Alexandre (also Alexander) Grigorievich Dinerchtein (''Александр Григорьевич Динерштейн'', born April 19, 1980) is a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He is one of only a few non-Asian players to reach

status, which he achieved in 2002 at the

Hanguk Kiwon The Korea Baduk Association, also known as Hanguk Kiwon (), was founded in November 1945 by Cho Namchul. Baduk is a game which was present in Korea by the 5th century. It originated in China, but the West is more familiar with the Japanese name ...

(Korean Professional Go Association). He has won the European Championship seven times between 1999 and 2009.

Biography

Early life

Dinerchtein started playing go in 1986, when he was just 6 years old. He was born and raised in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, where he grew up around strong Russian Go players, such as Ivan Detkov and Valeryi Solovyev. He first learned Go from his father. He was both a

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 disti ...

and Go player, but by the age of 10 he stopped playing chess and went deeper into Go with his new teacher Valery Shikshin.

Move to Korea

In 1996, ten years after he started learning Go, he was invited by Cheon Poong-jo of the

to study Go in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. Dinerchtein moved to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

in 1997 and started to live in one of the biggest Go schools. He studied Go with several young Korean players that have since risen to fame, including

Pak Yeong-hun Park Yeong-hun ( ko, 박영훈, born April 1, 1985), also known as Park Young-hoon and Pak Yeong-hoon, is a South Korean professional Go player. Biography Park Yeong-hun was born in Seoul. He is a professional Go player in the Hanguk Kiwon. He ...

—whom he beat once in 1998—, Park Chi-eun, Lee Chang-ung and

Ko Geuntae Ko Geuntae (born March 30, 1987) is a South Korean professional Go player. Biography Ko Geuntae won the Chunwon title in 2005. Due to his Chunwon win, he was given an automatic berth into the 19th Fujitsu Cup The Fujitsu Cup (富士通杯) wa ...

Becoming professional

In 2002 Alexandre made history by becoming the first Russian Go player to be promoted to

status, alongside

Svetlana Shikshina Svetlana Valeryevna Shikshina (, born March 7, 1980) is a professional Go player from Russia, one of only four western women to date to reach professional status. She achieved this in 2002, affiliated to the Hanguk Kiwon (the Korean Baduk Associ ...

. Both players were promoted by special recommendation, a feat achieved by very few non-Asian players. He has since started a career in teaching Go to western players.

List of Achievements

* One of the very few non-Asian players to reach

playing strength. * Seven-time European Champion (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009) * Winner of several top European events, including the European Ing Cup (2001, 2002), European Go Oza (2002, 2006, 2008) and European Masters (2005,2007). * Dinerchtein defeated

O Rissei O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

, 9an professional and one of Japan's strongest players.

References

Dinerchtein Homepage
including details of his early life and career.
European Go Database
official rating list of the European Go Federation in which Dinerchtein is one of the top players.

External links

Alexandre Dinerchtein's homepage
where he offers private Go lessons on KGS
Insei League on KGS
Main Go teaching project of Alexandre
the ''Goama'' newsletter
Alexandre Dinerchtein is the main editor.
Go playing strength test
by Alexandre Dinerchtein.
Style of Go test
by Alexandre Dinerchtein.
Social Network for Go players
created by Alexandre {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinerchtein, Alexandre 1980 births Living people Russian Go players Sportspeople from Kazan 20th-century Go players 21st-century Go players