Andrei Istratescu

Andrei Istratescu – a top notch chess player

Andrei is a professional chess player and Grandmaster, and more than that, he is one of the world’s best players, being present for the last 7 years in the world’s top 100. With an ELO of 2631 he is continuing his ascension to the peak of the pyramid.

He began learning chess at 4 years old and since those early years he has distinguished himself as a great talent of his generation. He gained multiple titles of National Junior Champion, the title of Junior European Champion at 16 years old and after only 1 year he obtained, for the first time, the supreme title of National Senior Champion.

He obtained the International Master title at 16 years old and the Grandmaster title at the age of 18. He won numerous international tournaments, a lot of Romanian Senior Champion titles and the 4th place at the European Championship.

Andrei is now part of the restraint world group of Super Grandmasters, a category of chess players proposed by Kasparov, all this due to his current ELO, to his extraordinary performances within international tournaments and participation to world championships.

Andrei Istratescu – a many-sided person

Besides chess, his other passions are music, history, literature and politics. He is a kind and modest person, with a developed team spirit, and an excellent sense of humor.

Because of his passion for football and especially for his physique he has a famous nickname in the world of king sports, Il Pibe D’Oro: “I received this nickname in 1990. I was playing football really well and my physique seemed with Maradona’s.”

Andrei’s best friend is his generation colleague, Dieter Nisipeanu, a Grandmaster with an ELO performance of 2707 in 2005. He seconded Nisipeanu when this one gained the Senior European Champion title and also at other top tournaments where Nisipeanu gained victories against Topalov, Ivanchuk and many other top players.

Andrei and chess training

He was one of the students trained by the emeritus coach IM Mihail Ghinda, one of the best instructors in the world. His most recent success as a coach is that one of his students, Cristian Chirila who became World Chess Champion, under 16, in 2007.

For a few years now Andrei has been in the coaching staff of the French national team, which demands him to be acquainted with the latest news that concern chess theory, training methods and chess preparation (psychology, physical condition, nutrition, etc.)

Andrei is now the most important member of ICS’s coach team.