Denis Khismatullin was born in Neftekamsk in Russia on 28th December, 2004. An ardent lover of the game from a young age, he started to show signs of a promising chess career since childhood. He debuted in the Super Finals in 2006, finishing eighth in the competition. Even before the event, he had already tasted success by finishing fourth in the European U-18 Championship in 2001. He is a long time assistant of Dmitry Jakovenko and enjoys the game upto its full potential.
When he is not sweeping opponents across chess boards, he can be seen in the classroom as a 5th year student of the Ufa Oil University. He would be graduating in a few months and plans to take his career on a more balanced road in coordination with his work. Denis is the first and only Grandmaster in Bashkortostan after winning the title in 2004, an honor which only a few achieve. He finished second in the Izmailov Memorial Tournament held in Russia in the year 2008. The second quarter of 2009 held more pleasant surprises as he became champion in the Gubernators Cup in November.
Denis’s career has also seen other successes when he finished 12th in the Abu Dhabi Open in 2007 and 25th in the European Individual Championship of 2008. He claimed seventh position in the Voronezh open in Russia in 2009. He holds a current FIDE ranking of 2667 as on July, 2010 along with a world rank of 70 and a national rank of 20. Denis Khismatullin continues to impress in the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, 2010 securing his position as one of the chess geniuses of the world.
