GM Alexander Baburin

I was born on the 19th of February 1967 in Gorky, Russia. I was the only child in a working-class family. We never had much money and living conditions were not great, but my parents were very supportive of all my hobbies. From the age of 6 to 10 I was seriously into swimming. I started playing chess when I was about 8.

Between the age of 12 and 18 I was avery keen basketball player (I am 192cm high). Still, chess prevailed and from the age of 20 I have been a chess professional.

In chess I’ve done pretty much everything – playing, coaching and writing. I was Morozevich’s managerand second for about two years, which was very interesting. I sell new and antiquarian chess books and run my own chess school in Dublin, offering chess classes in schools.
I moved to Ireland in 1993 – and that was probably one of the best moves in mycareer! My best result so far was winning the Isle of Man Open in 1997.

I scored 8 points in 9 games with a 2827 rating performance. My highest rating (so far!) was 2600, which in 1998 made me No. 70 in the world. After 2000 I started playing less and less – I usually play in Chess Olympiads and also 4-5 tournaments a year in Ireland. I might play in an occasional tournament abroad once ina while.

My current rating of 2545 makes me No 1 in Ireland and No 354 in the world. In November 2000 I started Chess Today, which I considermy most important contribution to chess.

Happy Birthday to Alex Baburin and click here for more information about the excellent Chess Today publication.