Andrei Yurievich Sokolov (20 March, 1963-) is a Russian-French chess Grandmaster, who lives in France now.

He learned to play chess from his father, who was a Soviet army officer and a Candidate chess Master. At the age of six, he was inspired from a book that includes Alekhine’s games. At the age of 12 he attended a chess school, the legendary Pioneer Palace in Moscow. From 1975 to 1982 he developed under the tutelage of the famous coach Vladimir Yurkov.

In 1982, he won the Junior World Chess Championship in Copenhagen. The lost field included such strong players as Joel Benjamin, Ivan Morovic, Nigel Short and Niaz Murshed. Sokolov became an International Master after this event, with an Elo-score of 2450. He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1984, winning the Soviet championship at the age of 21 at his first attempt. In the same year he earned second place at the strong Novi Sad Tournament.

He represented the Soviet Union in the 1984 Thessaloniki and 1986 Dubai Chess Olympiads. His performances were convincing on both occasions, with the score 67 % he helped the Soviet team to two gold medals.

In 1985 he had his first attempt in the world championship tournament. He advanced to the Candidate’s by winning the Biel Interzonal. In 1986 he won against Rafael Vaganian in the quaterfinal by 6-2. At the semifinal 1987, hold in Riga, he won against Artur Yusupov, by 7½–6½. In the final he met the in-form Anatoly Karpov, losing by 3½–7½. However, in 1987/88 he was regarded as the third best player in the world behind Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.

In the following world championship cycle he lost against the Canadian Grandmaster, Kevin Spraggett in the first round of the Candidate stage, in 1988. Later he couldn’t repeat his former achievements or excellent results. Unexpectedly, in 1990, he won the Moscow Open, finishing ahead of Mikhail Tal, Rafael Vaganian, Alexey Vyzmanavin and Mikhail Krasenkov, among others.

After this, he moved to France, becoming a French citizen in 2000. In 2003 he was close to win the French Championship, when he tied for first place with Joël Lautier and Étienne Bacrot. Then, in the playoff he lost against Bacrot. In2005 he tied for second with the 14-year-old Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, behind Lautier.

He represented France twice in Chess Olympiads: in 2002 and 2006. At the Plovdiv Team Chess European Championship of 2003 he played as a member of the French team.

His best result on the world ranking list is 4th place, preserving that in October and November 1986, reaching his highest rating during his career, a score of 2743, according to the Chessmetrics.

Sources:  https://en.wikipedia.org; http://www.chessmetrics.com