Alexander Baljakin (born 8 April 1961) is a Dutch

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...

player born in the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n city of

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

. He is also a writer of books about draughts.

Career

Baljakin became junior World Champion when he was still performing as a member of the

Soviet 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 ...

team.Over Alexander Baljakin
, dvvbi.nl In this period he became Soviet national champion in 1982, 1988 and 1989. He also won a gold medal at the Summer Olympiad in 1985 and as well as a silver at the World Championships in 1986. He won the Team World Cup in 1987. He moved to

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

in 1986 and after the fall of the Soviet Union he gained

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian citizenship, becoming national champion six consecutive times.Goed of slecht dammen heeft niets met intelligentie te maken
gelderlander.nl He also won three bronze medals at the World Championships of 1992, 1994 and 1996 and was the Grandmasters Champion in 1995. In 1999 he won a silver medal at the rapid draughts World Championships. In 2001 he moved to the Netherlands, gained Dutch citizenship and reached the A status which secures top sporters in the Netherlands money to live and focus on their sport. As a Dutchman he won a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championship Draughts in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, while in 2007 he won the Balt Cup in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

.Alexander Baljakin wins Balt Cup 2007
, baltcup.lt Baljakin has also written five books about draughts. Three of those together with Harm Wiersma in Dutch, one with Anatoli Gantvarg in English and one by himself in Dutch.

Honours

*1980 - World Championships (1st - gold medal) - juniors *1982 - Soviet Union Championships (1st - gold medal) *1985 - Summer

Olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...

(1st - gold medal) - team *1986 - World Championships (2nd - silver medal) *1987 - World Cup (1st - gold medal) - team *1988 - Soviet Union Championships (1st - gold medal) *1989 - Soviet Union Championships (1st - gold medal) *1992 - World Championships (3rd - bronze medal) *1994 - World Championships (3rd - bronze medal) *1995 - Grandmasters 1995 (1st) *1996 - World Championships (3rd - bronze medal) *1999 - World Rapid Championships (2nd - silver medal) *???? - Belarusian Championships (1st - gold medal) six consecutive years *2000 - Open Dutch Championships (1st - gold medal) *2007 - Balt Cup (1st) *2009 - Dutch Championship (1st) *2011 - Dutch Championship (1st)

Literature

*1992 - De nationale toptraining 1992 (the national top training) - with Harm Wiersma *1993 - De nationale toptraining 1993 (the national top training) - with Harm Wiersma *1994 - De nationale toptraining 1994/95 (the national top training) - with Harm Wiersma *1995 - Twelve Systems - with Anatoli Gantwarg *1997 - Schwarzmanie - about World Champion

Alexander Schwarzman Alexander Mikhailovich Schwarzman (; born 18 September 1967 in Moscow) is an international grandmaster in international draughts, Russian draughts and Brazilian draughts from Russia. He is known for his creative playing style, especially his posi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baljakin, Alexander 1961 births Living people Belarusian draughts players Dutch draughts players 20th-century Dutch non-fiction writers Players of international draughts Russian emigrants to the Netherlands Russian draughts players Soviet draughts players Sportspeople from Arkhangelsk