Alexander Onischuk (; born September 3, 1975) is a Ukrainian-American
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
player. He was awarded the title of
Grandmaster by
FIDE in 1994, and won the 2006 U.S. championship.
Career
In 1991 Onischuk finished second in the world under 16 championship and in 1993 he was fourth in the world junior championship, tying for first and finished second on tie-breaks two years later. In 2000 he won the
Ukrainian Championship. He represented Ukraine in the
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...
in 1994, 1996 and 1998.
Onischuk immigrated to the United States in 2001. He competed in the
US Championship, winning the tournament in 2006, finishing 2nd in 2007, 2008 and 2017 and finishing 3rd four more times.
He played in the
FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 and 2004, and in the
FIDE World Cup
The FIDE World Cup refers to three different events over the years. Since 2000, it has been a major chess event organized by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Since 2005, it has been a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, form ...
every year between 2007 and 2017. He also represented the US in six Chess Olympiads and seven
World Team Chess Championship
The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...
s.
In the fall of 2012, Onischuk became the head coach at
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...
. Under his coaching, th
Texas Tech University Chess Programhas won the 2015-2016 and 2019-2020
Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships and played in the President's cup 5 times.
In 2018 he was inducted into the
US Chess Hall of Fame.
References
External links
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1975 births
Living people
American chess players
Chess grandmasters
Chess Olympiad competitors
People from Baltimore
Sportspeople from Sevastopol
Soviet chess players
Ukrainian chess players
Ukrainian emigrants to the United States
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