Evgeny Bareev

Two-time Candidate Tournament participant (2002, 2007)

Ranking: highest fourth in the world

Highest FIDE Elo Rating: 2739

Tournament career: winner of eight super-tournaments:

winner of the USSR Championship 1990

3-time winner of the Hastings International Chess Festival

winner of Tata Steel Masters 2002

and a few others…

Chess Olympiads: four gold team medals

What earned him this:

Bareev is now a somewhat forgotten Russian grandmaster who was prominent in the nineties and early 2000s. In 2006, he moved from Russia to Toronto and in 2015 began formally representing Canada.

Bareev achieved his greatest tournament successes in the nineties and at the turn of the millennium. He won the prestigious Hastings tournament three times in a row. His greatest success came in Wijk aan Zee 2002, where he won the renowned tournament ahead of players like Adams, Morozevich, Leko, Gelfand, and Timman. Notable is also his contribution to the four gold medals of the Russian team at the chess Olympiads, although his performance never sufficed for an individual medal. His highest ranking was fourth place, which he achieved both in the nineties and early 2000s, confirming his quality and consistency.

He participated in the Candidate Tournaments when they were played in a knockout system. In 2002, he lost to Topalov, and in 2007, Peter Leko was too strong for him.

Why he isn’t higher:

To be ranked higher, Bareev would have needed greater successes either in rankings or in world title contests. There are simply too many players who were fourth in the world and played in the Candidates twice.

Best games:

Veselin Topalov vs Evgeny Bareev

Linares 1994