Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, age 33, is a Romanian chess Grandmaster born on August 1, 1976 in Brasov, Romania. His FIDE ranking is 59 on May 2010 and Peak rating is 2707 in October, 2005, when he was ranked 15th in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever. He is noted for his risky and temperamental play, and is frequently called a student of Mikhail Tal.
He lived in Germany for a long time before moving to Bucharest.
Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu is considered to be the foremost Romanian player of his country. He startled the chess world when he broke into FIDE knockout World Championship semi-finals in Las Vegas in 1999, where he eliminated Leitao, Ivanchuk, Azmaiparashvili and Shirov and lost in the tiebreaks only against future champion Khalifman.
Nisipeanu’s biggest achievement came in 2005 when he won the European Championship in Warsaw. He became his country’s hero after this success, and it helped in boosting chess playing in Romania.
Nisipeanu faced Topalov in 2006 in a 4-game informal match held in Bucharest which was called the “Match of Champions”. Topalov was 3-1 and won the games which were broadcast live on TV. The Topalov-Nisipeanu match was to promote Romania and Bulgaria and their entry into the EU, or the European Union.
Nisipeanu next won in the 7th Sants Intl Open held in Barcelona and also the Bosna Championship in Sarajevo in 2006. His first super tournament will be Mtel Masters, where he is looking forward to a good outcome, to consolidate his position in the 2700+ club.
