FM (2002); GM (2004).
Timur Gareev received his GM title when he was 16, and was at that time the youngest Asian GM. He is now one of North America’s top players. He studied in the USA, and registered with the USCF, eventually settling in Austin, Texas. He graduated with a BA degree in Business Marketing from the University of Texas at Brownsville. He is also a leading proponent of blindfold simultaneous chess.
Championships
<Age and national> In 2001 he competed in the World U14 Championship, scoring 6/11. In 2004, Gareev finished =2nd at the Uzbekistan Championship and competed in the World Junior Championship, scoring 7/13. In 2005, he was =1st with Anton Filippov at the category 7 round robin Uzbekistani Championship scoring 8/10, and in the 2007 edition of the event, he tied for first with Vladimir Egin and Filippov.
<World> Gareev’s first and so far only tilt at the open World Championship cycle came in late 2007, when he placed 3rd at the Zonal Championship Zone 3.6 with 7.5/11.
Team events
<Olympiad> Gareev played for Uzbekistan in the 2000 Children’s Olympiad, in the U16 Olympiads in 2002 and 2004, and in the U18 Olympiad in 2004. In the U16 Olympiads he scored two individual bronzes playing boards 2 and 1 respectively, and helped Uzbekistan to a team bronze in 2004. He also played for Uzbekistan on 1st reserve in the Calvia Olympiad (2004) in Calvia de Mallorca, Spain and on board 3 at the Turin Olympiad (2006) in Turin, Italy where he placed 5th for his board.
<Continental> He played top board for Uzbekistan at the 2008 Asian Team Championships placing 4th for his board, and helping his team to 4th place.
<College> Gareev was a part of the University of Texas at Brownsville's (UTB) chess team from August 2005 to August 2006 & August 2009 to December 2011 where he helped the university obtain its first national championship along with other collegiate honors.
Standard Tournaments
In the three months rating period to 1 October 2002, Gareev accumulated a massive 240 rating points with his results in the Astana International in 2002, the A. Druzhinin Memorial International, the 2002 Samara Open and the U16 Olympiad in Kuala Lumpur, leaping from 2191 to 2431. In February 2003, he was 2nd at Kemerovo 2003 behind Evgeny Egorov and won the Chigorin Memorial in 2003 and the 6th Young Cup 3rd Stage GM-A with 14.5/19 in late 2003. In April 2004 he won the powerful Vasylyshyn Memorial 2004 with a commanding score of 12/15. In February 2006, he was =2nd behind Lazaro Bruzon Batista at the Gran Abierto held in Morelia in Mexico. In March 2007, he scored 6.5/9 at the massive Cappelle la Grande (2007), a half point from the lead and placing 7th-27th. His first FIDE rated tournament in the US was the New England Masters held on Rhode Island in 2008, where he placed 2nd behind Sergey Erenburg with 7/9. There followed a series of tournaments in North America that gradually built Gareev’s career, enhancing his rating and ranking. Chief amongst his results were =3rd at the 37th World Open (2009) behind Gata Kamsky and Varuzhan Akobian, =1st the 75th Annual Southwest Open in Fort Worth, Texas, winning the UWI Masters 2010 in Jamaica, 1st at the 20th Annual Chicago Open, 1st at the 2010 Copper State International Round Robin tournament, 1st at the 11th Metropolitan FIDE Invitational tournament and 1st at the 2nd Metropolitan FIDE International. He also won the North American Open 2012, tied for third in the US Chess Championship (2013) and was equal first in the 23rd Annual North American Open (2013).
In August 2014, he won the 36th Annual Southern California Open and the following month placed =5th at the Millionaire Chess (2014) behind the four finalists who contested the rapid game playoff to decide the top prizes.
Simultaneous blindfold
Gareev's simultaneous blindfold chess record includes a 19-game blindfold simul in Cypress, Texas in September 2012, a 27-game simul in Hawaii Dec 2012 and a 33-game match in St Louis, May 2013. "It is part of Timur's preparation to set a new blindfold simul world record of 64 boards before the end of 2013. The date for the record-breaking simul was tentatively set for December 21 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu." (1) However, this event did not appear to have occurred.
Ratings and rankings
Gareev's highest rating to date was 2682 in Feb 2013, when he was ranked #68 in the world, his highest ranking to date.
Wikipedia article: Timur Gareev; (1) http://chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211... , (2) https://youtu.be/BETVqX9fmxM?t=81 (3) https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast... (podcast with Ben Johnson).
Kibitzing
