Yury Shulman

Yury Shulman (born April 29, 1975, in Minsk, Belarus, former USSR) is an American chess grandmaster. He also goes by the alternate spelling of "Yuri Shulman."

As of October 2007, Yury reached a peak FIDE Elo rating of 2616, making him the #6-ranked player in the US and the 149th-highest rated player in the world.

Shulman started formal chess lessons with coach Tamara Golovey when he was six years old. He went on to study under International Master Albert Kapengut at age 12, and subsequently under the guidance of GM Boris Gelfand. He achieved his grandmaster title in 1995. Shulman moved to the United States in 1999 to attend University of Texas at Dallas, a three-time national championship college team.

Shulman completed undergraduate studies from the State Academy of Sports, Belarus, and has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and an M.B.A. specializing in Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Shulman has remained among the top U.S. since moving to the country. He tied for first in the 2001 World Open, was runner up in the 2006 U.S. Chess Championship, and winner of the 2006 U.S. Open Chess Championship. Shulman recently tied for third place in the 2007 US Chess Championship and qualified for the 2007 FIDE world championship. On May 21, 2008, Shulman won the 2008 US Chess Championship.

Chess career highlights

* 1994 - National Belarus champion, Top Sportsman Award, Republic of Belarus and member of the Belarusian Chess Olympic team from 1994-1998
* 1998 - National Belarus champion co-champion
* 1995 - European Junior Champion
* 1995 - Achieved International Grandmaster norm
* 2000 - Co-Winner of US National Open, Texas State Champion, and winner of the Koltanowski Memorial
* 2001 - Ranked in top 100 chess players in the world, and Co-Winner of World Open
* 2002 - Co-Winner of American Open
* 2004 - Tied for 3rd place in the US Chess Championship
* 2005 - Illinois State Champion, co-winner of Millennium chess festival, and qualified to 1/16 in the World Cup (Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia)
* 2006 - Winner of 107th US Open Chess Championship (Chicago, IL, USA), U.S. Chess Championship runner-up (San Diego, CA, USA), and U.S. Women Olympic team coach (4th place) (Torino, Italy)
* 2006 - Co-Winner of the University of Texas at Dallas GM Invitational Tournament
* 2007 - Tied for 3rd place in the US Chess Championship and qualified for the 2007 FIDE world championship (Stillwater, OK, USA)
* 2007 - Tied for 1st place in the 2007 Chicago Open (Chicago, IL, USA). "Vadim Milov won the blitz playoff game and the official title."
* 2008 - Won US Chess Championship

Yury Shulman International Chess School

Shulman is the founder of the Yury Shulman International Chess School. Shulman and his volunteer community use chess as a medium for philanthropic causes. In 2006 and 2007, this included community service visits to, and book drives for, Chicago public schools, and contributions of a portion of the proceeds from camps and tournaments to non-profit entities the world over.

GM Shulman Chess Without Borders Volunteer Organization

In May 2007, Shulman formally founded the GM Shulman Chess Without Borders non-profit organization through which to continue his volunteer efforts.

External links

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*chessgames player|id=28307
* [http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/player_55_33.php Chess Life Bio of Yury Shulman]
* [http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_50.php Chess Life Magazine Interview with GM Yury Shulman]
* [http://www.shulmanchess.com/ The Yury Shulman International Chess School]
* [http://www.shulmanchess.com/ShulmanGames/shulmangames.htm Selection of GM Yury Shulman's Games from his web site]