Soviet-Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk was born on 18 March 1969 in Kopychyntsi. He started to play chess in fourth grade, and his first trainer was Oleg Kainin from 1979. His peak World Ranking was 2nd (October 2007). His current rating is 2710 (April 2016). He became International Grandmaster in 1988.

He participated in FIDE World Championship cycle in 1993 for the first time, where he was defeated in the quarter finals by German Artur Jussupow by 5 ½-s ½ in the playoff. He has reached his best result so far in the 2002 Chess World Championship match where in the finals he was defeat by 18-year-old Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov, who was 19th in the rangking, by 4 ½-2 ½.

Between 1988 and 2014 he participated in fourteen Chess Olympiads altogether. In 1988 and 1990 he represented the Soviet Union. He won team gold medal both times, and in 1990 he won his first individual medal, a bronze. From 1992 to 2014 he represented Ukraine twelve times. In 1996 he won individual silver and bronze on two boards, and team silver with the Ukrainian team. In 1998 and 2000 he won team bronze. In 2004 he won team gold and played on two boards again, winning individual bronze and a fourth place. In 2010 he won both individual and team gold medal. In 2012 Ukraine ended up winning team bronze again.

Interesting Facts:

His first wife, Alissa Galljamova was Woman International Grandmaster.

Ivanchuk lives in Lviv, where he has had his own chess school since 2012.