Sebastian Siebrecht (born 16 April 1973) is a German chess grandmaster. He earned the

FIDE 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 ...

title in 1993, followed by the

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 ...

title in 1996. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 2008 after achieving five norms.

Early life

Siebrecht was born in

Herdecke Herdecke () is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located south of Dortmund in the Ruhr Area. Its location between the two Ruhr (river), Ruhr reservoirs Hengsteysee and Harkortsee has earned it t ...

on April 16, 1973. At the age of three, he moved with his parents to

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

. He started playing chess because he watched his father and brother playing and was interested, whereby he started playing his father. He also cites a friend in school, who was interested in chess, whom he played

blindfold chess Blindfold chess, also known as ''sans voir'', is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces and do not touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces. Moves are commun ...

with during mathematics lessons. Being a very tall man (2.02m), he made the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team in his school, playing for the regional (NRW) U17 section. He studied law at the

Ruhr-University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

Chess career

In 1993, Siebrecht earned his

title, and three years later, gained his

title. He achieved five grandmaster norms overall, his first at the 8th International Bavarian Championships 2004, also at the 21st Chess Festival 2005, at the 8th Individual European Championship 2007 in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

and at the Kaupthing Opens 2007 and then finally the Conca della Presolana 2007. FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title despite never crossing 2500+ fide on the official FIDE ratings list. In August 2010, Siebrecht won the

Chess960 Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant that randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank. It was introduced by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to reduce the emphasis on opening prepa ...

competition 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 ...

. He is a tournament director for Freestyle Chess. Siebrecht has been known to come up against cheaters in his over-the-board games. First in 2011, in the German Championships,

Christoph Natsidis was found with a

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

analyzing the current position he was in. A year later,

Falko Bindrich Falko Bindrich (born 17 October 1990) is a German chess grandmaster. He is the No. 13 ranked German player and No. 275 ranked world player as of May 2025. Born in Zittau, Bindrich became a FIDE Master at the age of 13. He earned his Internatio ...

had his game declared lost after he refused to hand over his smartphone and was later suspended from over-the-board play.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Siebrecht, Sebastian Chess Grandmasters German chess players 1973 births Living people People from Herdecke Sportspeople from Arnsberg (region) Ruhr University Bochum alumni