Efstratios Grivas

Efstratios Grivas was born in Egio in 1966 and grew up in Athens after his family moved there in 1970. He learned chess at thirteen at the Kallithea club and won the Greek cadet championship two years later. His teachers included Nikolai Minev, Efim Geller and Nikolai Andrianov. He became a grandmaster in 1993.

Grivas represented Greece at eight Olympiads from 1984 to 1998, winning board-three silver in his last appearance. He also took individual gold at the 1989 European Team Championship and finished fourth in the 1985 World Junior Championship. Alongside playing, he coached Greece's junior team and later qualified as a FIDE Senior Trainer. He edited Greek Chess magazine from 1992 to 1999 and wrote books including The Grivas Sicilian and The Chess Instructor series. His writing received FIDE's Boleslavsky award for 2009.