Peter Svidler (Russia)

RAKESH RAOWorld ranking: 7.Rating: 2738.Date of birth: June 17, 1976.

A FOUR-TIME Russian champion, Peter Svidler plays at the ICC website under the name of Sachin Tendulkar.

He loves cricket and follows all matches live on the Internet. His passion for cricket can be gauged from the fact that he knows the rules better than known cricket lovers such as British GMs Nigel Short and Michael Adams.

Father of twin children, Svidler is a five-time member of Russia's gold winning team in the Olympiads from 1994 to 2002. His knowledge of openings has been described as `encyclopedic.'

He works hard on preparing and the results have been there for everyone to see. His big moment came in 1997 when he tied for the Tilburg title with Kasparov and Kramnik after beating the former. Then followed a slump but it was Svidler's perseverance that saw him make a strong comeback in 2003 and reach the fourth spot in world rankings in 2004.

He comes into the World Championship as a replacement for the now-retired Kasparov. Being the highest-rated Russian in the fray, he has a great chance of joining the list of World Champions from his nation.