Biography

US Grandmaster (1994) born in Ukraine. US Champion 2006. Studied sociology in Magdebourg and Moscow until 1999. Arrived in Baltimore in 2001 on the wings of a diversity visa, which he won in the Diversity Lottery Program. He graduated in linguistics (UMBC) in the spring of 2006. Ukraine Junior Champion in 1993; he missed the World U20 title in 1995 finishing second. Won Groningen 1996, then qualified to play with the national team with which he won two Olympic silver (1996 and 2008) and two Olympic bronze medals in 1998 and 2006.

Winner or shared first at: Budapest 1993, Groningen Open 1995, Hoogovens-B Wijk aan Zee 1996, Bad Zwesten Open 1997, Credis Biel 1997, Tan Chin Nam 1998, Ordzhonikidze Zonal 2000, Poikovsky GM 2002, Moscow Open 2009, SPICE Cup (USA) 2010, Mexican Open 2010, UTD GM (USA), 2011. Also second in the US championship 2007, Biel 2008 and Panamerican 2003.

A participant in the World Championship 2000 and in the 2009 World Cup. Several times he was second to Karpov; in 2006 he was a member of Topalov’s team at the World Championship against Vladimir Kramnik.

Best ELO: 2701 in 2010.

Hertneck, Gerald (2525) - Onischuk, Alexander (2625) Biel Credis Biel (1), 1997 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.Nbd2 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Bd3 d5 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.c3 b6 9.Qc2 c5 10.Ne5 Nd7 11.f4 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Bh4+ 13.g3 Be7 14.O-O-O c4 15.Be2 b5 16.Nf3 Qa5 17.a3 Qb6 18.Kd2 a5 19.Ra1 Bd7 20.Nd4 b4 21.g4 fxg4 22.Rhg1 h5 23.h3 Bc5 24.axb4 Bxd4 25.cxd4 Rxf4 26.Qc3 Rf2 27.bxa5 Qd8 28.hxg4 h4 29.g5 h3 30.e4 h2 31.Rg4 Rxa5 32.Rh1 Rb5 33.Ke1 Qf8 34.Qe3 Rxb2 35.Qxf2 Rb1+ 36.Kd2 Qxf2 37.Rxb1 Qxd4+ 0-1

Godena vs. Onischuk, Reggio Emilia 2011