GMAlexander Motylev

Alexander Motylev was born in Sverdlovsk in 1979. He learned chess at four and a half and also played football before concentrating on chess. He won Russian junior titles at under-16 and under-18 level and became a grandmaster in 2000. In 2001 he won the Russian championship and helped the national team take World Team Championship silver.

Motylev shared first place with Magnus Carlsen in the B group at Wijk aan Zee in 2006. He won the Poikovsky tournament in 2009 and the European Championship in 2014. He added the Russian rapid title in 2017. In 2022 he joined other Russian players in signing an open letter opposing the invasion of Ukraine. He transferred to Romania in 2023 and worked as technical director of its national teams.