Alexander Baljakin is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 draughts

Draughts

Draughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...

 player born in the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n city of Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...

. He is also a writer of books about draughts.

Baljakin became junior World Champion when he was still performing as a member of the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 team. In this period he became Soviet national champion in 1982, 1988 and 1989. He also won a gold medal at the Summer Olympiad in 1985 and as well as a silver at the World Championships in 1986. He won the Team World Cup in 1987.

He moved to Minsk

Minsk

- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...

 in 1986 and after the fall of the Soviet Union he gained Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

ian citizenship, becoming national champion six consecutive times. He also won three bronze medals at the World Championships of 1992, 1994 and 1996 and was the Grandmasters Champion in 1995. In 1999 he won a silver medal at the rapid draughts World Championships.

In 2001 he moved to the Netherlands, gained Dutch citizenship and reached the A status which secures top sporters in the Netherlands money to live and focus on their sport. As a Dutchman he won a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championship Draughts in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, while in 2007 he won the Balt Cup in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

.

Baljakin has also written five books about draughts. Three of those together with Harm Wiersma

Harm Wiersma

Harm Wiersma is a Dutch draughts player and former politician. He is a six-time world champion in draughts and former MP.- Biography :...

 in Dutch, one with Anatoli Gantwarg in English and one by himself in Dutch.

Honours

• 1980 - World Championships (1st - gold medal) - juniors
• 1982 - Soviet Union Championships (1st - gold medal)
• 1985 - Summer Olympiad
  Olympiad
  An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....
  
   (1st - gold medal) - team
• 1986 - World Championships (2nd - silver medal)
• 1987 - World Cup (1st - gold medal) - team
• 1988 - Soviet Union Championships (1st - gold medal)
• 1989 - Soviet Union Championships (1st - gold medal)
• 1992 - World Championships (3rd - bronze medal)
• 1994 - World Championships (3rd - bronze medal)
• 1995 - Grandmasters 1995 (1st)
• 1996 - World Championships (3rd - bronze medal)
• 1999 - World Rapid Championships (2nd - silver medal)
• ???? - Belarusian Championships (1st - gold medal) six consecutive years
• 2000 - Open Dutch Championships (1st - gold medal)
• 2007 - Balt Cup (1st)
• 2009 - Dutch Championship (1st)
• 2011 - Dutch Championship (1st)

Literature

• 1992 - De nationale toptraining 1992 (the national top training) - with Harm Wiersma
• 1993 - De nationale toptraining 1993 (the national top training) - with Harm Wiersma
• 1994 - De nationale toptraining 1994/95 (the national top training) - with Harm Wiersma
• 1995 - Twelve Systems - with Anatoli Gantwarg
• 1997 - Schwarzmanie - about World Champion Alexander Schwarzman
  Alexander Schwarzman
  Alexander Schwarzman is an international grandmaster international draughts with Russian nationality. He is known for his creative playing style, especially his positional sacrifices and his high number of elegant games involving encirclements...