GMVasyl Ivanchuk

Vasyl Ivanchuk was born in Kopychyntsi in 1969 to a lawyer father and a physics-teacher mother. A magnetic chess set given to him by his father sparked his interest. He won the Soviet junior championship in 1985 and went on to study at Lviv's physical-culture university. His 1988 New York Open victory brought him international attention, and that year he became a grandmaster. At Linares in 1991 he defeated Garry Kasparov and finished ahead of the reigning world champion. He won Linares three times altogether and became one of the most respected players of his generation.

His closest approach to the classical crown came in the 2002 FIDE championship, when he defeated Viswanathan Anand in the semifinal but lost the final to Ruslan Ponomariov. Ivanchuk also won major events at Wijk aan Zee, the Tal Memorial, Gibraltar and the Capablanca Memorial. He became World Blitz Champion in 2007. Nine years later he won the World Rapid Championship in Doha, defeating Magnus Carlsen along the way. At the 2013 Candidates he beat both Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik, influencing the race for first place despite finishing near the bottom himself. His competitive curiosity has extended beyond chess to tournament draughts.