Last year’s winner of the Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament, 48-year-old GM Peter Svidler, is a true legend, Not only was he once a World Championship challenger, he has also won the Russian Championship eight times.
His first big success was in 1994, when he won the Russian Championship with an impressive 8 points in 11 rounds. He followed this up by securing the grandmaster title the same year, winning in Linares and winning the Chigorin Memorial in St Petersburg. In 1997, he shared first place with Kramnik and Kasparov in Tilburg.
In the 2005 World Championship Tournament, he shared second place with Viswanathan Anand, 1½ points after Veselin Topalov (who became the new World Champion). In 2011, he won the Chess World Cup, and in 2015, he reached the final in the same tournament. In recent years, he has played fewer tournaments but instead, he has become known as a much appreciated chess commentator.
He is participating in the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament for the second time.