finished first or equal first many times. Fishbein and his wife, Lana, have three children: Ellen, Samuel, and Mitch.

Books

* * * * * *

Notable chess games

Alexey Shirov vs Alexander Fishbein, Kerteminde 1991, King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Modern System (E97), 0-1

Alexander Fishbein vs Yury Shulman, US Championship 2006. French Defense, Tarrasch Variation (C09). 1-0

References

External links

* * * * * 1968 births Living people American chess players American chess writers American male non-fiction writers Chess Grandmasters Jewish chess players 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Chess players from Saint Petersburg {{US-chess-bio-stub