Pavel Eljanov (; born 10 May 1983) is a Ukrainian

chess grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the t ...

. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s. He acted as a

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

for

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

in the

World Chess Championship 2007 The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from 12 September 2007 to 30 September 2007 to decide the world champion of the game of chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament. Viswanathan Anand won the tourname ...

, Candidates Matches 2011 and

World Chess Championship 2012 The World Chess Championship 2012 was a chess match between the defending World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and Boris Gelfand of Israel, winner of the 2011 Candidates Tournament. After sixteen games, including four rapid games, Anand ...

, for

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 ...

in the

World Chess Championship 2013 The World Chess Championship 2013 was a match between reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen, to determine the World Chess Champion. It was held from 7 to 25 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices o ...

, and for

Mariya Muzychuk Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk (; born 21 September 1992) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and Women's World Chess Champion from April 2015 to March 2016. She is also a twice women's champion of Ukraine (2012, 2013), World Team and European Team ch ...

in the

Women's World Chess Championship 2016 The Women's World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match played between Mariya Muzychuk, the defending champion, and the challenger Hou Yifan to determine the FIDE Women's World Chess Championship, Women's World Champion. The scheduled 10-game ...

Career

In 1999, he was a member of the Ukrainian national youth team, which won the Under-16

Artek Artek may refer to: *Arctic Technology Centre *Artek (camp), an international children center near Hurzuf, Crimea *Artek (company), a Finnish furniture manufacturer {{Disambiguation ...

, Ukraine. In 2007 Eljanov won the B group of the

Corus 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 ...

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 ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

with a score of 9/13 points. This result enabled him to qualify for the category 20 tournament Corus A group of 2008. In the latter he scored 5/13 points. He won the 2009 Bosna Chess Tournament ( pl), a six-player double

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, with a score of 7/10 points. In the same year, Eljanov played in the GM

Rapid Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

event of the

Richard Riordan Richard Joseph Riordan (May 1, 1930 – April 19, 2023) was an American businessman, investor, military commander, philanthropist, and politician. A decorated Korean War veteran and a member of the Republican Party, Riordan served as the 39th ...

Chess Festival at the 18th Maccabiah Games. In May 2010, he won the

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

stage of FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 scoring 8/13. In August 2010, he won the

Politiken Cup The Xtracon Chess Open (formerly the Politiken Cup) is an international chess tournament and the main feature event of the annual Copenhagen Chess Festival. History Organized by the Copenhagen Chess Federation (KSU), it was originally set up to gi ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. In the September 2010

FIDE World Rankings The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" and rankings of countries according to the average r ...

Eljanov had a rating of 2761, making him number 1 in Ukraine and number 6 in the world. In February 2012, he tied for 1st–3rd with

Mateusz Bartel Mateusz Bartel (born 3 January 1985) is a Polish chess Grandmaster. He won the Polish Chess Championship in 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Career Bartel learnt to play the game at the age of 6 from his father when he and his younger brother were ...

and

Anton Korobov Anton Sergiyovych Korobov (; born 25 June 1985) is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2003. Korobov is a four-time Ukrainian champion. He was voted the best male chess player of Ukraine of 2012. Chess car ...

in the 11th

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament organised through the joint efforts of the Chess Federation of Russia and the Russian Ministry of Sport with the sponsorship from the Russian flag carrier, Aeroflot. It is played in Moscow, ho ...

. In February 2013, Eljanov took first place on tiebreak in the strong

Reykjavik Open The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually. The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12. ...

. Later that year, in September, he won the 14th

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

International Tournament ( pl), a category 18 round-robin event in

Poikovsky Poykovsky () is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Ea ...

, Russia. In the following month he won another strong open tournament, the

Chigorin Memorial The Chigorin Memorial is a chess tournament played in honour of Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), founder of the Soviet Chess School and one of the leading players of his day. The first and most important edition was the one played in 1909 in St. ...

. In April 2014, he won the B tournament of the Gashimov Memorial in

Şəmkir Shamkir (), known historically as Annenfeld, is a city in and the capital of Shamkir District in western Azerbaijan, located in the northern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus, on the coast of the Chagirchay River on Tbilisi-Yevlakh highway, about ...

, Azerbaijan. In the FIDE World Cup 2015, Eljanov defeated

Rinat Jumabayev Rinat Jumabayev ( (''Rinat Jūmabaev''), also spelled ''Rinat Dzhumabaev''; born 23 July 1989) is a Kazakhstani chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2009. Biography Many times Jumabayev represented Kazakhstan at the ...

, Alexander Ipatov,

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates To ...

Dmitry Jakovenko Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko (; born 29 June 1983) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001. Jakovenko was European champion in 2012. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the 2009 World ...

and

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraSergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and politician. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title a ...

. This result enabled Eljanov to qualify to play in the FIDE Grand Prix series 2017. In 2016, he won the Chess.com Isle of Man International tournament in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

edging out

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

on tiebreak after both scored 7½/9 points. In July 2021, he won the 48th International Dortmund Schachtage Deutschland Grand Prix, scoring 6/9.

Personal life

His father was

International Master 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 ...

Vladimir Eljanov. In April 2009 Eljanov married

WIM Wim is a Dutch masculine given name or a shortened form of Willem and may refer to: * Wim Anderiesen (1903–1944), Dutch footballer * Wim Aantjes (1923–2015), Dutch politician * Wim Arras (born 1964), Flemish Belgian cyclist * Wim Blockman ...

Olena Dvoretska. He has a daughter born in 2011. Eljanov graduated from the

Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University () is a self-governing state higher law educational establishment of the IV level of accreditation, a national university, located in Kharkiv, Ukraine, named after Yaroslav the Wise. National Law Univers ...

References

External links

* * * *
Interview with Pavel Eljanov
at Chessdom.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eljanov, Pavel 1983 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Ukrainian chess players Chess players from Kharkiv Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games chess players Maccabiah Games competitors for Ukraine Jewish chess players Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University alumni