GM Andrei Istratescu

I obtained the GM title in 1994 at the age of 18, I worked as a coach in France for 3 years and many of my students became IMs or GMs. I also coached there at federal level.Regarding my playing strength, my peak rating was 2677 and for many years I have been in Top 100. I managed to win many international events,mainly in France where I lived for about 14 years. I am professional from the age of 18 and I spent most of my career training and preparing myself for strong events. Now I am 45 years old, but I think I can still play and coach decently.

Probably the strongest event I won was Neckar Open in 2012, shared first in Dubai Open 2015, I managed to win against 3 World Champions ( Karpov, Khalifman and Kasimdzhanov), but also against players like Mamedjarov, Akopian, Movsesian, Bologan twice etc...I was generally dangerous in open tournaments where I managed to win many of them by high performances.

2004-2007 coach at Belfort Echecs ( France), from 2006 to 2008 coach for the French youth team participating at European Championships.
My best student was the strong French GM Romain Edouard, who got the GM title and 2600 rating under my guidance, but I may name IM Nicolas Brunner as well. I had many students who won minimum 200 points from 2100 to 2350-2400, but also some lower rated students as well who improved by the same margin ( abou 300 points).

I commented live the French Championships in Belfort 2010 and it was a very challenging, but also a fascinating experience for me.

My best skills in chess were a quick eye for tactics and a good technique in middlegames and endgames which I try to instill to my students from the first lesson. A good understanding of any type of position helps a lot in finding the right answer even in the most challenging situations. So, I try to help students to be quick-minded and alert in any situation.

I prefer an open approach towards chess, so lessons must be vivid and lively. Every lesson must follow a pattern and have a target, so the student must learn and fix the information received. I stress the importance of the basics in chess as Capablanca once mastered, the student must be equally good in all parts of the game ( opening, middlegame,endgame). Once this is achieved, the improvement is guaranteed and will continue step by step.