Onischuk Alexander was born in September 1975 in the small town of Sevastopol, where he learnt to play chess at a very young age. He still sometimes talks about his memories as a 5 or a 6 year old kid spending hours alone with the chess board. His eagerness for the game and his talents convinced his parents that he deserved something more than just a general home tutoring. He was soon enrolled to a chess club where he easily managed to outshine others much elder to him.
Onischuk Alexander has played with a number of world champions including Bacrot (2000) and Anand (1997) in his collaboration with the well known player Anatoly Karpov. His achievements during this period are especially noteworthy considering the fact that he also managed to secure a degree in sociology in spite of his busy chess training schedules and tournaments. His turning point however came after he became the absolute champion of Ukraine when realized that he would love to settle down and play for the U.S, where, as he says not only is the work of chess players valued and paid for well, but is also immensely respected.
Presently residing in Baltimore, he is the 3rd American grandmaster. Onischuk Alexander has a number of titles to be proud of and continues to add more to his bag of trophies with his constantly developing skills in the game. His world FIDE ranking as on July 2010 was 2701.
