Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov

Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov was born in Berdichev, Ukraine on October 11, 1959 and he fell in love with the game after being given a chess set for his sixth birthday by a family friend.

It wasn't until 1988 that he became a grandmaster. In 1990 Gregory and his wife visited the U.S. for the first time as tourists and it was an eventful experience which led to an invitation to teach chess for a year in Kentucky. One year became many, and there have been no second thoughts.

In 1992 Gregory was the undisputed leader of the Open tournament circuit by virtue of winning the World Open, the National Open, the U.S. Open and the Novag Grand Prix. Gregory was a member of the U.S. team, which won 1993 World Team Championship in Lucerne, Switzerland and the silver-medal winning team at the 1998 Chess Olympiad in Elista. He has won about 20 international tournaments in his career, among them 2000 Goodricke International (Calcutta, India) and one of the strongest open tournaments of all times 2002 Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Russia, where more than 80 International Grandmasters took part.

The Kaidanovs live with their three children in Lexington, Kentucky where Gregory is teaching chess. His students include many national scholastic champions. He also helped Maurice Ashley to become first African-American Grandmaster.

Gregory's website