Sergei Tiviakov (; born 14 February 1973) is a Russian–Dutch

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. He is a three-time Dutch Champion and was European Champion in 2008.

Chess career

Tiviakov won the World Under-18 Championship in 1990 in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1991. Tiviakov won the Dutch Chess Championship in 2006, 2007 and 2018. In 2008, in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, Bulgaria he won the

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's) ...

. Tiviakov won the Politiken Cup in

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; ), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a coastal city in northeastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 63,953 on 1 January 2025, making it the 23rd most populated municipality in Denmark. Helsin ...

, Denmark in July 2008 on tiebreak after scoring 8/10. In 2009 he won the 13th Unive Tournament in

Hoogeveen Hoogeveen (; or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. Population centres Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout the town. Other v ...

. In 2011 he came first in the Fagernes Chess Festival, in the 5th

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

Chess Tournament and in the First

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Chess Open. In 2015 Tiviakov won the 24th Paul Keres Memorial Rapid Tournament in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. His first

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 ...

appearance was for Russia at the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

event in 1994, when he took home a gold medal in celebration of the team's winning performance. He played for the Dutch team at each of the events held from 2000–2006, with an overall record of +14 −2 =33 (62.2%). 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 ...

s, he has earned three gold medals (two team and one individual) for his contribution to the successful Dutch teams of 2001 ( León) and 2005 (

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

). At León, he registered a 77.8% score. Tiviakov and Bogdan Lalic both claim to have played a previous record 110 consecutive tournament games at classical time controls without losing, although neither player faced exclusively elite-level opponents during their unbeaten streaks and faced predominantly a mix of weaker professional and club level players while playing open tournaments. Tiviakov's streak occurred between 28 October 2004 and 27 September 2005. The current record belongs to

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 ...

(+42, =83), who went unbeaten across 125 consecutive games between 31 July 2018 and 9 October 2020.. While still holding the record, Tiviakov said

Ding Liren Ding Liren ( zh, c=丁立人; born 24October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster who was the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24. He is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion, was a member of the Chinese chess teams that won the Chess ...

's 100 consecutive games without a loss against elite-level opponents in 2017–2018 was a comparison of

apples and oranges A comparison of apples and oranges occurs when two items or groups of items are compared that cannot be practically compared, typically because of inherent or fundamental differences between the objects. The idiom, ''comparing apples and oran ...

References

External links

*
Sergei Tiviakov
chess games at 365Chess.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiviakov, Sergei 1973 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Dutch chess players Russian emigrants to the Netherlands World Youth Chess Champions European Chess Champions Russian chess players Sportspeople from Krasnodar