Leonid Kritz is a Russian-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.

Chess career

Kritz began learning chess from his father at the age of 4. In 1999, Kritz won the U16 section of the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...

. Afterwards, he began training under

Josif Dorfman Josif (Josef, Iossif, Iosif) Davidovich Dorfman (born 1 May 1952, Zhytomyr) is a Soviet-French chess Grandmaster, coach, and chess writer. Tournament results Dorfman played in several USSR championships. In 1975, he took thirteenth in Yerev ...

. Kritz participated in the

FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13, 2004. It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4½–3½. He won about US$100,000 and ...

, where he defeated

Krishnan Sasikiran Krishnan Sasikiran (Tamil: கிருஷ்ணன் சசிகிரண்; born 7 January 1981) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was one of Viswanathan Anand's seconds in the World Chess Championship 2013. Chess career Born in Madra ...

in the first round, but was defeated by

Rafael Leitão Rafael Duailibe Leitão (born 28 December 1979) is a Brazilian chess grandmaster. He is a grandmaster (chess), grandmaster in both over-the-board chess and correspondence chess. Leitão is a seven-time Brazilian champion. He competed in the FID ...

in the second round. In October 2004, Kritz represented Germany at the

36th Chess Olympiad The 36th Chess Olympiad (; ), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tourna ...

. In August 2007, Kritz won the New England Masters. In September 2008, Kritz tied for first in the 2nd SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) Cup with

Pentala Harikrishna Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. He achieved a peak world ranking of 10 in November 2016, and a peak Elo rating system, Elo rating of 2770 in December 2016. On 17 August 2001, he bec ...

Alexander Onischuk Alexander Vasylovych Onischuk born September 3, 1975) is a chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1994, and won the 2006 U.S. championship. Career In 1991, Onischuk represented the Soviet Union and took 2nd place in ...

, and

Varuzhan Akobian Varuzhan Akobian (, born 19 November 1983 in Yerevan, Soviet Union) is an Armenian-born American chess Grandmaster. Originally from Armenia, he now resides in St. Louis. He played on the bronze medal-winning U.S. team in the 2006 and 2008 Ches ...

. He ultimately lost to Harikrishna on tiebreaks. Kritz has not played professional chess since July 2015, and works as a portfolio manager in the quantitative asset management field in Boston.

Personal life

Kritz studied mathematics and finance at the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a Public university, public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 un ...

, where he was the captain of the chess team. In December 2009, the team dominated the field in a clear first place at the Pan-American Championships in South Padre Island, Texas. He later got a master's degree in finance from the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private res ...

, where he also played on their chess team. Kritz is married to Grandmaster

Nadezhda Kosintseva Nadezhda Anatolyevna Kosintseva (; born 14 January 1985) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team in the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010 and 2012, and in the Women's European Te ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kritz, Leonid Living people 1984 births German chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess players from Moscow World Youth Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni University of Texas at Dallas alumni Russian chess players