Jaan Ehlvest

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2576
Federation: 
USA
Age: 
56
Status: 
Accepted
Bio: 

Jaan first broke through by tying for 2nd in the 1987 Zagreb Interzonal, earning his GM title in the process. He also won the 1989 Reggio Emilia super tournament, ahead of all-time greats Anatoly Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk.  He’s also won several other international events, and his successes at one point allowed him to breach the world’s top 5 on the FIDE rating list.  Famous in his native Estonia, he was actually Estonian Sportsman of the year in 1987 and 1989.  Jaan won the New York Open in 1994, and has since been quite active at U.S. events; he has been playing under the U.S. flag since 2006.  He wrote an autobiography, “The Story of a Chessplayer,” which was published in 2004.  Ehlvest also has a degree in Psychology from Tartu State University, and he puts these skills to good use on the chessboard.  Jaan is extremely adept at finding positions where his opponents are uncomfortable, and is merciless at punishing their missteps once they occur.