Hello, my name is Babakuli Annakov. I am the first Grandmaster of Turkmenistan (former Russian Republic) with FIDE rating of 2565. I am also the top teacher and director of easychess.com. Here you can learn about my tournament results, commentaries on selected recent events, and details about my career as a chess teacher and a player.

I was born on 29th of May, 1972. I started playing chess at the age of 6, but became seriously interested in the game at 10. My first trainer was Hakimov Shakir, who worked with me until my enrollment in chess boarding school in Moscow in 1985. This unique chess institution became a critical point in careers of many famous chess players, such as Bareev, Morozevich, Galljmova, Yurtaev, Shipov, Alexei Kuzmin , Anna Ahsharumova, Yuri Dohojan, and many others.

Among the wonderful teachers of the school were Mihail Yudovich, Rudolf Kimel'feld and Iosif Berezin. I'm deeply greatful to those people who over six years helped me develop as a chess player and a person.

In 1991 I enrolled in the chess department of the Institute of Physical Education (now Academy of Physical Culture and Sport) in Moscow. This is the only academic department in the world that prepares high level chess teachers. Chess department of this institute have a long and rich history with graduates such as Smyslov, Bologan, Morozevich and others.

In 1992 I became a silver medalist of Turkmenistan Championship and won an honour of representing my country at the World Chess Olympiad and at World Junior Championship in Buenos-Aires. At World Junior Championship in 1992 I suffered a defeat in the last two rounds against Nilsenu (Dane) and Bezoldu (Germany), while having a promising result of +3 from the early rounds. However, these lossess became an integral part of my growth as a chess player.

I also made many good friends at that championship with people, such as Gveskovi and Egger. Earning my first IM norm at Ufa in 1993 was particularly memorable. I had a poor start, but managed to win the remaining 6 games in a row to achieve the norm in a field of very strong players, such as A.Fedorov, V.Jandemirov, V.Golod and others. Photo finishes give important psychological confidence for the future competition. This combined with growing experience made conquering the remaining two norms much easier.

In 1994 I entered a graduate program in chess department of the Institute, while remaining active in chess tournaments (GM norm earned in 1997). Myself and the head of chess department, E.P. Linovitskii have done extensive work in developing tools for chess education. Over 40 Grandmasters contributed their ideas to the project concerning the questions of chess strategy and tactics which were summarised in a teaching supplement for our institute.

Since 1998 I became actively involved in teaching chess over internet. Internet helps bring benefits of my research to students around the world. I give live lessons at Internet Chess Club as well as offer game analysis by Email. Teaching over internet has brought me in contact with many interesting people and lay foundation for my trips abroad to visit my students and friends in real life.

I have my own internet site.Please visit and study more about me :)

http://www.easychess.com/