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Emil Sutovsky

Emil Sutovsky is an Israeli chess grandmaster, the 2001 European champion, and the CEO of FIDE since 2022.

born 19772001 European chess championship titleServing as FIDE CEOUncompromising sacrificial playing style

Born: 19 September 1977, Baku
Occupation: chess player, mind gamer

Emil Sutovsky was born in 1977 in Baku

Emil Sutovsky was born on 19 September 1977 in Baku. He learned chess at the age of 4. He moved to Israel at the end of 1991 and lives in Holon.

In 1996 he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Medellín and received the grandmaster title from FIDE. He won the Hoogeveen tournament in 1997, Hastings in 2000, and the European Individual Championship in 2001. In 2005 he tied for first at Gibraltar and won the Aeroflot Open in Moscow on tiebreak.

He represented Israel in 9 Chess Olympiads from 1996 to 2014. At the 2010 Olympiad he won an individual gold medal on board 2 with a performance of 2895, and Israel won team bronze. He is known for a sharp style with material sacrifices.

He was president of the Association of Chess Professionals from 2012 to 2019. He served as FIDE Director-General from 2018 to 2022 and became FIDE CEO in 2022. He speaks 5 languages.