Arkadij Naiditsch (; born 25 October 1985) is a Latvian-German

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 ...

grandmaster who currently represents Bulgaria after previously representing Latvia (until 1997), Germany (1998–2015) and Azerbaijan (2015–2024).

Career

In 1995 he won the European Under-10 championship in

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

. Naiditsch was the winner of the Dortmund Sparkassen 2005 Tournament, ahead of higher-rated and well-known players such as Loek van Wely,

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and commentator who is an eight-time Russian Chess Champion. Svidler has competed in three World Championshi ...

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

, Michael Adams, and

Peter Leko Peter Leko (; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was drawn 7–7 and s ...

. In 2007, he won the German national championship based in Bad Königshofen. In 2011 he won the 15th International Neckar Open with a score of 8½/9. This achievement enabled him to cross the 2700

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

mark. In the same year Naiditsch played on the top board for the German team that won the gold medal at the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

in Porto Carras. Naiditsch won the Grandmaster Group B of the

Tata Steel Chess Tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

2013 in

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

on tiebreak over

Richárd Rapport Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months, and six days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungarian Che ...

after both finished on 9/13. This victory qualified him for the Tata Steel Group A of 2014 (later renamed 'Tata Steel Masters'). In August 2014 he won with the black pieces against World Champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

, playing first board for the German team in the

41st Chess Olympiad The 41st Chess Olympiad (), organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess even ...

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

. The following month Naiditsch won the 2nd Grenke Chess Classic tournament in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

. In December of the same year, he finished first in the 38th

Zurich Christmas Open The Zurich Christmas Open () is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Zürich, Switzerland. The tournament began in 1977 and has been held 38 consecutive times. In 2013, Polish Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster Radosław Wojtaszek won the t ...

. In January 2015 he tied for 1st–5th with

Alexander Donchenko Alexander Anatolyevich Donchenko (; born 22 March 1998) is a German chess grandmaster. He is the No. 5 ranked German player Chess career Born in 1998, Donchenko earned his international master title in 2012 and his grandmaster title in 2015. ...

, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Matthias Dann and Miloš Pavlović in the Masters section of the

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Chess Festival, winning the tournament on best tiebreak score. Naiditsch tied for first with Magnus Carlsen in the 3rd Grenke Chess Classic in February 2015, finishing second after a five-game blitz playoff, which ended with an

armageddon Armageddon ( ; ; ; from ) is the prophesied gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, according to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Armageddon is variously interpreted as either a literal or a ...

game. In July 2015 he switched to the Azerbaijani Chess Federation. On 30 December 2015 Naiditsch won for the second consecutive year the Zurich Christmas Open. Six days later, he won also the Basel Chess Festival for the second year in a row. In 2024, he switched his federation to Bulgaria and represented the Bulgarian national team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.

Personal life

In October 2014, Naiditsch married Ukrainian-Israeli chess player IM Yuliya Shvayger. As of 2015, he lives in Baku with his family.

References

External links

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Arkadij Naiditsch
chess games and profile at Chess-DB.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Naiditsch, Arkadij 1985 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors German chess players Latvian chess players Azerbaijani chess players Latvian emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany Naturalized citizens of Azerbaijan Chess players from Riga Bulgarian chess players