{{short description|Russian chess grandmaster (born 1979)}} {{family name hatnote|Anatolyevich|Motylev|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{Infobox chess player |name = Alexander Motylev |image = AlexanderMotylev23.jpg |caption = Motylev in 2023 |birth_name = Alexander Anatolyevich Motylev |country = Russia (until June 2023)<br>Romania (since June 2023)<ref name="to_ROM" /> |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|6|17|df=yes}} |birth_place = Sverdlosk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |death_date = |death_place = |title = Grandmaster (2000) |peakrating = 2710 (July 2009) |peakranking = No. 23 (April 2005) |FideID = 4121830 }}
'''Alexander Anatolyevich Motylev''' ({{langx|ru|Александр Анатольевич Мотылёв}}; born 17 June 1979) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was Russian champion in 2001 and European champion in 2014.
==Career== He learnt how to play at the age of four and a half years and at age six took part in group instruction sessions. Motylev became a Candidate Master at eleven years old.<ref name="whychess">{{cite web|url=http://whychess.com/node/821|title=A sketch in bright colours (interview 2011)|author=Vladislav Tkachiev|author-link=Vladislav Tkachiev|publisher=WhyChess|date=3 August 2011|accessdate=30 August 2015}}</ref> Around this time, he was also gifted at football, a sport for which he had major aspirations. Made aware of his split loyalties by his chess coach, Motylev's physical education teacher advised him to concentrate on chess and this proved to be good advice, as he went on to become national junior champion at both under 16 and under 18 level.<ref name ="whychess"/><ref>[http://www.chesscafe.com/text/misha22.pdf#search=%22motylev%20interview%20cafe%22 Interview] at ChessCafe.com {{Subscription required}}</ref>
Motylev was the runner-up in the 1998 European Junior Chess Championship, won by Levon Aronian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.torneionline.com/loto_tornei_d.php?codice=1998ARM01&tipo=1|title=European U20 Championship 1998|publisher=Italian Chess Federation|accessdate=30 August 2015|language=it}}</ref>
In 2001, he won the Russian Chess Championship and played for the national team in the World Team Chess Championship, where he contributed to the team silver medal scoring 2/3.<ref name=olimpbase>{{cite web|last1=Bartelski|first1=Wojciech|title=Motylev, Alexander - World Team Chess Championship|url=http://www.olimpbase.org/playerst/g0k4qwii.html|publisher=OlimpBase|accessdate=1 October 2015}}</ref> In 2002, he was invited to take part in the Russia vs Rest of the World match in Moscow and, in the company of the world's elite players, scored 1/6. In 2003, he won the Corsican Open at Bastia, ahead of a strong field including Loek van Wely, Krishnan Sasikiran and Sergei Tiviakov. In 2004, Motylev won the Tomsk qualifier<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ruchess.ru/en/news/report/from_east_to_west/|title=Winners of the Russian Higher Leagues|last1=Kryakvin|first1=Dmitry|publisher=Russian Chess Federation|accessdate=1 October 2015}}</ref> and in the Superfinal of the 57th Russian Championship he finished fourth, behind Garry Kasparov, with whom Motylev drew, Alexander Grischuk and Alexey Dreev.<ref>{{cite web|title=Super Final R11: Kasparov wins title by 1½ points|date=27 November 2004 |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/super-final-r11-kasparov-wins-title-by-1-points|publisher=ChessBase|accessdate=1 October 2015}}</ref> In 2005, he tied for first in the Aeroflot Open.<ref>{{cite web|title=Aeroflot Open: Sutovsky winner on tiebreak|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/aeroflot-open-sutovsky-winner-on-tiebreak|publisher=ChessBase|date=24 February 2005|accessdate=1 October 2015}}</ref> Later that year, Motylev finished second at the 2nd Sanjin Hotel Cup, behind Pentala Harikrishna, whom he defeated, and qualified again for the Russian Superfinal, this time by finishing equal third in Kazan.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Crowther|first1=Mark|title=TWIC 566: 58th Russian Championship Semi-Finals|url=http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/twic566.html#2|publisher=The Week in Chess|accessdate=1 October 2015|date=12 September 2005}}</ref>
In 2006, he was the joint winner of the Corus B Tournament in Wijk aan Zee with Magnus Carlsen. Motylev finished second, behind Ian Nepomniachtchi, in the Aeroflot Open 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nepomniachtchi wins Aeroflot Open 2008|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/nepomniachtchi-wins-aeroflot-open-2008|publisher=ChessBase|accessdate=25 November 2015|date=2008-02-22}}</ref> In June 2009, he won the 10th Anatoly Karpov International Tournament (pl) (category 18, 2694) in Poikovsky, Russia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5508|title=Motylev wins 10th Karpov Poikovsky|publisher=ChessBase|date=12 June 2009|accessdate=30 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109074914/http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5508|archive-date=9 November 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Motylev won the 2014 European Individual Chess Championship in Yerevan with 9/11 and a rating performance of 2872, the best performance in the event's history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/2014-euro-ch-motylev-wins-with-record-result|title=2014 Euro-Ch: Motylev wins with record result|publisher=ChessBase|date=18 March 2014|accessdate=30 August 2015}}</ref> In April 2014, he took clear second place, behind Pavel Eljanov, in the B tournament of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Şəmkir, Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/gashimov-memorial-b-eljanov-and-motylev-shine|title=Gashimov Memorial B: Eljanov and Motylev shine|publisher=ChessBase|last=Silver|first=Albert|date=30 April 2014|accessdate=30 August 2015}}</ref> In July of the same year, he participated in the Biel Grandmaster Tournament and scored 3.5/10 (+1 =5 –4), finishing last.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theweekinchess.com/chessnews/events/47th-biel-chess-festival-2014|title=47th Biel Chess Festival 2014|publisher=The Week in Chess|last=Crowther|first=Mark|date=25 July 2014|accessdate=30 August 2015}}</ref>
He placed equal first (second on tiebreak) in the 2015 Russian Championship Higher League with 6.5/9 and qualified for the Superfinal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chess24.com/en/read/news/artemiev-earns-showdown-with-russia-s-best|title=Artemiev earns showdown with Russia's best|publisher=chess24|last=McGourty|first=Colin|date=7 July 2015|accessdate=30 August 2015}}</ref> In the latter he scored 4/11, tying for 11th-12th place with Ildar Khairullin and placing last on tiebreak.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ruchess.ru/en/news/all/chita_superfinal_11/|title=Tomashevsky and Goryachkina Become Champions|publisher=Russian Chess Federation|date=20 August 2015|accessdate=30 August 2015}}</ref> In 2017 Motylev won the Russian Rapid Chess Championship in Sochi.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ruchess.ru/en/news/all/alexander_motylev_wins_russian_rapid_championship_/|title=Alexander Motylev Is Russian Rapid Champion|date=2017-10-02|work=Russian Chess Federation|access-date=2017-10-15}}</ref> In August 2022 in Barcelona he reached second place at the 23rd Sants Open, scoring 7.5/10.<ref>[https://www.365chess.com/tournaments/23rd_Sants_Open_2022_2022/45227 23rd Sants Open 2022], www.365chess.com</ref> Motylev switched to the Romanian Chess Federation in June 2023<ref name="to_ROM">{{cite web|url=https://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2023|title=Transfers in 2023|website=FIDE|access-date=2023-09-02|archive-date=2023-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722222645/https://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2023|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is currently working as Technical Director of Romanian National Teams.
== Personal life == His father Anatoly is a FIDE Master.<ref>[http://chess66.com/sportivnie-novosti/anatolij-terentev-na-volne-pamyati-vospominaniya-chast-9/ Анатолий Терентьев: На волне памяти. Воспоминания... Часть 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063332/http://chess66.com/sportivnie-novosti/anatolij-terentev-na-volne-pamyati-vospominaniya-chast-9/ |date=2016-03-04 }} chess66.com {{in lang|ru}}</ref>
Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Motylev signed an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, protesting against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people. <ref> [https://www.chess.com/news/view/stop-the-war-44-top-russian-players-publish-open-letter-to-putin "'Stop the war.' 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin"], Chess.com, 3 March 2022</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} *
==External links== *{{FIDE}} *{{365Chess.com player|Alexander_Motylev}} *{{Chessgames player|49027}} *{{Chessclub player|A-Motylev}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before= Sergey Volkov | title= Russian Chess Champion | years= 2001 | after= Alexander Lastin }} {{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Motylev, Alexander}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century Russian chess players Category:Chess Grandmasters Category:European Chess Champions Category:Chess coaches Category:National team coaches Category:Sportspeople from Yekaterinburg Category:Romanian chess players Category:Chess Olympiad competitors