GM Timur Gareyev was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 3, 1988. He came the US when he was 16 years old. He currently holds the rank of 7th highest rated chess player in the US and 167th in the world. He won the North American Open in 2012 and tied for third in the US Chess Championship in 2013.

 

He graduated from the University of Texas with a BA degree in Business Marketing. He helped the University of Texas chess team obtain their first national championship.

 

In December 2014, Timur was appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Executive Committee of the International Chess Institute of the Midwest (ICIM).  The ICIM is a charitable 501 (c) (3) organization and can be found www.anatolykarpovcheschool.org.   

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Timur has authored a Chess Tactics workbook called C.A.T. Tactics. 

 

He also has an adventurous spirit and is a licensed sky diver and enjoys traveling and meeting new people. He stays fit by hiking and practicing yoga.

 

Timur best known for his exceptional ability to play Blindfold chess. He has participated in thousands of blindfold games in classic simuls, online events and practice games. In May 2013 he participated in a 33 board blindfold simul at the US Championship in St. Louis. The simul took a little over 10 hours finishing with 29 wins, 4 draws and zero losses.  In November 2013, Timur played 10 opponents blindfolded in 2 hours when he participated in a program at Cook County Jail in Chicago aimed at assisting jail inmates with impulse control.  

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On December 3, 2016 Timur broke the Guinness World Record for Blindfold Chess Simultaneous wins.  Read more about it HERE