Arturs Neiksans (, born 16 March 1983) is a Latvian chess player who has held the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

of Grandmaster since 2012. He is a five-time Latvian champion, one of the leading Latvian chess players, an FIDE-accredited chess trainer, author and a commentator of high-level chess tournaments.

Biography

Born in

Valka Valka (; ) is a town and municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, on the border with Estonia along both banks of the river Pedele. Valka and the Estonian town Valga are twins, separated by the Estonian/Latvian border but using the slogan " ...

(a small Latvian bordertown with Estonia), Neiksans started to play chess relatively late for an eventual grandmaster, being 9 years old upon learning the game. At age 16, he received the title of a national master, and at age 18 he was ranked as an

international master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. In 1999, being only 16 years old, Neiksans won the

Latvian Chess Championship The Latvian Chess Championship () is the annual national chess tournament of Latvia among men and women players, which was established in 1924. It is organized by the Latvian Chess Federation (), previously - Latvian Chess Union (). Histor ...

, thus becoming the youngest-ever Latvian champion. He beat

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...

's record, which was set in 1953, by several months. After graduating from high school, Neiksans essentially left competitive chess, and after receiving an MBA Master's degree in

Public Relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

, he mostly worked in the field of communications, most notably the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science. He later also worked at the newspaper ''Jelgavas Vestnesis''. At age 27, he was offered the position of head chess coach in the Riga Chess School. He continued the interrupted work of the Latvian grandmaster Janis Klovans, who had just died at the age of 75. Every day, Neiksans, who was still an IM at the time, would work on his chess. He needed slightly more than one year to get all of the required three grandmaster norms, thus getting the coveted title at the age of 28, which for professional chess players is considered to be quite late. In 2012, he received the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

trainer's title as well, and in 2016, his Elo rating peaked at 2631.

Personal achievements

* Qualified for FIDE World Cup 2025 * Five-time Latvian champion (1999, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2025) * Summer Chess Classic C tournament, USA – 1st place (2019) *

Ilmar Raud Ilmar Raud (30 April 1913 – 13 July 1941) was an Estonian chess master. Biography Raud was born in Viljandi, in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire (now Estonia). He played several times in the Estonian championships at Tallinn. I ...

Memorial, Estonia – 1st place (2015, 2020) * President's 2nd Cup, Riga – 1st place (2019) * RTU Open 2016 A tournament, Riga – shared 1st place, 3rd in tiebreaks (2016) * Liepājas Rokāde 2016, super tournament, Liepāja – shared 1st place, 2nd in tiebreaks * 5th Vladimir Petrov memorial, Jūrmala shared 1st place with

Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on t ...

Loek van Wely Loek van Wely (born 7 October 1972) is a Dutch chess player and politician. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1993, and was rated among the world's top ten in 2001 with a rating of 2714. In March 2019, he was elected to the Dutch ...

and

Alexander Shabalov Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov (; ; born September 12, 1967) is an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Championship (1993, 2000, 2003, 2007). He also won or tied for first place seven times in the U.S. ...

, 4th in tiebreaks * 9th Wunsiedel Chess Festival, Germany – 1st place (2015) * Liepājas Rokāde 2009, open tournament, Liepāja – 1st place (2009) * Seven times played for the national team of Latvia in the World Chess Olympiads (2000, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2024) * Two times played for the national team of Latvia in

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

s (1999, 2011) *Participant of

FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 The FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 was a chess tournament that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2022. It was an 11-round Swiss-system tournament, with 108 players competing, running from 25 October to 8 N ...

Coaching

From 2010 to 2021, Arturs Neikšāns was the head coach at Riga Chess School, on a daily basis working with the most talented Latvian youngsters, among them Nikita Meshkovs,

Toms Kantāns Toms Kantāns (born 16 January 1994) is a Latvian chess grandmaster (2017), Latvian Chess Championship winner (2023). Biography Kantāns started playing chess at the age of six. He has been a Latvian Youth Chess Champion in different age gr ...

, Laura Rogule, Katrina Amerika (Skinke), Elizabete Limanovska, Dmitrijs Tokranovs and others. Many of them later would become grandmasters themselves and the core of the Latvian national team. He left the job in late October 2021 just before the start of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. Neiksans still does coaching, providing private lessons. He coached YouTuber and International Master

Levy Rozman Levy Rozman (born December 5, 1995), known online as GothamChess, is an American chess International Master, content creator, commentator, and author. Often referred to as "The Internet's Chess Teacher", he produces content on the online platfo ...

, also known as GothamChess.

Author

In 2018, Neiksans started a collaboration with one of the leading online chess education portals ''Modern Chess'', eventually producing four popular theoretical databases: * ''Moscow Variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...d6'' * ''Rossolimo Variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...Nc6'' * ''

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...e6 and sidelines'' *''Positional Repertoire against the Caro-Kann'' Right after Neiksans switched to writing courses for ''Chessable'', publishing his first course in July 2021. Ever since he's produced a total of five theoretical courses. * ''Lifetime Repertoires: Reversed Sicilian'' * ''Lifetime Repertoires: Kan Sicilian (co-authored by

Igor Kovalenko Igor Viktorovich Kovalenko (; ; born 29 December 1988, Novomoskovsk) is a Ukrainian chess player who played for Latvia between 2013 and 2021 and holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). Career Kovalenko was awarded the titles of Internatio ...

)'', nominated for Chessable Awards 2022 * ''100 Repertoires: King's Indian Attack'', nominated for Chessable Awards 2023 * ''Leningrad Dutch: Simplified', nominated for Chessable Awards 2024'' * The Battle-Tested Scandinavian Defense, once again cooperating with

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neiksans, Arturs 1983 births Living people Latvian chess players Chess Olympiad competitors Chess Grandmasters People from Valka Latvian Twitch (service) streamers Chess coaches