Alex (XAJIK20)

I wanted to highlight Alex (XAJIK20) first in this series because of the incredible contribution he has made to our team.  I met Alex in a tournament and after two very challenging games I asked him to join us -- and he agreed, to our great good fortune.  Alex is now 2051 (#3 behind only Paso58 and Mavax on our team ladder) and has compiled an astonishing team record of 49-1-1!  His +48 net team score is second only to Ozzie's +49. In answer to my inquiry, asking him to tell us about himself, this is Alex's very informative and excessively humble reply.

About myself? ... The Far East of Russia. (what you do for a living?).. Dont know)) Now I am on a \"crossroad\" (thinking what to do in the future). Some online poker (but not for living yet). IMHO-I think that a basic game of a country (region) is extremely significant. Poker in America, chess in Europe, Go (baduk) of Asian. Its not only the games, but fundamental "things". Botwinnik (outstanding), Reshevsky, Lasker...But this is is not my style. When I played better, my style was like Vasjukov, Nakamura & so on... Tal, Shirov also is great... The list of my favorite chessplayers is infinite.)).Some time ago I tried also the chess composition..( Raymond Smallian, studies, fairy chess...). I thought that Gelfand had a chance before the 1/4 of pretendent\'s match to win ( in Kazan). I was right)). Favorite openings?...)) For black- its 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6!?? )))) I'm bad in chess openings. Also the Marshall kontrattack d5 with Bb7 or Steiner's e4 in Spanish defence for black, but I know that this variants is bad... 1. e4 for white. 1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h4 c5 7. h5 cxd4 8. hxg6 dc 9. Rxh7 !?? I discovered this move before Nakamura (Nakamura-Smirin) and played in some blitz ....))) My +40 here? I think its is a luck in half. Some opponents lost by time in winning (or draw) position. I think I'm not good against the opponent with the 2000+. The summer is soon --its a bad internet in my place, plus I can't spend much time for chess  in the summer. ( Sorry for bad English).