About me

I started to play Go in 1986. I was 6 years old and my father (10 kyu) was my first teacher. For the several years I was playing both chess and go, but from the age of 10 I gave up chess and started to learn Go more actively with a new teacher Valeryi Shikshin, 4 dan and his students. I was very fortunate to be living in Kazan, because it was the capital of Russian Go. There were so many top players around me : Ivan Detkov 6d, Valeryi Solovyev 6d, Ruslan Saifullin 6d, Rustam and Nail Sahabutdinov both 5d, Alexei Vasilev 5d and Roman Gataullin 5d. They kindly gave me Go lessons and I owe them a big debt of gratitude.

In 1996 (I already was a 5-dan) Cheon Pung-cho, 7-dan professional from Korean Baduk Association (KBA) invited Svetlana Shikshina (daughter of my teacher) and me to study Go in Seoul. First of all I was really surprised at the level of the Korean children. I was living in one of the largest Go Schools, and there was around 20 students who were both stronger and much younger than me.Later I changed clubs several times, but I was never the strongest player in any of them. I studied Go with Pak Yeong-hun, who was already the strongest Korean amateur (I only beat him once, in 1998), Pak Chi-eun 9p, Yi Chae-ung 6p, Yi Ta-hye 3p, Kang Don-yun 9p, Ko Kun-tae 7p and later, from 2001, with Pak Cheong-sang 9p, Chu Hyeon-wook 7p and Pak Chi-hun 3p. By the time you read this article many more of the children who were training alongside me will have become professionals.

I became a professional in 2002, by the special decision of the KBA with the kind su8port of Cho Nam-ch'eol 9p, an honorary member of the KBA, and my teacher Cheon Pung-cho 7p. I am probably not the weakest professional here, but to be honest, I would say that there is about 1 stone difference between me and the other new professionals in Korea. Nowadays I am still studying hard to make this difference smaller.

My results:

1994	1995
Russian Junior Championship (under 18), Kazan - 3 place	Russian Junior Championship (under 18), Kazan - 1 place
1996
Vasiliev Memorial tournament, Kazan - 3 place
1999	2000
European Championship, Slovakia - 1 place Ing cup, Finland - 2 place LG cup, Russia - 3 place Vasiliev Memorial tournament, Kazan - 2 place	Seimitsu cup , Japan (online) - 1 place Chonmekbe cup, Korea - 2 place European Championship, Germany - 1 place Asian Amateur tournament, Korea - 2 place Russian teams championship, Russia - 2 place ( best result on the first board) LG cup, Russia- 1 place
2001	2002
Seimitsu cup, Japan (online) - 1 place Ing memorial tournament, Netherlands - 1 place LG World Championship - 1/32 ( Korea, European representative) European Teams Championship (Russia) - 1 place Konishi cup, Russia - 1 place LG cup, Russia -1 place Fujitsu cup, Netherlands - 2 place	European Go Oza Championship, Netherlands - 1 place Ing cup, Russia - 1 place Toyota&Denso World Oza 1/32 Japan, European representative Konishi cup, Russia -1 place European Championship, Croatia -1 place Week-End Tournament, Croatia -1 place Fujitsu cup, Netherlands - 3 place
2003	2004
LG World Championship, Korea -1/16 LG cup, Russia - 1 place European Go Championship, Russia - 1 place Week-End Tournament, Russia -1 place	Japanese Embassy cup, Russia - 1 place European Masters Tournament, Netherlands - 2 place European Go Oza Championship, Netherlands- 2 place Chinese Embassy cup, Russia - 2 place Ing cup, Czechia - 2 place Ing World Goe Championship, China (European representative) - 1/24 Toyota&Denso World Go Championship, Japan 1/32 European Go Championship, Poland - 1 place Week-end Tournament, Poland - 2 place Toyota&Denso European Go Oza, Netherlands - 2 place
2005	2006
Ing cup, Netherlands, shared 1-4 places LG World Go Championship, Korea 1/32 Igo Internet World Go Championship, Cyberkiwon - 1/8 Konishi cup, Russia, shared 1-2 places European Team Championship, Russia - 2 place (Russia-1 team) Toyota tour, Russia - 1 place European Masters Tournament, Czech Republic - 1 place European Go Championship, Czech Republic - 1 place	3rd European Oza, Netherlands - 1 place 17th European Ing Cup, Romania - 2 place 14th Vasiljev Memorial, Russia - 1 place 50th European Go Championship, Italy - 2 place
2007	2008
European Ing Memorial, Netherlands - 3 place Korean Ambassador Cup. Ukraine - 1 place Russian Open Cup, Russia - 1 place 51st European Go Championship - Austria, 2 place 4th European Masters, Austria - 1 place	4th European Oza, Netherlands - 1 place European Ing Memorial, Russia - 2 place 52nd European Go Championship, Sweden - 2 place A.Vasiljev Memorial, Russia - 1 place
2009	2010
Russian Open Go Cup, Russia - 2 place European Go Championship, Netherlands - 1 place Korean Council Cup, Russia - 1 place	European Fujitsu Qualification, KGS - 1 place Japanese Ambassador Cup, Russia - 1 place Russian Championship, Russia - 1 place European Pairgo Championship - 2 place (with Elvina Kalsberg)
2011	2012
Japan Council Cup, Russia - 2 place Russian Youth Go Festival, Russia - 1 place Open Cup Of Russia, Russia - 2 place Pandanet Go European Team Championship - 1 place (Russian team captain) Korean Council Cup, Russia - 1 place Japanese Ambassador Cup, Russia - 1 place Russian Championship, Russia - 1 place	Chinese Counsil Cup, Russia - 2 place Japan Council Cup, Russia - 2 place Cup of Russia, Russia - 1 place Russian Pairgo championship - 1 place (with Svetlana Shikshina) European Pairgo championship, France - 1 place (with Svetlana Shikshina) Pandanet Go European Team Championship - 1 place (Russian team captain)