Alexander Motylev

About

Chess grandmaster who won the Russian championship in 2001 and the European championship in 2014. He also serves as Sergey Karjakin's coach and is also one of the coaches for the Russian national team.

Before Fame

At the age of four, he began learning how to play chess and started attending group instruction sessions at six. By the age of 11, Motylev had become a Candidate Master. He was a national junior champion at the under 16 and under 18 levels.

Trivia

In addition to his talent in chess, he was also skilled in football and had ambitious goals in the sport. However, his chess coach encouraged him to focus on chess, which was also suggested by his physical education teacher. He has won competitions such as the 2001 Russian Chess Championship, the 2004 Tomsk qualifier and the 2014 European Individual Chess Championship.

Family Life

He is from Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union. His father, Anatoly, holds the title of FIDE Master.

Associated With

Motylev joined 43 other elite chess players from Russia in signing an open letter to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to protest the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and show support for the Ukrainian people.